Thomas Tank Party -4yr- Chugga Hot Dogs

We had a Thomas the Train party for my son's fourth birthday. 

The front of the invitations had a picture of my son standing next to Thomas the Train (who we recently went to go see) and said, You are invited to Thomas the Train Birthday Party.  On the inside right the invitation it said:    Choo - Choo!  Caleb is Turning 4! You're Invited to Chug on over for the Birthday Celebration!   Destination:  (Our Last Name) Birthday Express Train Station Depot Track Number:  (Our Address), Michigan Date:  Saturday, July 29, 2006 Arrival & Departure Time:  4:00pm - 6:00 pm RSVP:  Please call the train conductor at (Our Phone Number) to confirm your seat on the (Our Last Name) Birthday Party Express Train. 

On the inside left of the invitation it said:  Train Schedule  4:00 - 4:30  Visit the Dinning Car for Chugga Chugga Hot Dogs, Choo-Choo Chips, and other side dishes & little ones stop by Station 1 for Face Painting, Engineer Hat Making, and Train Rides on Thomas and Clarabell 4:30 - 5:15  Party Games  Station 2:  Coal Toss into Edward's Tender  Station 3:  Thomas vs. Bertie Relay   Station 4:  Pin the 4 on Gordon  Station 5:  Load the Freight Car  Station 6:  Thomas Pull String Pinata 5:15 - 5:30 Singing Happy Birthday to Caleb and Serving Thomas Cake 5:30 - 6:00 Caleb Opens Birhtday Presents Our party was held in the backyard. 

On our front door I hung a large picture of Thomas the Train that I drew and colored.  The poster said, Welcome to Caleb's 4th Birthday Party.  Follow the tracks to the backyard.  We then had a path of yellow train tracks. 

As our guests arrived they were greeted at Station 1. 

At Station 1 the kids were greeted with a train ride on Thomas and Clarabelle (a riding lawn mower pulling a large lawn wagon).  I made a large poster of Thomas and put in on the front of the mower and a poster of Clarabelle on the side of the wagon.  As the kids waited for their train ride they got a Thomas the Train tattoo and I help them make their party hat which was a blue engineer's hat made out of construction paper with their name on it.  The kids also got their Thomas the Train goodie bag with two additional tattoos in it.  Once all the kids were there we moved on to five other stations for the party games. 

At Station 2 the kids played the Coal Toss into Edward's Tender game.  For this game the kids were give 4 pieces of coal to toss into a box that had a picture of Edward with his tender on the front.  The coal was made out of a balloon that I paper mached and spray painted black.  The person who got the most pieces of coal into Edward's tender won the game and received a cup in the shape of a caboose.  Every child who played the game received a bottle of Thomas the train bubbles to put into their goodie bag. 

At Station 3 the kids play the Thomas the Train vs. Bertie the Bus Relay Race.  At this station I had a large poster of Thomas and Bertie that I drew and colored.  The kids made two teams (a Thomas team and a Bertie team) and stood in front of each poster in two straight lines.  The kids took turns running from their starting point, to me, and then back to their starting point and then sat down by their poster.  After the race each kid received a homemade Thomas the Train coloring book that I made from pictures that I printed from various web sites and a pack of crayons to put into their goodie bag. 

At Station 4 the kids played Pin the 4 on Gordon.  I drew and colored a large picture of Gordon and used an Ellison machine to cut out several yellow fours for the kids to pin onto Gordon.  After this game the winner received a cup in the shape of a caboose and every child who played the game got a sheet of Thomas and Friends stickers to put into their goodie bag. 

At Station 5 the kids played the game Load the Freight Car.  For this game I wrapped up 20 different sized boxes in birthday paper and sat them in a pile about five feet from the freight car (a wagon).  The kids had 15 seconds to take a wrapped present from the pile and run to put it into the freight car and then go back to the pile and get another present and do it again.  The person who got the most presents into the freight car won the game and received a cup in the shape of a caboose.  All the kids who played received a medium sized wooden train whistle to put into their goodie bag. 

At Station 6 the kids had a chance to pull a string on the Thomas the Train pull string piñata.  I painted red, blue, and yellow balloons on lunch sacks and passed them out to the kids prior to the start of the game so they would have something to put their pinata candy in. 

After all the games were played we had cake.  I ordered my cake in the shape of Thomas the Train and that was placed upon a quarter sheet cake.  All 15 of my son's friends were given a Thomas the Train party blow out and gathered around him as we sang Happy Birthday and watched him blow out the candles on his cake.  The kids, of course, blew into the blow outs as my son blew out his candles. 

The party ended with Caleb opening his gifts.  The whole time during the party I had a cd of Thomas the Train music playing in the background.  The 25 adults watched the kids play the party games and ate dinner.  I had a sign on the sliding glass door that led into the kitchen that said The Dinning Car with pictures taken from the internet of the different items on the menu.  We had Chugga Chugga Hot Dog, Choo Choo Chips, potato salad, macaroni salad, and baked beans.  

The party was a huge success and my son had a fantastic time!