All Aboard! DIY Train Themed Birthday Party

 

Justice just turned 4 years old and we threw him a birthday party with our friends and family recently. He’s now old enough to decide on a theme for his birthday. So when he told me he wanted a train-themed birthday party, I was all aboard!

DIY Train Themed Birthday Party

A backdrop is a must-have for any themed birthday parties. I convinced Will again to put together a balloon garland with me. I invested in an electric balloon pump and boy, did I make a good investment. Making balloons was such a breeze. I totally recommend it to anyone looking to DIY their own balloon garlands. The cost for supplies and the pump combined was less than if I was to get the garland made elsewhere.

Make Your Own Balloon Garland

I kept the garland pretty simple with shades of greys, whites and light yellows to mimic the steam of an engine. To make a lighter or darker shade of the balloons, I used the double stuffing method. Check out how to double stuff balloons here. We tied the balloons using a fishing line and hung them to the wall using 3M tape and hooks. Then finished off by adding an air-filled train engine foil balloon.

Personalized Train Tracks Number Balloon

One of my favourite things to DIY for birthday parties is the number helium balloons! They make such impactful statements and bring the theme together. Since the number balloons are typically solid colour, I wanted the number 4 to look like train tracks. And these train tracks tape saved me from having to cut out the design from adhesives.

Baggage Party Favours

For the party favours, I got some train cookie cutters and playdoh along with other miscellaneous small items like stickers and erasers for our guests. I used my Cricut to add some handles to the kraft gift bags so that they resemble baggage. I printed some cargo stickers on my sticker labels and made some personalized luggage name tags. You can download my cargo stickers template here and print on Avery 5160 labels.

Train Station and Platform Décor

I wanted my space to resemble a train station and the platform. I scored some adhesive vinyl from Dollar Tree for 50 cents and taped my entire foyer up to look like train tracks by cutting them into strips. I also made some platform signs from Bristol boards and white vinyl adhesives for the letters cut from my Cricut. Justice is obsessed with railroad crossing so I knew I needed to include that into the décor. I cut out 2 rectangles from a piece of foam board and added the adhesive vinyl cut letters the same way. I taped the foam boards onto a tripod and attached 2 red balloons as the lights. Justice was ecstatic when he saw what I made.

Train Party Activities and Games

• Colouring Station – This was very easy to set up with some tables, seats, crayons and a table sign. I found some black and white train related imageries online, added some text and printed them off with my laser printer. 

• Pin the Choo Choo Train Game – This was a lot of fun for the kiddos. Each kid picked a train paper cut-out and wrote their names on it. Then they had to connect their carts with each other to the engine on the tracks while blindfolded. The kids had a great laugh when they saw where each other’s pinned their carts. Find my template at the end of the post.

 

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Cake Table Decorations

I used to spend a lot of time baking and decorating cakes. I would feel pressured and stressed out if they were for an important occasion. But ever since I could make toppers with my Cricut, it saved me time and sanity from making my own cake while still allowing my cake to look good. Both my cake topper and train banner were made from my template and cut onto coloured cardstocks. For the topper, I assembled the cardstock cut-out onto skewer sticks. For the banner, I hole punched each cart and string them together with a piece of twine. I love being resourceful and Justice’s wooden tracks and train toys were perfect to decorate the table.

Express Train Shirt

Every birthday, I made Justice a custom shirt to wear, and this year was no different. I drew my design in Illustrator and cut it out onto iron-on vinyl with my Cricut. Justice Express was ready to choo choo!

Invitations

Party invitations were interactive this year. I designed a digital boarding pass on Canva and sent it out to all my guests (the parent) to present on their phones upon arrival. Justice had a blast role playing as a conductor and pretending to scan them abroad.

This party was a lot of fun to DIY. If you’re interested in making these for your party, you can find my svg cut files here. Hope you enjoy this post!