LP's 2nd Birthday Train Party

It is hard to believe it has already been a little over a week since LP turned 2 years old!  And today, depending on the weather, we are going to have LP's 2 year old photos taken by my college roommate who owns her own photography studio in Kansas City.  LP is one lucky guy, Anj has traveled almost 300 miles to take his photos - this morning we are just seeing if she can make it the last 70!

Anyways, last Sunday we had a family birthday party for LP.  Last year we had a tractor birthday party but we decided to move onto another form of transportation this year, so we moved to his second favorite thing with wheels - trains!  We based the whole birthday party off of one of LP's go-to books, Freight Train.

Anyone that knows me, knows I love to send cards, and now that LP is getting older, I love to make cards with him.  So LP and I made his birthday card by using his thumb and finger prints to create the Freight Train from the book.

Once we got the invites out, it was time to work on the birthday party decorations.  I do have to admit I had way too much fun putting all this together.  I guess it is the event planner in me that just loves doing things like this!  The first thing to make was a banner.  I just made this banner on my computer and I put it up behind our kitchen table, that way it'd be in the background of photos while LP was eating his cake and ice cream.

My Farmer, LP, Niece and Father-in-Law helping LP blow out his candles

Then the next must thing I feel like you need for a kid's birthday party is photos to show how they've grown over the year.  I continued the Freight Train theme by making each train car from the book out of card stock and then including a photo of LP on each car.  I put the photo train on top of our entertainment center because I knew LP would be opening his gifts in the living room.

Next, I made a couple "Welcome" signs for both of our front doors.  These are just something simple to make that hopefully gets all of our family ready and excited for the birthday party.  I just made these on my computer by using the same train I used for the banner and a scanned image from the Freight Train book for the other.

 

The last decor item I made was a "2 yr old crossing" sign.  I saw something similar to this in the background of a photo on Pinterest and I thought it was too cute not to make.  I used an entire sheet of poster board to make this and then but a yard stick behind it so it could be moved around.  LP really enjoyed the crossing sign and played with it before and after the party.

LP opening gifts next to the crossing sign
I'm not quite sure what is going on with his face, looks like he's getting ready to kiss someone

Now onto the food!  I was actually gone the weekend of LP's birthday so I decided to take it a little easy on the food.  We ordered pizza and had a popcorn bar for supper and then I made a couple kinds of cupcakes that I formed into a train for his cake and of course we made homemade ice cream to go with!

Popcorn bar on top of table cloth I simply made by using a large black marker

My Farmer, LP and I next to his train cupcakes
I made a "railroad track" out of kit-kats and frosting  in the shape of a 2
and I made train cars with graham crackers and oreos
that I placed on top of a poster board

LP enjoying his cupcake and ice cream

Overall, we had a great time celebrating LP's birthday!  All the things I did to create the train theme were very simple and fun to make.

What was your favorite birthday party as a child?  What made it so memorable?