Happy Birthday Sam!

This is a little late... but I can't believe that my baby boy is THREE YEARS OLD! It doesn't seem like that long ago that we welcomed our first boy into our family. And we certainly didn't know then what a funny little person Sam is. We're just starting to find out...
We threw Sam such a fun Thomas the Train bday party.
Indulge me for I have to post all about it so that anyone out there who searches for ideas can find some good ones. Since that's exactly what I did...

First... we sent train boarding pass invitations.
Then, the kids arrived (and yes, all 18 came. It was one busy party!!!) and we gave each child a Thomas hat and a train nametag.

Then, we had 4 stations the kids could go through. (MANY THANKS to Melissa, Tricia, Liz, and of course Matt for being my minions...). First, there was a coal toss into James. Meliss explained that some trains burn coal to make them go. I made Thomas beanbags with fleece from JoAnns - Thomas fleece on one side and black on the other. The kids each got a beanbag to take home after the party. (***I didn't take many pics at the actual party, so these are mostly after the fact.)
Sam LOVES these beanbags.
Second was the train making station. Tricia ran this one. I had spray painted TP rolls (actually I cut them down from a large roll from Tricia's office, so they were stiffer and could withstand more beatings...). Some were blue, green, and red. We used pipe cleaners and hole punched black circles for wheels. They threaded the pipe cleaners through pre-punched holes in the TP rolls. Another short pipe cleaner was used through another pre-punched hole for the funnel on the top of the roll. And there was a face complete already with nose and mouth - just add the googly eyes stickers. Finally, I had foam letters stickers they could put their name on them. Unfortunately... I don't have a pic of these. But I DO have a pic of the awesome play-doh creation Sam and I made together that night after the party. (Totally random, I know.)

Third - the coloring station. I drew this on butcher paper and taped it to the wall. The kids loved coloring it... and we only had some crayon marking on our wall.

Last - the train walk. (Just like a cake walk with a few twists.) Put blue electric tape on your carpet for train tracks. Label some of Thomas favorite spots on the floor (Chocolate Factory, Castle, Docks, etc). Play train music (Choo Choo Ch'Boogie, Take the A Train, I've Been Working on the Railroad, Catch that Train, among others). When the music stops, whoever (multiple people in our case) is standing close to the place you draw out of a hat gets a Thomas sticker! The kids really loved this one and Sam still loves running around. The track is a bit destroyed by the time I took these pics, but we still have it!

We had a Thomas birthday cake (the face fell off... paper was the rescue of choice in a crunch...) and let Sam open presents. Party over.

Our goody bags were fun to put together. Sam helped me make a train crayon for each child (use candy molds and melted crayons).


We made a coloring book from free Thomas pics found online. Add some Thomas stickers, a Thomas blower, the Thomas hat they got when they arrived, one of the bean bags and the TP train they made while here, and that's it!