How to Throw a Vintage Train 1st Birthday Party

This is a sponsored post, however the following opinions of Minted’s stationary and party decor are my very own! You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Hello, friends! I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for a couple of weeks. Planning a party is always more work than I anticipate!

It has been one year since my sweet little Landon came into this world. I can’t believe it! He’s grown and changed so much. He brings so much joy to our family,  and we can’t imagine our life without him. He’s the happiest baby there ever was; at least until he’s hungry and wants food now. He recently started crawling and exploring and wanting to pull himself up on everything. His giggle is one of my favorite sounds, and his smile is infectious. My heart is bursting with love!!

And who doesn’t love a little side-by-side photo of his growth?!

Ahhh I just love those chubby legs!!

Ok, enough sappy talk and on to his birthday party! Landon loves trains, and every time we hear one off in the distance he stops what he’s doing and makes this cute little “o” with his lips and listens. He gets so excited! I knew a train party would be perfect, and I decided a vintage train theme with some muted colors was the ticket (no pun intended..).

I love finding cute invites for parties I throw, and when I saw these vintage train ones at Minted.com, I was in love. They were perfect!

I personalized the invite with the party details, and then ordered these cute little “All Aboard!” wrap around address labels/stickers to go on each envelope. Minted also has an option to have the invitations addressed too, so I chose that option as well. It saved me so much time, and they looked much better than my handwriting!

They even had matching Thank-you notes to personalize, too! Of course I just had to get them. Thank-you notes never go out of style, friends!

Along with the invitations, I also made and printed out these little time capsule cards. I loved the idea of all of Landon’s family writing him a note for him to open when he’s 18. I think it’s so special!

On the morning on his party, I put black duct tape and made railroad tracks on our front porch leading up to the door. I also made an adorable “railroad crossing” sign too and hung it on the door. I distressed the sign to make it look worn and old. It was a great way to greet all the guests and give them a feel for the theme of the party.

The colors were mint and navy blue, which was perfect because mint is one of Jade’s colors  in her room as well and we had a few of her items that we got to use. I wrote Landon’s little “1st birthday” sign on the chalkboard, and set it on an old explosives crate that was my grandpa’s. I thought it was quite fitting for the theme!

We used my blanket ladder as train track behind the chalkboard, which was all my hubby’s idea. I was quite impressed! 😉

I set up a little basket for the time capsule notes that people wrote. It was so fun getting to see the special memories people wrote for him!

I printed out each monthly photo I took of Landon his first year and hung that up over the fireplace. Everyone loved being able to see how much he grew in a year!

I was so happy with how the food table turned out. We served brunch at the party, so we had bagels, meat and cheese, fruit, tater tot casserole, and chile rellano  (thanks to my mother-in-law for the last two!). Everything was perfect!

The kids have a wooden train set in our playroom, so we used it and made a little track around the food with some trains. It was the perfect touch to the theme!

I printed out the letters for the “All Aboard” banner on kraft paper and glued them onto navy blue cardstock.

The best part of the table of course were the delicious cupcakes. My mother-in-law made those as well, and they were amazing!

There were chocolate and lemon for the guests to choose from. My sister-in-law made the adorable little cupcake flags to match.

I covered tin cans with some paper and twine to dress them up for utensil holders and vases.

Outside, we had bubbles and chalk for the kids. We also made this cute cardboard train for photo opps!

We had to get a family photo in it earlier in the day too, of course! Those are two of the cutest train engineers I’ve ever seen.

I may be a tad biased.

I decorated the adorable vintage highchair my siblings and I used as kids for Landon’s cake smash. I made a fabric scrap banner in the party colors to hang from the highchair tray.

I also added a little “one” banner above the chair on the wall.

I’m all about the “healthy” cake for my little one, so I made him a banana cake with a cream cheese frosting sweetened with dates. It was actually really good!

That gorgeous small white cake plate is also from Minted. It was the perfect little plate for his cake!

While I thought the cake was yummy, Landon wasn’t so sure. He didn’t know what to do with it! He mostly touched the frosting, but had a worried look on his face, trying to figure out what to do with the gooeyness of it all. I had to help him dig in to get a couple bites. It was so cute!

As the kids headed out the door, they grabbed a little thank-you favor from the baggage claim.

A friend of mine had this gorgeous vintage suitcase that also happened to be minty colored. It was meant to be!

Inside each little baggy was an engineer hat, a train whistle, and gold chocolate coins. The kids could wear their hats for their train photo opp. outside, too!

It was the most perfect first birthday we could have given Landon. He was surrounded by people who love him dearly, and have watched him grow these past 12 months. Even though he has no idea what was actually going on, these pictures will be such a fun reminder when he’s older of the special day he had.

We also had a few 1 year pictures taken the week prior to his party that turned out absolutely adorable. here are just a few for your viewing pleasure: 🙂

(Photo credits: Lovebug Photography)

 We also ddid a cake smash shoot, too!

Ohhhhhh the cuteness. And that belly!

I can’t even. Why do they have to grow so fast?!

Thanks for visiting today! Hope you all have a fabulous rest of the week!