Party Highlights

Best Moment

This was our first birthday party that we invited kids that are not in our family. Sammy was so excited when his friends from daycare showed up! Sammy has told me stories about his friends every day, so it was nice to finally see them all interact and play.

Funniest Moment

For the birthday cake, we made each kid a cupcake and then covered it with a hard chocolate shell. We gave each kid a wooden hammer to smash open their cakes. Inside each cake was a handful of candy. At first the kids were unsure about what to do, but once they got into it they didn't want to stop smashing.

Best Dressed

Getting to see everyone in their jammies!!

What People Ate

Since it was a pajama party we served brunch. Guests munched on Chugger Oatmeal, PB and Jammie sandwiches shaped like trains, Cheese Hog Strata (an egg, cheese, and sausage strata), Bagel Train Wheels, and various cereals like Conductor Crunch, Choo Choo Puffs, and Honey Nut Caboosies.

What People Drank

We had regular and chocolate milk. We also served old-fashioned sodas like Nu Grape and Coca-Cola in glass bottles.

Fabric

One of my favorite elements was the fabric I used to make the hobo packs. I had purchased digital paper to make all of the paper products, so went onto Spoonflower and I turned that paper into fabric!

Presents

Since Sammy's birthday is actually Dec. 27, and he gets a TON of presents during Christmas, I really didn't want more toys for him. We decided to skip the presents and asked all of the guests to bring a pair of pajamas and/or children's book to donate to the Pajama Program which provides pjs and books to children in foster homes/orphanages. We had a "Donation Station" set up for guests to drop their goodies off in.

Yarn

Yarn is AMAZING! It is super cheap and you can wrap it around anything to add color. Who knew?!?

Dessert

Blueberry Cheesecake Smokestacks - Push Pops; Chocolate Covered Rail Spikes - Chocolate Covered Pretzels; Clackety Clack Popcorn Balls; Donut Coals - Chocolate Munckins; Chugga Choo Chooies - Train-shaped Gummies; Locomotive Lollipops; Over Easy Cupcakes - Cinnamon bun cupcakes with orange frosting; Train Cake

Activities / Games

We set up several of Sammy's trains and the kids had a blast just playing with those. The kids also decorated their very own train stations. I bought bird houses at AC Moore and decorated each one with the child's name, (Collin Crossing, Mason Station, Vivi Junction, etc.). We set up the table with stickers, markers, paints, pom-poms and glue. The kids went to town painting and glueing and decorating to their heart's content. Finally, the kids played Pin the Mustache on the Conductor. It was pretty funny watching the younger ones try and figure out how to play. As a prize each kid got a bottle of Huff & Puff Bubbles.

Party Favors

Each kid went home with a hobo pack filled with a train whistle, train-shaped crayons, and a matching game I made using various train photos. The adults went home with a jar of local homemade Jammie.