We planned Garytt's 3rd birthday party for Saturday, March 23. The party theme was Chuggington. If you don't know Chugginginton, it is a train themed show on Disney, Jr. Of course, the party preparations started with preparing the invitation. Thankfully, Justin enjoys working on those types of tasks. So, I showed him an invitation I liked and he was able to create something very similar.
More party prep occurred throughout the week prior to the party. Chuggington items are just not very prevalent. If I found train things, they were always Thomas (boo!). So, I ordered some party plates and napkins online. I also found some inspiration online and used my crafty skills to add some Chuggington touches throughout the party.
I made some basic train cookies that week.
I also altered some Dollar Tree party blow outs to make them Chuggington themed. I thought it was a nice touch and didn't take too long to complete.
As always, the cake decorating was one of the things left to the night before the party. I had a basic idea of what I wanted to do with the cake. I had made a Chuggington sign out of paper and planned to use the toy trains from Garytt's collection as the cake decorations. (I did clean them before using them on the cake.) Then Justin came up with a great idea...there are three main Chuggington characters that I planned to use on the top of the cake...he suggested melting a candle onto each train instead of just putting candles into the cake. (I think he very much enjoyed working on this part of the project!)
It really was an inspired idea to melt the candles onto the trains! The cake itself was probably a bit more plain that I would have normally preferred but I think with the trains and the Chuggington sign, it turned out pretty cute. And the extra cupcakes with the Chuggers on them were fun too!
I was fortunate to have some other Chuggington props from Garytt's toy stash to use on the party table as well...like the huge Wilson storage Chuggers, which we used to "pull" some fruit cars and veggie cars. I also printed off a banner that I found online that had Wilson, Brewster, and Koko on them.
We moved my desk into the dining area to use as a buffet table for the sloppy joes and drinks.
We set up some folding tables and put out the Chuggington blow outs and some paper engineer hats with crayons for the kids to color when they first arrived at the party.
When the boys came downstairs, they were both pretty amazed by all the decorations. (And, yes, both of their outfits are train themed...I couldn't resist!)
Before long, our guests had arrived and the party was in full swing. The kids enjoyed the coloring...interestingly, Garytt was really the only one interested in coloring the engineer hat. The other kids mostly just wanted to draw pictures on white paper...hey, whatever works!
Garytt enjoyed coloring the Engineer hats so much that he colored three. He gave one to Westyn to wear.
Of course, balloons are always easy entertainment.
We opened up the food buffet next. I think most of the kids got at least some nutrition in before it was time to eat pure sugar.
Before it was time to get cake, we had the kids play Pin the Caboose on the Train. I was thrilled when I found this game online...it wasn't Thomas, it was cheap, and I didn't have to make it! Garytt was pretty excited to play.
I wasn't really sure how the game would go since most of the kids were a little young to understand being blindfolded, spun around, and trying to place something on the wall without looking. I have to say, Garytt was the only one that really cheated. We tried to get him to keep the blindfold on but he kept peaking. The other kids did great!
Needless to say, Garytt's caboose ended up being closest (little stinker) but I think everyone had fun playing...and we didn't really play for a winner anyway.
Finally, it was time to sing Happy Birthday and have cake! We actually gave each of the kids a wooden train whistle to use during the singing. Unfortunately, I didn't really get a picture of them since I was focused on getting pictures of Garytt and his cake. But it was fun!
Of course, Garytt couldn't wait to get a chocolate cupcake!
Westyn and the other kids enjoyed the sugar rush, too.
Garytt was pretty excited when I told him it was time for presents.
There were a lot of helpers and excitement during the gift opening.
Our party guests started trickling out shortly after the gifts were open. Unfortunately, the whole midwest was about to get slammed with a late season snow storm, so I know many of them left earlier than they originally planned. But our party guests left with a gift bags full of goodies as well as a balloon. The gift bags contained some Chuggington stickers, a small container of play dough with a train cookie cutter, as well as a snack.
As our final guests left, we took a video of the boys saying good-bye.
We really appreciate everyone coming out to Garytt's party with the impending snow storm. We were sad that some of our guests had to cancel due to the weather but we are happy that everyone stayed safe with the winter storm on it's way!
After everyone was gone, the boys were definitely ready for a nap! But when they woke up, trains were the first thing on Garytt's list of things to play with. He's quite the little train engineer.
We hope everyone had a Traintastic time at Garytt's 3rd birthday party!
