Thomas the Train party!!

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Recently, Simon turned 3! I couldn't think of anything more suitable than a train themed party for him. He LOVES his train set, and pretty much everything that's related to Thomas. We had a quiet little party this year, with just 4 party guests.

I had been picking up Thomas books at a second hand shop so that I could make a little banner for Simon's birthday. I ended up with enough, that I made two banners. They turned out to be Simon's favorite part of the party! He was so excited to see all of his favorite trains on the banner.The banners have since been relocated to his room.

 I made two cakes for this party, a chocolate and white cake. I baked them both in a round cake pan. Then I used a large circle cutter to cut a circle out of the middle of each cake. I made a template for the cake, and then cut a section out of each each. My sister used the chocolate cake leftovers to make cake coal pops.

I covered the cake with green icing, and lined it with kit kats to look like train tracks. Then I placed a few trains along the track.

 I created a little Thomas cover for the juice boxes, so that all of the juice packs would look like Thomas trains. If you're interested in the template, just let me know and I can add it to this post.

One of the girls at the party is gluten free. I made some gluten free graham crackers, and the kids loved them. I also made gluten free gingerbread muffins which were a big hit.

 For lunch we made pizzas on gluten free tortillas, with peperoni cut into the shapes of trains.

I attempted to cover the table and make it look like a big Thomas. It didn't turn out quite how I had envisioned it though!

 Simon hasn't quite mastered the art of blowing our candles yet, so I had to help him out a bit.

I used one of my old Ikea side tables for the kids to eat at. They love sitting in the little chairs!

I covered the table with kraft paper, and used electrical tape to make the train tracks.

Here's a pic of the second banner that I made for Simon.

This game was a big hit with the kids. We played toss the coal into Thomas' coal tender. (Simon later informed me that Thomas does not have a coal tender. Guess I should have checked with him first!) My sister filled black balloons with rice and then tied them off- that was our coal. Using the train tracks that I had made on the floor, we tried to use those as a guide for where the kids should stand to toss in the coal. Turns out 3 year olds are a bunch of cheaters, and they all moved as close as they wanted to Thomas to toss in the coal. It doesn't matter, they all had so much fun playing this game!

I opened up two diaper boxes, painted the inside blue, and then folded them back up into boxes. I painted the inside so that I'd only have to do one coat of paint. I used electrical tape to make the designs on the side of Thomas, and printed out a Thomas face for the front of the box. I cut a hole my husband cut a hole on the top of the tall box, for the coal.

Here's cheater Simon birthday boy Simon tossing in the coal.

And that's it. He (and Claire) loved the Thomas birthday party. Fun was had by all!