All Aboard: Five Great Tips for Planning a Train Themed Birthday Party

All Aboard: Five Great Tips for Planning a Train Themed Birthday Party

All aboard for 5 great tips on planning your next train themed birthday!  We’ll be visiting ideas for: invitations, train party decorations, activities, refreshments and favors.

Planning an impressive train themed party begins with a great invitation.  Attach a homemade invitation to a small toy train or train whistle to generate enthusiasm, or purchase a printable train themed invitation online for that professional look.  There are also many commercially produced box invitations available at party stores.  How cute would a train-shaped or even a boarding pass style invitation be?  Don’t forget to include details such as the location of the birthday train station (your house or other venue) and when the birthday train will be departing the station.

Turn your party space into a train station!  Create tracks throughout by the area using black tape.  Consider the excitement of incorporating railroad crossing signs with fun train inspired stations like a ticket counter, a dining car and even baggage claim.  Add trains in a variety of sizes throughout the party environment.  Decorate tabletops with engineer hats and train whistles.  Cloud balloons could add a bit of the outdoor vibe, if the party is held inside.  Create centerpieces from toy trains and tracks, refurbished to coordinate with party colors.

 

Let guests blow off some steam and avoid derailment by planning some fun activities for them.  Adapt well-loved games like Duck, Duck goose, substituting “chugga, chugga choo choo”.  Hop aboard a real train for a thrill ride.  Play “pin the smoke stack on the train”, using engineer bandanas for the blindfold, of course.  How about letting guests craft their own trains out of foam, cardstock or model kits?  Be sure to keep your activities age appropriate and offer several choices. Or, you could even print off some of these fun and FREE train printables for them to color!

Stop at the refueling station and allow guests to fill up on a variety of snacks and treats.  A train shaped cookie cutter can make sandwiches, cheese and cookies coordinate with the theme.  Add in some candy “tracks” with Kit Kat bars, dipped pretzel rods or licorice.  Add printable railroad crossing toppers to cupcakes for a cohesive look.  Don’t forget a cake!  Using train shaped pans, a train cake can be the talk of the table!  Box cars can be topped with candy balls and pretzels for cargo.  Be sure to have plenty of water on hand for rehydration.  If you are a serving a meal, consider preparing boxed lunches (“boxcar lunches”) to serve in your dining car.

Before little conductors disembark your party train, send them to their home stations with a thoughtful train themed favor.  Some fun suggestions include:  train conductor or engineer hats, wood train whistles, toy trains, bandanas, train lollipops or coloring books.  Add a “thank choo” tag for a custom look.

With these 5 train party planning tips in mind, you can keep your party planning on track and create a celebration everyone is sure to enjoy!

Here are some fun party favor ideas for your train themed birthday party!