Party Prep
Once I had a theme, I could start gathering things for decorations. The Thomas and Friends website has a lot of free printables. This is where I got all of my decorations, coloring pages and puzzles. Sweet Girl even picked out one of the birthday cards to print out and color for Love Bug. This site is great!
I just used clip art images for my "All Aboard!" and railroad crossing signs.
Sweet Girl "reminded me" of how we decorated the room with Elmer books that we checked out from the library for her birthday and that she wanted to do the same for Love Bug with Thomas books. We checked out a bunch of books at our library visit that week and collected the Thomas books we had around the house. I love decorating with books! It's so fun and inexpensive!
I decorated the day before Love Bug's birthday. I hung up the pictures of Thomas and Friends in the living/dining rooms while Love Bug napped. She was so happy to see them that she clapped. :) Sweet Girl helped me with the streamers and really liked the railroad-type signs I hung up. The house was definitely looking ready for a party!
For the table, I used a "nice" tablecloth and Love Bug's train track set that she got for Christmas from Sweet Girl last year. In the middle of the track was a vase we already had on the table with fun balloons and flowers in it. I also added the paper products and gifts to make the table look more festive. Sweet Girl's stuffed Thomas joined the table decor as a "guard" to make sure Love Bug didn't touch the gifts. :)
The next day was Love Bug's birthday! The girls were very surprised to see a train track on the floor and couldn't wait to explore it. Love Bug saw her Max and Thomas right away and headed towards her table. Sweet Girl also got a present for being a super big sister the past two years. She got a little Ruby.
I found this festive Thomas picture and printed it out on photo paper. I lined the back with index cards (cardboard would've worked, too) and used it as my cake topper. I didn't want the picture to get dirty, so I cut straws and placed them in the cake to create a stand for the picture to sit on. I was very pleased with how it turned out. Again, staying with the idea of being inexpensive, but still having a special cake!
I have to share this funny story: I used the "2" candle for decoration instead of a candle to blow out. After we sang and Love Bug "blew" out the candles (she tried, but Sweet Girl helped out), she wanted to lick the frosting off of the "2" when I took it out. I handed it to her and she started licking the bottom of it. Next thing I know, Love Bug bit a piece of the bottom of the candle off! I got it out of her mouth before she could chew it up and explained to her that it wasn't candy. She tried to bite the candle again, so I just had to take it away. Everyone thought it was so funny!
**All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission.
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