<\/p>\n

CHOO!\u00a0 CHOO!\u00a0 Birthday train coming through!<\/p>\n

Jen Carver of Banner Events here to share!\u00a0 When my son Landon begged us for a train-themed party to celebrate his 4th Birthday in December, I immediately contacted Maureen of Anders Ruff<\/strong><\/a>, knowing she would design the perfect\u00a0choo choo train themed printable package<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to tie the various elements of our train party event together.\u00a0 I was right!\u00a0 Maureen delivered in a big way!\u00a0 I am thrilled to share with you the resulting party, photographed by my friend and talented photographer, Rebecca Pierce of Mi Vida Photography<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Keep an eye out for these fabulous Party Details that you won’t want to miss:<\/strong>
\n\u2013 Oversized Train Puzzle activity for the kids to play on the floor
\n\u2013 Train Tracks made with electrical tape
\n\u2013 Personalized Coloring Activity sheet with coordinating crayon box (all printables<\/a><\/strong> by Anders Ruff)
\n\u2013 Cute train lunch setup including a coordinating french fry box of goodies and “Chugga Chugga Water” bottles.<\/p>\n

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See More Train & Truck Themed Parties:<\/strong>
\n\u2013 Choo Choo Goes to the Farm Party<\/a><\/strong>
\n\u2013 Modern Train Party<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2013 Vintage Tractor Party<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2013 Vintage Race Car Party<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2013 Trains, Planes and Automobiles Party<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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My talented\u00a0friend, Karina Rigtrup, of\u00a0A Fresh Take Photography<\/a><\/strong> offered to take pictures of my little train-loving boy to use on the invitations<\/a><\/strong> and as part of the party d\u00e9cor.\u00a0 I knew the stars had aligned when we showed up to the photo shoot and the old vintage train matched the colors in the printable package Maureen was customizing for us!\u00a0 It was such a special day for him getting to board a REAL train.<\/p>\n

All Aboard\/The Invitation:<\/strong>\u00a0 The\u00a0darling invitation<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>choo choo’d it’s way to each guest’s home inviting them to join us at Carver Station<\/em> and hop aboard the Carver Express<\/em> for an unbelievable party.<\/p>\n

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Guest Arrival\/Train Departure:\u00a0 <\/strong>When each of our little ‘train engineers-in-the-making’ arrived at Platform 4<\/em><\/strong><\/a> of Carver Station<\/em>, (printable sign in the Anders Ruff shop) they were whisked away on a little make-shift train car<\/strong> <\/a>and taken for a ride on our life-sized train track.\u00a0 (My husband is a miracle worker with black electrical tape<\/strong><\/a>!)<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Engineer Outfits:<\/strong>\u00a0 The kids loved the train ride that dropped them off at the dining car, where the Chief Engineer (me!) helped get them outfitted to properly ride the rail.\u00a0 A striped engineer hat <\/a>& red bandana <\/a><\/strong>were adjusted to fit each little guest.\u00a0 They also got wooden train whistles<\/strong> <\/a>that they loved blowing!<\/p>\n

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Landon had a special shirt designed for him by Lisa of Bella Bean Gifts<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Her custom\u00a0appliqu\u00e9 work was fabulous, and she\u00a0is so great to work with.<\/p>\n

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Party Activities:\u00a0 <\/strong>After being properly outfitted, party guests had a number of fun activities to choose from.<\/p>\n

They could put together oversized train puzzles on the floor. (Thank you Anders Ruff<\/strong> <\/a>for creating these upon my request!)\u00a0 I made the puzzles by printing them out and cutting them into puzzle pieces and then running them through my laminator<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 There were several puzzles so that many children could do this activity at the same time.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Other little engineers got busy coloring custom designed Carver Express<\/em> coloring pages with crayons from their coordinating crayon boxes. \u00a0(I absolutely LOVE how cute these turned out from Anders Ruff<\/a><\/strong>!\u00a0 It was a custom request, and once again, they delivered!\u00a0 You can find them as part of the printable package here<\/a><\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

We stuck large lollipops<\/strong><\/a> out of red round hat nesting boxes<\/strong><\/a> with white paper shred as centerpieces.\u00a0 The lollipops were embellished with Anders Ruff 2″ Party logos that we printed on 8.5×11 full sheets of label \/ sticker paper.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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All of\u00a0the children joined\u00a0in \u00a0the ‘Chugga Chugga Choo Choo Train Whistle-blowing\u00a0Conga Line’, or spent more time riding the rail.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of our party, we also took guests to the local mall to ride a real train!\u00a0 All of the activities were greatly enjoyed! (Forgive the poor picture quality.\u00a0 The lighting in the mall was very dim and our professional photographer had been excused.)<\/p>\n

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The Dining Car\/Snack Time:\u00a0 <\/strong>Who knew little engineers could work up such an appetite?\u00a0 It’s\u00a0a good thing the Carver Express<\/em> was serving snacks in the dining car.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Guests enjoyed sitting down to refreshing Chugga Chugga<\/em> water.\u00a0 I love how a simple beverage wrap can add so much pizzazz to a basic place setting.\u00a0 Of course, it’s way more fun drinking out of stripey straws.\u00a0\u00a0Polka Dot Market<\/a><\/strong> contributed the darling engineer blue (navy) striped straws<\/strong><\/a> which I adorned with cute little printable party flags from the AR collection.\u00a0 Knowing I needed a creative container to house fruit snacks and crackers, I had Maureen custom design a fry container for each child.\u00a0 Aren’t they adorable?\u00a0 With a little tissue paper fringe<\/strong><\/a> attached, the festive look\u00a0was easily\u00a0achieved.<\/p>\n

The kids also got wooden train whistles<\/strong><\/a> that they loved!<\/a><\/p>\n

I kept the dining car simple with a red\/white striped runner, more DIY train cars that acted as balloon weights and framed pictures of our birthday boy riding the train.\u00a0 The chairs were dressed up with the red bandanas that each child claimed upon arrival.\u00a0 Place settings consisted of a conductor hat, train whistle, fry box filled with snacks, party straw and flavored water.<\/a>Once healthy snacks had been consumed, it was time for the sugar rush.\u00a0 Enter, the dessert table!<\/p>\n

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Dessert Table Highlights:\u00a0 <\/strong>Of course, the focal point of a birthday party (besides the guest of honor) is the dessert table!\u00a0 The color scheme of our event was navy blue, red & light blue.\u00a0 Red tissue paper fans<\/strong><\/a> & red & blue polka dot balloons<\/strong><\/a> combined with the colorful striped & polka dot banner included in Anders Ruff’s<\/a><\/strong> printable package provided an eye-catching backdrop for the table.<\/p>\n

An inexpensive red & white striped table runner<\/strong> <\/a>was created from wrapping paper!\u00a0 (I continually remind myself that parties don’t have to be expensive! Reduce, reuse, recycle!)\u00a0 And, the table was literally littered with almost a dozen scrumptious desserts.<\/p>\n

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The cake & cupcakes:\u00a0 <\/strong>Brittany, of\u00a0Edible Details<\/a><\/strong> always does such beautiful fondant work.\u00a0 She customized the adorable 3-D fondant train topper and cupcake toppers to match the cute train designed by Anders Ruff on the coordinating printables.\u00a0 If it’s possible for something to be ‘too cute to eat’, her fondant masterpieces would definitely qualify!<\/p>\n

The Cake:\u00a0 <\/strong>Don’t you just love the train chugging across the cake?\u00a0 If you aren’t a master cake decorator and hiring a bakery to make a custom cake isn’t in your budget, a less expensive alternative is ordering a plain white cake from Costco or a local grocery store\u00a0and adding custom fondant designs, like those seen here from Edible Details<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The Cupcakes:\u00a0 <\/strong>One of my favorite party details\u00a0is the cupcakes!\u00a0 I asked Anders Ruff to add a custom designed cupcake wrapper with my printable package.\u00a0 Paired with the darling fondant train toppers, they added so much color to the dessert table.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Custom Train Cookies:<\/strong>\u00a0 Becoming acquainted with talented dessert artists from all over the country is one of my favorite parts about styling parties.\u00a0\u00a0Liz, better known as”\u00a0Arty McGoo<\/a><\/strong>“, does stunning work!\u00a0 Her attention to detail was amazing.\u00a0 Not only were the train cookie favors precious, they were equally delicious (I snuck a\u00a0few\u00a0nibbles!) and\u00a0came individually packaged to ensure freshness & easy distributing.\u00a0 The little engineers had so much fun moving their cookies around, chugging them along\u00a0imaginary tracks before taking their first mouth-watering bite!<\/p>\n

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Polka Dot Chocolate Covered Oreos:\u00a0 <\/strong>If you’ve never indulged in a chocolate covered Oreo, you’re missing out.\u00a0\u00a0Sweet Temptations<\/a><\/strong> sent beautifully packaged polka dot chocolate covered Oreos for the party!\u00a0 I spray painted boxes from the Dollar Tree and added wheels to fashion them into little train cars for housing these sweet confections.<\/p>\n

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Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods:\u00a0 <\/strong>One of the sure crowd pleasers at several of the recent events I’ve styled has been the chocolate covered pretzels, \u00a0by Pretzels Pleaze<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 The combination of sweet plus salty is divine!\u00a0 Plus, Amanda always coordinates the colors of each event by adding candies, sprinkles and chocolates to match!\u00a0 Each pretzel rod came perfectly packaged, topped off with coordinating ribbon<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 The red plant pot was found at IKEA and was spruced up with one of Anders Ruff’s 2″ party circles and some ribbon.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Popcorn Cones:\u00a0<\/strong> My son is a self-proclaimed popcorn addict, so it was only fitting to request that Anders Ruff<\/a><\/strong> design popcorn cones for this event!\u00a0 I just love the striped and polka dot patterned paper<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 Simply print the template & cut!\u00a0 They were so easy to assemble.\u00a0 Tissue paper fringe<\/strong><\/a> was added to the top for extra cuteness!
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Candy:\u00a0 <\/strong>It wouldn’t be a kid-friendly party without an extra sugar rush.\u00a0 Additional train car boxes stretched out across the dessert table and were filled with various candy sticks<\/strong><\/a>, candy canes and even chocolate coal<\/strong><\/a>!<\/a>Party Favors:\u00a0 <\/strong>A custom luggage tag was attached to gift bags<\/strong><\/a> embellished with tissue paper rosettes, a ribbon sash<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and Anders Ruff party labels.\u00a0 The bags sat atop our ‘Luggage’ table.\u00a0 Each attendee took home the bag full of their train whistle<\/strong><\/a>, conductor hat<\/strong><\/a> & bandana.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

We put frames with photos on top red nesting boxes<\/strong><\/a> on the table for height.<\/a>In addition, goodie bags (clear white window bags from Nashville Wraps<\/a><\/strong>), decorated with more coordinating printables from Anders Ruff<\/strong> <\/a>were lined up on the train track-covered table.\u00a0 Guests filled up their bags with sweets from the dessert table for their journey home.<\/p>\n

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VENDOR CREDITS:
\n<\/strong>\u2013 Complete Event Styling:\u00a0 Jen Carver,\u00a0 Banner Events
\n<\/a><\/strong>\u2013 Choo Choo Train Printables & Invitation<\/a><\/strong>:\u00a0 Anders Ruff Shop
\n<\/a><\/strong>\u2013 Event Photography:\u00a0 Mi Vida Photography
\n<\/a><\/strong>\u2013 Portrait Photography:\u00a0 A Fresh Take Photography<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sweets:
\n<\/strong>\u2013 Custom fondant train cupcake toppers & 3-D train cake topper:\u00a0 Edible Details
\n<\/a><\/strong>\u2013 Train favor cookies & cookie vignette:\u00a0 Arty McGoo
\n<\/a><\/strong>\u2013 Chocolate covered pretzel rods:\u00a0 Pretzels Pleaze
\n<\/a><\/strong>\u2013 Polka dot chocolate covered Oreos:\u00a0 Sweet Temptations<\/a><\/strong>
\n\u2013 Lollipops<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2013 Chocolate Coal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Clothing & D\u00e9cor:
\n<\/strong>\u2013 Custom train shirt:\u00a0 Bella Bean Gifts
\n<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 Polka dot table runner:\u00a0 Kerr Kreations
\n\u2013 <\/a>Red and White Wrapping Paper<\/strong> <\/a>
\n<\/a><\/strong>\u2013 Paper straws<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2013 Tissue Paper Fans<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2013 Polka Dot Balloons
\n<\/strong><\/a>\u2013 White window favor bags:\u00a0 Nashville Wraps
\n<\/a><\/strong>\u2013 Navy Polka Dot Fabric<\/strong><\/a> (Backdrop)
\n<\/a><\/strong>\u2013 Red Round Nesting Hat Box Containers<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2013 White photo stands:\u00a0 IKEA
\n<\/a><\/strong>\u2013 Train Whistles
\n<\/strong><\/a>\u2013 Engineer hats, red bandanas:\u00a0 Here
\n<\/a>\u2013 <\/strong>Red Bandanas<\/strong> <\/a>
\n\u2013 8.5×11 Full Sheets of Label Paper<\/strong><\/a> (to print stickers)
\n\u2013 Red Tissue Paper Fringe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Even More Sources for Fabulous Train Products to have your OWN Train Party:<\/strong>
\n\u2013 Ride on Train Toy<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2013 Gift Bags<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2013 Red and White Striped Fabric<\/strong><\/a> Tablecloth
\n\u2013 Red and White Striped Table Runners<\/strong><\/a>
\n\u2013 Red and White Polka Dot Ribbon<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHOO!\u00a0 CHOO!\u00a0 Birthday train coming through! Jen Carver of Banner Events here to share!\u00a0 When my son Landon begged us for a train-themed party to celebrate his 4th Birthday in December, I immediately contacted Maureen of Anders Ruff, knowing she would design the perfect\u00a0choo choo train themed printable package\u00a0to tie the various elements of our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1481,196,58,25,209,1480],"tags":[1205,1206],"class_list":["post-8145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birthday-parties","category-birthday-partyfolio","category-boy-parties","category-decorations","category-dessert-tables","category-parties","category-partyfolio","tag-train-party-ideas","tag-train-printables"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andersruff.com\/custom-printable-parties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andersruff.com\/custom-printable-parties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andersruff.com\/custom-printable-parties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andersruff.com\/custom-printable-parties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andersruff.com\/custom-printable-parties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8145"}],"version-history":[{"count":111,"href":"https:\/\/andersruff.com\/custom-printable-parties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30449,"href":"https:\/\/andersruff.com\/custom-printable-parties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8145\/revisions\/30449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andersruff.com\/custom-printable-parties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andersruff.com\/custom-printable-parties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andersruff.com\/custom-printable-parties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andersruff.com\/custom-printable-parties\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}