Train Second Birthday Party- Twin Tuesday

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This Twin Tuesday is the final week of my Twin Birthday Series! (Check out weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4.)

Last weekend, we celebrated Reid and Luke turning TWO with a train themed second birthday party.  We had to have their party on a Sunday morning after Church because of the older boy’s sports schedules the rest of the weekend. Josh and I were laughing a little because that’s kind of the story of your life when you are the third and fourth child. You just go with the flow. 😉 They get some awesome big brothers out of the deal though so they are pretty okay with this arrangement.

The boys have recently become obsessed with all things trains so we thought that would be the perfect theme for their birthday! I designed the party invitation in Photoshop using Kevin and Amanda’s adorable font Teacher’s Pet. I purchased this train graphic set from Vivera Design on Etsy and used it on the invitation and throughout the party.

I designed a couple signs to hang over the dessert table in Photoshop (but you could do something similar in PicMonkey or another free program). I uploaded them to Walgreens and had them printed side by side on their 2 x 8 banner. I found a real departure sign and copied the aesthetic with basic shapes. And filled in some themed trains/destinations of course. I love how it came out!

Usually, I focus a lot on the food for my kids parties. I know people take time out of their day (and some travel!) to come and celebrate so I absolutely want them to leave with a full belly. Given that this was on a Sunday morning this time though, I decided to focus my energy more on desserts. The older boys helped me make caramel apples the night before. We drizzled some with white and milk chocolate and left some plain for the caramel apple purists. I bought a bunch of apple cinnamon churros and put them in these popcorn bags (that I cut in half so they were a more manageable portion) from Amazon.

We decided to serve a lunch of Reid and Luke’s favorite things. I made this slow cooker mac and cheese which was perfect and easy for a crowd. We had fruit, a veggie tray and chips and dip. All favorites for our brand new two year olds.

I made blue and red frosted cupcakes for the guests and these cakes for our birthday boys. A separate cake for each of them of course! I followed this infographic on how to make the numbers from a two 8 inch rounds and an 8 inch square cake. I frosted them completely with white buttercream, laid broken up Hersey bars face down in the shape of a railroad track and piped on the black frosting to finish the track. I added a little bit of grass with green buttercream and my favorite grass icing tip. I found these mini trains on Amazon to set on top which were a huge hit with the birthday boys.

All the banners from the party I made at home with cardstock from Hobby Lobby. I’ve had some letter stencils that I bought years ago from Hobby Lobby that I continue to use for all their birthday banners. I cut out the cardstock with my paper cutter – I’ve had this one for almost 10 YEARS and absolutely love it. I think I’ve had to replace the blade only once. I used a foam roller with white paint over the stencil, let them dry, punched holes in them with this small rectangle punch and strung them up. (I love using that size punch to string banners. I think it looks cuter than the standard circle hole punch and the string almost completely covers the small holes.) Super easy and quick!

For the train cars, I also punched out one inch circles with this punch to glue on for wheels. The engines were from the Etsy graphic set I mentioned earlier that I blew up and cut out of cardstock.

I made these silly little railroad crossing signs out of posterboard, paper plates and a wooden dowel. We didn’t count on the wind that day so they took sort of a beating but they were a fun touch! Josh went to down with some colored duct tape he had for a little train crossing on the front sidewalk. I thought he did such a good job- it was so cute!

These little guys had the best day. I may or may not have had to bribe them with a cupcake to put on their hats and take a picture before guests arrived. I’m pretty sure it was worth it. 😉

I made Reid and Luke’s birthday shirts by designing the graphic in Photoshop, printing on this iron-on paper and ironing onto $3 shirts from Hobby Lobby. Engineer hats are found here from Amazon and bandanas were .99 at Hobby Lobby. (With those prices, I obviously had to get one for everyone.)

Our third second birthday party is in the books! I loved the train theme because no characters were involved! What are some of your favorite birthday party themes for your kiddos? Be sure to pin these ideas for your next party!

Twin Birthday Series

Week 1: The best twin birthday party themes

Week 2: How to celebrate twin birthdays

Week 3: Two year old gift guide

Week 4: Two year old update