“Fiesta Friday” Planes, Trains & Automobiles

“Planes, Trains and Car Toys, There’s Nothing Quite Like Little Boys.”

What little boy doesn’t love anything to do with planes, trains and automobiles?!? Our three year old son could spend all day playing with these three things, which is why it made it such an easy decision to theme his 3rd birthday with those three things.

Welcome to another installment of “Fiesta Friday.” This week it will be a vintage themed planes, trains and automobiles birthday party. It all started with the invitation made by the amazing Delight Invite. I can not speak highly enough of this local So Cal company. They seriously go above and beyond anything you could dream of. I didn’t see exactly what I wanted on their website so I contacted them and started working with one of their graphic designers. She would email me different proofs and I would send back corrections, little tweeks here and there and she would make all the changes (free of charge). Then she sent the final draft and I was in love! I knew the party was off to the perfect start.. (For privacy purposes I can’t zoom in on the invite too much, but trust me they are amazing).

For decorations I knew I was going to have to enlist some help! Of course the hubby was the first to volunteer (I’m not sure he really had a choice). I also grabbed a girlfriend or two and started asking around for some things I could borrow so it would eliminate some of my crafting hours.

First was the driveway. I knew we wanted to grab attention as soon as people drove up to the house. A girlfriend of mine had some large traffic signs she had made for her sons birthday the year before and she was more than happy to let me borrow them. So we put the STOP sign at the beginning of the pathway to our house along with some balloons.

Next the hubby grabbed some duct tape and created some train tracks.

We made a railroad crossing sign, but changed the wording to “3 Year Old Crossing.”

I also wanted to have a sign as you entered the front door to thank people for coming. So I found some checkered duct tape at Hobby Lobby and taped the sides of a large chalk board. I also taped some checkered flags to the sign and used the same wording from the invites to thank people for “racing” over to Colton’s birthday.

As soon as you walked in I had another road sign and balloons.

Then the front wall was a huge labor of love. First we completely covered the wall with blue crepe paper. We then made a banner that said “Time Flies.” We backed yellow letters on red and then checkered paper for more color. I found a large red plane at Hobby Lobby as well as Christmas Snow that we used for clouds. The hubby was able to hang the banner and plane from some string and hooks which made the entire wall 3-D. I then ordered a few pictures from each year of his life and hung them in sequential order.

On the table on the same wall I framed some pictures that we had taken for his birthday by the amazing Eyelet Images. I had my son hold a vintage train that we also used for the decor. I grabbed some vases and started searching for things that I could use to fill them and make them look like a traffic light. Randomly enough my husband had been saving the lids from the food pouches that we feed our baby not realizing that I would finally find a purpose for them…it hit me…they look like wheels! I grabbed all the green, yellow and red ones and put them into one of the vases. The other vase I filled with some candy in the same colors.On the same table I had cake stands filled with candy trains and airplanes that we had made. The trains were super simple and you can just put together with a roll of lifesavers, some smaller chocolate candies, peppermint wheels and a glue gun. The airplanes were equally easy to make. All you need is either rolls of smarties or tootsie rolls, lifesavers and sticks of gum then you hold the entire thing together with a rubber band.

As you walked further into the house we had car tables, train tables, hot wheels tracks, airplane toys, and other themed toys for the kids to play with.

Another focal point was in the kitchen above the fireplace. I made a ribbon banner in all the colors of the party. Hung some vintage license plates, a stop sign, and used another traffic light. On the mantel I had more pictures of our recent photo shoot along with some vintage cars and a vintage train.

On the food table I made a sign that read “Refueling Station.” I backed it on the red and checkered papers to make it pop a little more. I also filled one more vase to make it look like a traffic light, this time I just used shredded paper.

For food we kept it super simple. We had “Spare Tire” Donuts, “Traffic Light” Fruit Skewers, some yogurt squishes for the younger kids and then we just decided to order a bunch of pizza.

For dessert I had plans to make a cake and cupcakes but a couple nights before the party I realized that was not going to be possible. So a friend suggested the local grocery store bakery. She said they had great prices and it was pretty tasty. So I took my own checkered cupcake liners (found at Hobby Lobby) down to Ralph’s and ordered a couple dozen cupcakes as well as a small personalized cake. I think they turned out pretty nice. It wasn’t anything fancy, but they tasted great and they were able to do the colors I wanted and it saved me so much time and money.

Outside we continued the theme and had one large table for adults to sit at with a road table runner and a vintage route 66 sign. We also had a kids table, some patio furniture and blankets spread out on the grass for seating.

We also decided to save some diaper boxes and use them to create an airplane and extra cabuses for our train. Again, thanks to the hubby for making these look so awesome!!

The only planned activity we did was a piñata. They hubby made a special trip to find a number 3 for me because the local party supply stores don’t have many options if you want a number other than one! Thanks babe!

For favors, I made bags to look like traffic lights by using a black bag and cutting out green, yellow and red circles. Then each person got a plane, train and automobile. The train & plane were the candies that I made. For the cars I found vintage looking hot wheels and each child got to pick the one that they wanted. 

And of course, I can’t forget to mention the personalized shirt that I had made on Etsy by TheCuteTee. She was able to use the invitation as inspiration for her design and she was super nice to work with.

Chugga chugga choo choo, Zoom, Beep Beep, the Birthday Boy was so Sweet, So thanks for racing over to see Colton Jackson turn 3!! Hope you enjoyed this trip to Colton’s 3rd vintage themed planes, trains and automobiles party!!!