Watson’s Train Party

We celebrated Watson’s 2nd birthday with a train party. Trains were definitely his first ‘favorite thing” {and are still in the top 3}, but I debated switching it to fire trucks at the last minute, because those are his newfound obsession. In the end, I decided to stick with the train theme and delve into fire trucks another year when he’s older and we can incorporate a visit to the fire station and adjoining museum into the party.

We opted for a much smaller and laid back gathering than I normally undertake {which worked out well considering as soon as Watson’s party wrapped up I had to head out the door to host a friend’s baby shower}. The guest list was smaller, the decorations were simple, and as much as it killed me to do so, I purchased {!!} every single food item we served. Nothing was made from scratch. {I’m mourning that part a little bit!}

We went with the bright blue, light blue and red color scheme. Balloons and a my little hostess met each guest at the door.

Paper bunting was about the extent of the decor, but with it hanging throughout the house it kept everything cohesive. {My favorite thing about paper bunting is that I unstring it after every party and restack the triangles by color. I have big ziplocs of colored triangles in the closet. When an occasion comes up and I need a bunting, I just mix and match my colors to get the look I’m going for! If you use heavy cardstock, the paper holds up surprising well. See? These red triangles have been used at last year’s Back-to-School Breakfast, Watson’s Cowboy Party, this year’s Back-to-School Breakfast and now this party and still look great!}Little partygoers could grab a conductors hat as they came inside. {I now have 84,000 of these leftover because almost no one wore them.}

The birthday boy knew he could get away with most anything on his big day and used it to his advantage. He sat at the table eating the food for about 30 minutes before everyone arrived! He also told me {about every 4 seconds} ‘Mommy, dat’s my boons!” as he pointed to the balloons.

I set up the food {store-bought subs, popcorn, cookies, pretzels and cupcakes} on the dining room table…some of it in the ‘snack train’. My husband makes fun of me for hoarding things, and I’ve had a handful of small boxes saved for a long time {let’s just say they moved into the new house with us} knowing I wanted to make this. It’s nothing more than boxes wrapped with bulletin board paper, stuffed with a block of floral foam {because they were too deep} and decorated to look like a train. I added a piece of wax paper before putting the snacks in each ‘car’ so that the food never touched the floral foam. It was an easy little project, but one of Watson’s favorite things.

I’m a big believer in cupcakes {as opposed to a cake} at children’s parties. A cake definitely looks prettier, but cupcakes are so easy to serve little kids. These mini cupcakes were perfect for Watson’s little friends.Emory has been very into recognizing and making patterns lately. We had an impromptu lesson when she helped me set the balloons up. Red, light blue, dark blue. Red, light blue, dark blue. And I love that she calls a pattern, a ‘patrin’!

And the sneaky little snacker remained.

I’ve all but given up on organized activities for the little ones. They seem to prefer to just do their own thing anyway, so other than setting out a bowl of crayons, they were left to just play with the toys in the playroom. I had high hopes of renting a trackless train to take the kids on a ride around the neighborhood, but we don’t seem to have any company that does that in our area. Luckily we do have a big train table. Not nearly the WOW factor of a trackless train, but it kept them occupied!

Of course our sweet friends were our favorite part of the party! Being the second child {or really just not being the first child}, Watson normally just plays with whomever is around. He’s recently become very fond of a handful of people and gets super excited about playing with them.

He loves little Eliza, who was born just a day after him, in the same hospital. They’ve been little friends since day one and get to play lots since big sisters Rosie and Emory are in school and dance together. William is his little friend from school, and William’s family moved into the neighbor about the same time as we moved. They love love love each other and absolutely tackle the other with excitement when they are together.

All of the little friends gathered around the table to sing ‘Happy Birthday’. He seemed indifferent about being sung to. No smiles, but no tears either. Pretty much sums him up perfectly! He seemed to be most intrigued by the flame.

Another reason to love cupcakes instead of cake. Blowing out the candles means spit all over everything! {His not-so-little overbite doesn’t help.}

His favorite way to eat a cupcake…

And apparently William’s too! Monkey see, monkey do.I hate that I didn’t get a picture of everyone, but I was trying really hard to not be a camera nazi, and to enjoy the party instead. Downside is that I didn’t get great pictures. Upside is that I enjoyed a couple glasses of wine with my friends!

I did grab pictures of a few friends…our neighbor Owen and Emory’s BFF Taylor…

Our friends Jack and William…

Our friends James and Callie…

We sent our friends away with a few goodies that they could pick up from ‘Baggage Claim’. They filled their bag with train whistles, bubbles and an assortment of candy. Oh and they were supposed to take their conductor hats home, too.While it was far from an over-the-top birthday extravaganza, we had a great time celebrating our big two year old surrounded by special friends and family.

Happy Birthday sweet Watson! I know your first couple of years have been full of chaos and change, which no doubt was probably a little confusing, but you have a mommy, daddy, big sister and little brother that love you more than you’ll ever know. I love that you put on such a tough front, but deep down {and in the quiet cuddles of the early morning} you are one of the most loving and snuggly kids I know. You keep me on my toes nonstop, and I know you and your brother will cause much trouble as you get older, but your place in our family is absolutely priceless. I may have already been a mommy before I had you, but you made me a mommy to a son for the first time, and it was by far one of the best kept secrets that I feel so blessed to have discovered. My wish is for you to continue to grow into a strong, Godly, independent man, but never forget that you will always be my baby boy. Always.

I love you.