A train car at Travel Town Museum!
It wasn’t difficult to pick the theme or location for G’s 4th birthday party this year because he is SOOOO into trains right now! He has to be holding some sort of toy train, train photo, train sticker or train book at all times and at the dinner table, they are allowed to sit and “watch” us eat from a short distance. He even sleeps with them the way most children would sleep with a beloved stuffed animal. It’s amazing.
I bought the train balloon and giant “4” on Amazon and had our local balloon shop fill them and pair them with some latex balloons.
This birthday banner is super cute and available online. You just blow it up yourself!
We rented a train car at Travel Town in Griffith Park instead of having it at our house which was a huge adjustment for us, but definitely worth it! We had to dramatically limit our guest list to friends with kids close to his age, shorten the time a lot, and we decided to do the old school birthday party…cake and ice cream only, to save some money…Remember those?! Remember when your parents would DROP YOU OFF at a birthday party and you would have some cake and play and that was it? No goodie bags, no full meal for 15 families…just a good old simple birthday party? Well, that was what we tried to do this year. I think birthday parties have gotten a little out of control and I wanted to reel it in a bit. I heard a few people complained after about not having a meal but I tried to be very clear about what the party was and wasn’t so I don’t feel bad, but if you do try to do the same thing, I recommend sending a reminder email the day before or even the morning of so no one is surprised.
I got hats and a bunch of patches from Amazon for a quick activity. We helped the kids glue on their favorites with fabric glue. Hot glue would have been faster, but we weren’t allowed to use the outlets in the train car.
I covered a vanilla sheet cake with train cars and decorated them with TONS of candy from Dylan’s candy bar.
Whistles, patches and conductor’s hats…simple, cheap and cheerful!
George had a blast and still talks about it months later! He requests train cake for breakfast at least once a month and still wants to go the train park every weekend. If you can keep it simple and small, transporting the decorations and food isn’t stressful at all and we probably saved about $300-$500 by doing it this way! I know…RIGHT?! I LOVE our huge Easter and Christmas parties, but I think the boys’ birthdays will cute and small from here on out!
He was pretty pleased with it all too.
Hat, whistle, engine…Check!
Baby train outfit!
G and me! Someone is more interested in cake!
A train lover’s dream…a giant model train!
This is G’s favorite engine…the #1 train!
Post sugar high.
He’s 4!
We all rode the train together at the end of the party!
delia-hauser.com 
Super cute ideas. Love the hats/patches activity. I can tell by all the smiles that it was a fun time.
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Hi! I know this was a really long time ago, but do you remember where you got that table cloth, and if it’s plastic or fabric? I searched everywhere on Amazon and only found a similar one in fabric, but hoping they make disposable ones. We’re having a bday party at Travel Town the end of this month and I’m using your pics as inspiration! So cute!!
Hi! That’s awesome! You’ll love it- it was the best little party space. I seem to remember that it was sort of a soft paper type disposable one. I think it was this one…?? https://merimeri.com/products/spotty-table-cloth?variant=7325326639148¤cy=USD&fbaud=test&gclid=Cj0KCQiAhojzBRC3ARIsAGtNtHXf0CRhiAxRjfQ3Atcff71IN6KIvsnOV2XOkdZ898jT3MRIPSbMx1UaAo78EALw_wcB
I found this and love the idea of using this as a baby shower venue. I’m not pregnant (yet!), but I loved trains as a kid. This also holds extra sentimental value for me because this was one of the spots my mom used to take me as a little one.
Now for the question! Do you think this would be a good spot for a baby shower? I figured that I could have some snacks, not do many shower party games, and mainly just spend time seeing everyone. Do they set up the tables and chairs for you, or do you also need to make time for that?
Congratulations! I think it would be so cute for a baby shower, especially if any of your guests have kids! They give you a short amount of time to set up, but if you kept it pretty simple, they did set up the tables and chairs for us so it wouldn’t be difficult. I love this idea!