So you might recall the post a while back about Caden's obsession. Once that seed was planted, I started the search for ideas...Look what I found here and here...and then there was this! and THEN, my sister-in-law, Chelsea (who is one of my three regular reader "HI CHELS!") sent me this link, which uncovered my NEW Favorite Blog.
So, with all this wonderful inspiration, I put together Caden's bday party. The invites obviously came first, I simply searched google images for a free train silhouette and colored it in photoshop. The other labor intensive part were the favors. 
I decided to make Kool-aid scented playdough and included a train shaped cookie cutter in the bag. I think it came out super cute! The bag was simply a sandwich zip-lock and printed label double sticked on top. I also loved the train shaped PB&Js. 
My mom and I put those together in no time, assembly line style. And possibly my favorite was the train cake. I used a cake pan from William Sonoma. 
(coincidentally, a gift from Chelsea...THANKS again, Chels!) And with Trader Joes Vanilla Cake Mix, it was super easy and DELISH! Did you notice the ADORABLE handmade train pinata in the lower left corner? That will be in his bedroom for years to come. As for games and activites, since our guests ranged from 4 weeks to 7 years old, I needed to be creative and I'm not a big fan of competitive games at a bday party (Why should only one person win at a party?). We had the train table, 
which I found on Craigslist for $10 (I repainted the sides glossy cherry red and the top with Chalkboard paint). I also had Play-dough Station, Bubble Junction, Ball-pit Express, and Bookmark Stop. For games, I found "Pin the Smoke-Stack on the Engine" and we also played "Chugga Chugga Choo-Choo" a version of duck duck goose, which was fun for adults and kids both.
Of course, I had one additional obstacle...all this stuff had to be carted to the park...but that's where the train is, so off I went on Saturday morning at 7 am to ensure we'd have a prime park spot. Shawn and the boys showed up a little later to help finish setting up. Shawn went right to work blowing up a purple balloon...WHAT?!? He will probably tease me forever over my reaction when I saw that balloon :) OK,OK,OK...I was a bit stressed to finish up before the guests arrived, but come on....RED AND BLUE EVERYTHING! But I'm happy to say, one purple balloon really was the only hitch in our wonderful birthday celebration for our little man.
Now a few months off til September, our Birthday marathon month.
The birthday boy continued his day with celebrations in class, at karate and cub scouts.
