Thomas Party -5yr- Bedroom Makeover

My son's 5th birthday party was so much fun!

I really got into the invitations.  I printed two to a page, on blue paper, invites that tri-folded length-wise.  I left a little flap over the top.  I typed in Microsoft Word "ALL ABOARD!" on the front, and held the flap down with a puffy Thomas sticker I bought at my local department store (Wal-Mart).  When you lift the sticker to "open" the top flap, underneath was written "BOARDING PASS" on the bottom flap.  This was hidden until you lifted the flap.  Inside the "boarding pass" were two yellow tickets I had printed up on my computer. 

One ticket had all birthday information on it: "All aboard the train to Brendan's 5th birthday! Train departing at: 2pm, Sat, Dec. 10th, Train Station No: 1001 (Tom Thurmond Tracks), Please call the Conductor at 555-1234 to confirm your seat.  (I actually had a mother call me to say her daughter took her invite to school with her to show and tell!) 

The other ticket said "KEEP THIS COUPON - Return it to the station at Tom Thurmond Tracks (use the name of your street) to pick up a special package waiting for you at Gate B."  The tickets also had my son's birthday as the numbers on the two short edges of the ticket, written sideways.  These tickets were to be brought back to the party for games and to retrieve the ever-popular treat bag. 

My hubby and I surprised our little man with a bedroom makeover.  We ditched his old bedding and bought him new Thomas bedding and pillows, and changed out his pictures in his room of the Thomas train ride our family went on months before.  He was ecstatic!  In fact, it was the first thing he showed all the kids as they came in!  We had his Thomas train table (a large one we purchased from a previous "Thomas Mommy" that would roll under his bed) and covered it with all his tracks and trains. 

This was the starting point for everyone at the party.  Brendan was such the host.  He'd greet the guests at the door, take the gifts from their hands and put it on his "gift table" in the dining room, and escorted his friends to his new Thomas room!

We set up the party in 3 "zones." The first zone was the dining room.  It was where the cake and presents were.  We filled the dining room with balloons and long streamers that the kids loved.  The cake came from Wal-Mart (our local Wal-Mart had a very cute Thomas square plate with a groove shaped like a racetrack, and a wind-up Thomas that fit in the groove - adorable!!) 

Then, we had a second zone in the living room with a table, Thomas tablecloth, glue sticks, scissors, construction paper, and a Thomas craft project I got from dltk-kids.com.  The kids were to cut Thomas pieces out of the paper, and glue them to the construction paper.  When they were finished with it, they handed me their yellow "ticket" from the invite, and I punched it with a hole punch (behind my back like the conductor from the Polar Express - you know, for added effect-HA!). 

The third zone was in the kitchen, where I had a table set up with crayons, markers and coloring pages (I also got pages from dltk-kids.com) that the kids were to color.  They got their tickets punched again when the coloring page was complete (or, at least, until they finished as much as they wanted!).   

We also played a game called "pass the train."  I got the idea from this website!  I TiVo-ed LOTS of "Thomas and Friends" shows, which were playing all during the party, and at the end of the 30-minute segment, they sing the Thomas theme song.  The game is played like "hot potato."  The music starts, and you pass the train.  Whoever is left at the end gets a prize.  We played this game over and over again until everyone got a prize; the latest winner from the previous game did not get to play again, so there were no duplicates.  They picked a prize out of a "prize bowl" I made out of Thomas stickers, necklaces (for the girls) and parachute men (for the boys, although two girls wanted the men instead of necklaces!).  

After that, it was on to cake, singing Happy Birthday, blowing out candles, and opening gifts.  After the gifts were opened, Brendan went around with a tray of Thomas treat bags (filled with Thomas stickers, and various candies and toys from a variety bag I picked up at the store, and wooden train whistles I got from orientaltrading.com), and asked each of his friends "TICKETS PLEASE!" and the kids would give him a ticket, and Brendan gave them their treat bag.   This party was LOTS of fun, and the kids didn't want to leave!  One mom literally had to chase down her son to put shoes on him - he hid in Brendan's Thomas room!  HA! 

I received LOTS of compliments on this party.  It was very easy to do, and the kids and parents still talk about it even after the party was over!  Thanks to this web site for terrific ideas!