K and S Adventures: Harrison's Second Birthday Party: Trains

Harrison's second birthday had the difficult task of matching the first. Fortunately, I decided early on that no party will ever be as good as a Harry Potter party. With that weight off my chest we decided fairly early on what the theme would be. We had several ideas: doggies, paint, trucks, and trains. We decided on trains because that seemed to hold Harrison's attention the longest. I began planning around August again, this is mostly because I try to spend the least amount of money possible. Having a theme very early helps me collect as many free things as possible! For example, this year each of the children made a box car. For several months I collected boxes from neighbors and our own amazon deliveries. It was quite a collection in our garage!

The first thing we did was take pictures at the Hawaiian Railway Society. The colors of the party were blue and red and the society has a beautiful red engine on static display. We thought this would be the perfect place to take Harrison's "two year old" photos. I had my neighbor cut out a giant number 2 and painted it red. It came together rather quickly once we got the overalls from OshKosh. The custom hat came from a gal who makes them on etsy.

The birthday cards also came from a gal on etsy. I was going to design them myself but unfortunately ran out of time! She did a beautiful job and they matched the theme perfectly!

For the cake I decided to go simple this year, I prefer simple cakes as opposed to fancy ones. I think its just my aesthetic but it could also be that I don't have time to make a super fancy cake! I also loved this one because it was a 360 cake and had such an interesting effect when you spun it on the lazy susan.

The favors this year were bags filled with a coloring book and crayons. The bags took forever to make and I don't think I will do that particular favor ever again! I bought the train fabric on spoon flower to match the color scheme. The solid blue fabric and red fabric for the handles were fabrics I already had on hand. My neighbor was getting rid of two wooden crates and I asked if I could have them. She obliged and I was able to use them for the party!

There were several activities for the kids to do and once they completed them they were able to come to me to get their conductor badge! It took forever to get the machine to cut them correctly but once it did they looked fabulous! This was my first party using my Silhouette Cameo and it came in handy so many times!

Some of the decorations from the day. Again, the Silhouette Cameo came in handy! I made "Birthday Crossing" signs from reclaimed wood I found on the street. I had some white paint and some black vinyl already on hand. The Thomas costume was made with paint, boxes, and paper! Of course, Harrison refused to wear it but I had fun making it!

My wonderful neighbor was kind enough to blow up the balloons for me. All I had to do was let them out of the bag and Harrison played while I set up the party!

The entry way greeting table. I filled this table with pictures of the birthday boy, the number 2 from his photo shoot, and a ballon bouquet. We also had a train going around the track on the table. The kids loved playing with it! We wanted folks to make sure they felt welcome!

Our neighbor had this train toy and she offered to let us borrow it. It was the hit of the party and all the kids wanted to play with it!

The food table. We had so much food! Pretty basic party fare: fruit salad (Fruit Car), vegetable platter (Vegetable Car), pretzels (Log Car), sandwich station (Sandwich Car), olives (Coal Car), etc. We also had water and juice boxes. The cupcakes and cake for dessert!

The dining tables were decorated with mason jars filled with pictures of Harrison and cutouts I made on my cameo. I also put trains that we had around the tree when I was little on the tables.

We had a lot of activities for the kids! Coloring station, decorate a train cookie station, light toss, coal toss, build your boxcar, reading station, and a railway building station (I brought Harrison's massive train track set and laid a carpet down, this was very popular with the littles!).