Xiomara (of A Styled Fete) is a talented party planner and stylist who came to us with an adorable vision for this birthday party.  Every little boy loves trains and also farms and animals, so what a perfect combination!  I can only imagine the look on William’s face when he walked into this party!

We love the rustic/vintage meets modern feel of this party.  The venue was the perfection spot, too!  We had so much fun designing her printables for the party.

Push up pops that spell out “Happy Birthday William”, a choo choo train cake with ice cream cone and marshmallow steam engine, and precious centerpieces are all elements that really stand out!

Read down below for all of the party details in Xio’s words.

The party was held at the barn of “The Children’s Farm” in Maymont, a beautiful park here in Virginia. The little classroom where everything was set up was adorable. It had three beautiful Farm themed paintings that were a huge selling point for me as I knew they would be the perfect backdrop for everything. It also had huge windows that let tons of natural light in which I love. I knew I was taking a risk by booking a mostly outdoor venue for a  party in February but it paid off. The weather was perfect and every one had a great time.
I decided to keep it simple with the Dessert Table and not go too crazy with the sweets. For the cake, I wanted to replicate the train illustrated on the invitations and my mom did the most amazing job at it. I bought medium size wooden crates at Michaels and spray painted them in blue and red to use them as carts. Clementines Cupcakes made fondant cupcake toppers representing farm animals and Bees Knees Creative made the adorable cookies on a stick in horse shape. They were a big hit among our little farmers. I also bought some push up pop containers and decorated them with burlap, some red gingham ribbon and a letter to spell out “Happy Birthday William”. They were filled with chocolate M&M’s.

I was lucky that I had 20 kids at our party and “Happy Birthday William” has 20 letters…hmm, coincidence? I needed something long and and pretty high to arrange the push up pops. After looking everywhere for something that would work, I bought Styrofoam blocks, stacked them together and wrapped them in natural color wrapping paper. I cut pieces of some grass mats I had at home from a previous party and glued them to the top of each block. The grass gave it a special touch.

I also found a really cool railroad train crossing sign that was the perfect prop for our dessert table. It had flashing lights, real train sounds and it really set the tone for the party.

The tables were dressed in white linen with apple green gingham runners. Treat boxes were set at the tables. I wanted to use little suitcases for the goodie bags but opted for the natural color gabble boxes which had a similar look and were less expensive. Each gabble box included a wooden train whistle, a farm animal with sound and animal crackers. It had a bow made of red raffia and a tag that said “Thanks for hopping aboard”.  I also had some custom coloring place mats made to match the invitation. (Anders Ruff printables) The kids colored their place mats while their food was being served.

I wanted to bring more of the “train” aspect to the party and decided I wanted centerpieces for the tables that would make the party look cohesive. I bought wooden animal carts at Michaels, I think they were circus carts, but I thought I could make them work with our theme and they were on clearance for only $1. I really needed to give it a try! I painted them in blue and red and added a piece of card stock so that you couldn’t see through them. This made them look more like train carts. I purchased some small plush farm animals at Ikea and inserted them in the carts to again, resemble the invitation.

Paper Mache letters that spelled “Choo Choo” were wrapped in red and yellow yarn and arranged in front of a window in efforts to bring more of the “train” theme in as well.

The kids {and adults} had so much fun feeding the goats and strolling down the farm to see the other animals. At the end of the party we had a Hay Ride around the park. Like I said, I couldn’t have asked for a better weather in February. I was very blessed and grateful for that.
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The printables are available in our shop here!

Great job, Xio.  Everyone – check back frequently because we recently collaborated with Xio on a super fresh themed shoot.  Can’t wait to share more of her beautiful work!

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Vendors and Credits:

Party Concept and Styling: Xiomara Roman- A Styled Fete
Photography: Carly Jones Art
Invitation and Party Printable design: Anders Ruff
Gabble boxes, push up pop containers, plates, wooden utensils, straws: Shop Sweet Lulu
Horse cookies on a stick: Bees Knees Creative
Fondant Farm animals cupcake toppers:  Clementines Cupcakes
Venue: Maymont