We love to share a theme that we’ve never featured, and a train party is a first for us! This retro train party was styled by My Little Party Australia, and featured a colour scheme of classic navy, red, white and silver. Emma from My Little Party Australia reveals all the details below – read on for more!

A retro train party: choo choo!

What a ONEderful year! Welcome to Samuel’s first birthday! Samuel’s parents wanted to celebrate his first year on earth with a classic, vintage yet smart celebration! Think navy and red –boyish charm meets a stylish party.

The styling featured custom made railroad crossing signs, pinstripe train conductor hats, and cute little red wooden trains amongst the smartest table setting with cute hedge plants in silver pots, train-inspired drinks and delicious desserts! It was such a wonderful event celebrating little Samuel. The retro railroad first birthday party will leave you dreaming of playing trains with your favourite little one! England, trains and years gone by were all  inspiration for the decor. The party has train-loads of style and fun for everyone on board the birthday express!

My vision was brought to life with a smart train design created especially for this party. A magnificent welcome sign was created, along with a gorgeous invitation, menus, bottle labels and gift tags by Design My Party.

I loved how a classic watercolour train along with winding train tracks were incorporated in the design and delivered within so many pieces that the party guests enjoyed throughout the event. I chose a palette of three different colors, red, blue, white with some silver accents. I chose white for the the foundation, and introduced some light timber as well.

The table was set with red and blue square paper plates, from Favor Lane Party Boutique. The wooden cutlery was set in blue napkins, and finished off with a cutlery wrap that featured a personalised birthday message for Samuel. Every milk bottle featured a wrap, with the number one, topped with a red and white striped paper straw. The water bottles were given a coordinated label with the message ‘chugga chugga choo choo’. Every setting included a menu highlighting the delicious food that was in store.

Oh La La Balloon Bar provided three large round balloons in the colors red, navy and blue. We positioned one at the entrance and the other two either side of the food table, against an incredibly colourful backdrop by Epic Installs. Silver script balloons from Favor Lane Party Boutique that read ‘choo choo’ hung from the backdrop. I love working with natural-looking materials, we used a hessian cloth, wooden crates and rounded up decorations in reds and blues. A variety of trains brought in lots of railroad touches.

Entertainment is an essential element of every party. I felt that one-year-olds would benefit from more of a free-play scenario. So I organised for a wooden block activity station including train tracks, train accessories and trains which gave the little ones and the grown-ups too an opportunity to use their imagination, and create fun retro railroad stories. The littlest of the party guests had their very own area to play complete with a Jupiduu slide, Misioo ball pit filled with Misioo white balls, a rocker, and mini white teepee by Perth Toy Hire.

Food is very important for mini train engineers, so we had a fueling station complete with diesel fuel and a water tower to quench their thirst, and a delicious menu that not only satisfied their hunger but excited their taste buds. The menu created by our resident Chef, Tony Craven, was as follows: caboose of caramel popcorn, choo choo sandwiches, humus and baba ganouj, crudites and crisp breads, railway light cookies, sausage coals, toot toot vanilla cupcakes and wagon-lit mini-popsicles.

We had the great pleasure of Cakes 2 Celebrate by Lisa create the incredible retro railroad masterpiece, featuring a personalised birthday message for Samuel, topped with a handmade train. Toot! Toot! Little Samuel was eager to show his gratitude to each little party guest, so I organised a baggage claim where his little friends could collect a thank you gift. Pinstripe cotton train conductor hats were a big hit with all the little party guests. Hooray Day created a navy train image on calico bags which featured a wooden train whistle, and a delicious cookie featuring a message, Samuel is 1. Each bag was topped with a cute tag that said Chugga Chugga Thank Choo from Samuel. These tags along with the other event stationery were created by Design my Party.

I was delighted a custom made photo board was made to hold precious memories of Samuel by Etched. Twelve photos represented the first twelve months of little Samuel’s first year of life presented on a light timber board. Samuel’s name was etched in black, along with his date of birth, and a fabulous gold train. There is nothing more important to us than long-lasting memories from a my little party event. Kerri Mackintosh is an incredibly talented photographer who captured all the important details of this little party so well.

Vendor Credits

Concept, coordination, furniture & styling | My Little Party Australia
@mylittlepartyaustralia
Backdrop | Epic Installs @epic_installs_
Balloons |  Oh La La balloon Bar @ohlalaballoonbar
Cake, cupcakes, cookies, mini-popsicle | Cakes 2 Celebrate by Lisa @cakes2celebratebylisa
Design | Design My Party @designmypartystudio
Entertainment | Perth Toy Hire @perthtoyhire
Loot Bags | Hooray Day @hooraydayau
Photography |  Kerri Mackintosh Photography @kerrimackintosh.photography
Signage |  Etched @_etched
Tableware |  Favor Lane Party Boutique @favorlaneparty