Too Much time on my hands

"Choo-Choo"- Train Birthday Party

This little monster just turned three!

Boy, he is REALLY lucky he is so stinkin cute, because he is like a wild animal lately!

I found tons and tons of amazing train party ideas.

It was hard to control myself and not go completely overboard (I told everyone-and myself-I was going to keep it under control this time). I had so much fun making all of this stuff and plan on passing it all on to a friend in the future!

Here is what we did....

I used a "vintage travel" themed pack of scrapbook paper to make the banners. I turned 2 old metal serving trays into chalkboards,

used scrap wood to make rail road crossing signs, and printed and framed old train travel posters.

I decorated the buffet in our living room with an old suitcase,

I printed out photos of Everett from over the past three years and strung them in a few different places in the house. I also used some globes and old cameras to get a vintagey feel going.

I strung a small, "All Aboard" banner across the top of the suitcase.

I filled the suitcase with the goodie bags. I bought conductor hats and train whistles from Oriental Trading for a steal!

I knew the kids would mostly be running around and playing in our kid-friendly basement, but I wanted to have something train related for them to do. I bought 2 yards of flannel and cut out a train engine and boxcar. Then I bought a few sheets of felt and cut out train parts, shapes, and "stuff to decorate the train with. I hung the whole thing on the wall in the dining room with our food table and the kids are STILL playing with it.

The dining room had another small banner and more photos of the birthday boy.

I will confess here that I completely forgot to take pics of the awesome food display. How the heck did that happen? NO CLUE. I used shoe boxes and made them into a train to hold snacks. We had fruit skewers, cookies, and chips in the three boxcars. I also had the juice boxes in an old valet case. I did manage a shot of the cupcake cake though!

For the kitchen, I made a Railroad Crossing sign banner

and printed off lots of sketches and plans of trains as well as old maps of train routes.

I covered the kitchen table with black bulletin board paper and the kids used chalk to draw trains and tracks.

It was so cute, pretty inexpensive, and not over the top. But it was exactly what I was going for!

Ev was the happiest little boy ever and that is what really matters! Bonus was I didn't stress out and have anxiety for the week prior to the party because I FORCED myself to keep it low key. I need to remember this in March when my daughter, Holden, turns 5!

Labels: kids, parties

Inspire Me- (Non Thomas) Train Party

My son's birthday is December 7th ,,,um yeah that's tomorrow:) and I haven't done anything except send out the e-vite.

Bad Mommy

Oh, but don't you worry I can whip out something good, I hope, before the party, which is Saturday the 10th.

Here is the inspiration I found, some attainable in my world...some not:)

Hostess {with the mostess}

The Celebration Shoppe

Green Acres Hobby Farm

Paper Thread Studio

The Sweetest Occasion

The Small Town Soiree

Party Inspirations

Mary Had A Little Party

Vintage Junky

Parties By Hardie

Party Inspirations

Sometimes I Make Stuff

p.s. I don't have anything against Thomas, but at this point any train makes Everett happy and I want to keep it that way.

Labels: inspire me, kids, parties

Knitty Gritty Activity from Family Fun Magazine

Cheap and Easy

(haha, no not me, this activity we whipped up for today, minds out of the gutter folks)

I saw this

in Family Fun and decided I NEEDED to do it immediately for my son

Don't let that smile fool you, he is a wild animal.

who is so sick...again. We are bored of each other and I needed some fresh material before a mutiny occurred. He eyed me up yesterday, closed one eye, held up his pretend drill like a weapon, took aim, and in his most serious voice told me to, "watch it, Mommy."

So after dinner I ran to Hobby Lobby and found this perfect yarn.

And no, I didn't pay 5.99, don't you know me at all? I used my 40% off coupon

It is sock yarn, but it had all of the colors we would need to create some stellar pictures. This was the only yarn that had color strips long enough to create the pictures I wanted to make (I knew because I unwound it in the store while the clerk made for her pretend drill and got ready to aim).

Anyway, I cut each color and we all sorted the colors into piles.

I gave the kids their sandpaper canvas

and we had a blast!

Getting ready for Halloween.

Apple Trees

We made pictures, letters, words, and numbers.

Get 40 grit sandpaper folks, mine didn't work great and that is what Family Fun recommends.

Seriously easy, educational, and cheap. This will provide hours of entertainment. I am thinking this is coming on our next plane ride and road trip too. Easy to shove all of it into a zip-loc and take it to restaurants to keep the heathens at bay while waiting for their meals.

P.S. No guns were pulled today, so I am considering this a HUGE success.