We had Alex' 3-year old birthday party on Monday. He has recently developed an obsession with the Thomas and friends trains, and he told me several weeks ago that he wanted a Thomas the Tank Engine cake. That made the theme an easy decision! We decided to have the party at the church and invited all the kids in his Sunday School class. Including Alex, there were eight children. It was a bit chaotic in the beginning, and there were some tears and some trouble with sharing... but we were able to move past all that eventually, and by the end, everyone was all smiles. A big thank you to my mom for all of her help with the food and the decorations! I don't think I could have pulled it off without her.
Here is the cake... and please pardon the fact that it is sitting on top of the washing machine. This was to keep it cool, and also out of Alex' sight until the party. It was a lot of work, and I stayed up until 1:00 the night before decorating it (Rusty helped, too), but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I got most of my ideas from
this website, so if you are looking for some "do-it-yourself" ideas for birthday cakes, give it a try.
The kids' table was set up with wooden tracks and trains and also some coloring sheets and crayons. Just something for them to do in the beginning before the organized games.
Playing "Pin the Number on Thomas." We also played "Musical Train" and a bean bag toss game.
Time to eat! We had macaroni and cheese, mini pigs-in-a-blanket, and fruit kabobs (If I were to do it again, however, I would skip the skewers and just make a fruit platter -- skewers are a bad idea with 2-4 year olds! I don't know what I was thinking!)
The birthday boy as we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him. The cake was a big hit with all the kids, and they loved that I let them choose their piece. Most chose based on what kind of candy was on top of the car.
Alex opening his presents. Thank you to everyone for coming and for the great gifts! We had fun and hope you did, too!
Here is the cake... and please pardon the fact that it is sitting on top of the washing machine. This was to keep it cool, and also out of Alex' sight until the party. It was a lot of work, and I stayed up until 1:00 the night before decorating it (Rusty helped, too), but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I got most of my ideas from this website, so if you are looking for some "do-it-yourself" ideas for birthday cakes, give it a try.
The kids' table was set up with wooden tracks and trains and also some coloring sheets and crayons. Just something for them to do in the beginning before the organized games.
Playing "Pin the Number on Thomas." We also played "Musical Train" and a bean bag toss game.
Time to eat! We had macaroni and cheese, mini pigs-in-a-blanket, and fruit kabobs (If I were to do it again, however, I would skip the skewers and just make a fruit platter -- skewers are a bad idea with 2-4 year olds! I don't know what I was thinking!)
The birthday boy as we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him. The cake was a big hit with all the kids, and they loved that I let them choose their piece. Most chose based on what kind of candy was on top of the car.
Alex opening his presents. Thank you to everyone for coming and for the great gifts! We had fun and hope you did, too!
We had a lot of fun (yet sadly no nap) - thank you for inviting us!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis looks so great. I think I generally do Carly and Isaac's birthday's the same way except we do it at our home because their bible class groups are smaller.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that cake looks fantastic. And 1 AM...sounds just like something I would do. I did Isaac's cake based on one I saw on the same website. That site is so cool. I also like www.birthdaypartyideas.com They have every idea under the sun. Carly's birthday is coming up in April, so I'll probably start scoping out some ideas soon. Gotta have time to order stuff usually.
Rachel
Glad you had a great birthday party nephew, love Thomas the train. Who is the dork in the middle with the funny hat? He must be the BIG STEAM ENGINE...lol.. LOVE YOU NEPHEW, HAPPY 3rd!
ReplyDeleteLaura, it looks like you guys had a great time for Alex 3rd B-day. Happy birthday...and I love the cake! I wish I could do the same for Chris! He loves Thomas and it would be great if I could surprise him...no baking skills on my side though!
ReplyDelete