Train Party -3yr - Pin The Bandana

For my son's 3rd birthday party we decided on a train party.

INVITATIONS:  I went to the local office supply store and found card stock paper, cream color and matching envelopes that was on their sale rack.  I made invitations personalized for each child attending.  They looked like a train ticket (I searched the internet and actually found a picture of an old time train ticket and used it as a guide). 

I used my son's birthday date as the seat, isle and row number.  I used a train graphic and made the station our home address, and RSVP to "the station master" which was me! 

DECORATIONS:  I took blue painters tape and taped the floor to make train tracks all throughout the house.  My son wore blue jean w/white striped overall from Oshkosh, white gloves, and a red bandana around his neck and one in his back pocket.  One of the train companies I emailed sent a real engineers hat, I had Jake's name embroidered on the back and he wore it at the party. 

GOODIE BAGS:  I searched the internet for train companies and societies or organizations.  I emailed them all (there were about 12).  They sent me free coloring books and colors, pencils, key chains, sweatshirts paper engineer hats (which I used for the kids party hats), stickers..all kinds of things for free, which I put in brown paper bags for kids goodie bags. 

I used a train stamp to decorate the bags.  I tied a little train on each bag that I had made w/a cookie cutter and molding clay that hardened when it dried.  I wrote each child's name on the front and my child's name and date on the back (his birthday is in October, these doubled as Christmas ornaments). 

DECORATIONS:  I collected several boxes (a water heater box standing upright, a bathtub box laying down and then several boxes to create the cowcatcher and smoke stack) and created a train engine.  We painted it primary colors and cut out a window.  I had each child stand in the window and took a picture, sent the picture w/the thank you note. 

We painted "Jake's Birthday Party Express" on the engine!  It really made cute pictures and the kids loved to play in it.  I made several banners on my computer and we used lots of crape paper and balloons all over the house and outside. 

FOOD:  CHOO CHOO hot dogs and Train Station Hamburgers.  Chocolate candy train engines that I made with candy mold.  I ordered some cookies that were in boxes shaped like a train (I can't remember their name, but I found them on the internet when I was searching for train stuff), Jell-O mold train engines (used a cake/cookie mold that I found at wilton.com.

I also made the cake which was a 3-D train engine that I found at wilton.com.  It was my first attempt and it came out fantastic!  It's really easier that I thought it would be. 

I found a picture of an Engineer in a coloring book, enlarged it on a copier and taped it to the wall.  Then I used a bandana and had the kids play "pin the bandana in the engineers back pocket!"  The winner got a free pass to our local train museum, which they donated.  It was a lot of work, but the best party we ever had!