Thomas the Tank Engine Party - 3 year  For my sons 3rd birthday we did a Thomas party at our house. He loves trains!! Invitations: I had a friend make up invitations using vellum paper and Blue card stock (5x7) and black and white adornment at the top.  The invitation read:  All Aboard the train to ____ 3rd birthday!  A sticker of a Thomas character was mounted on a small piece of cardstock and then placed below this.  Below the sticker read:  Train departing at 12 pm, March 19th 2005 Train station number (our address) Please call the conductor at (phone number) to confirm your seat. All of this was printed out on the computer on the vellum paper.  Decorations:  Red, green and blue balloons. 3 on the mail box, 3 on the outside railing of our porch, 3 attachted to the food table, 3 attached to the light fixture in the kitchen.  1 Thomas Mylar Balloon. Red, green and Blue streamers for the kitchen and living room.  The Thomas table cloths, plates, etc. had just been redesigned, so the old design was on clearance.  I used a clearance paper table cloth and cut off the sides to form banners for the living room and kitchen.  I made my own railroad crossing signs out of white and yellow foam purhased at the dollar store.  I placed these on the windows and sliding glass door, my sons bedroom and the bathroom.  The one on his room said Happy Birthday on one side of the X and his name on the other.  I had some left over foam so I just made a bunch of the number 3 to place throughout the house too.  Plates, etc: Store bought Thoumas plates (clearance and new ones) and interchanged them with red plates. Same with Napkins.  Used Red cups for drinks, used plastic Thomas table cloth. Food:  It was at lunch so we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. For side dishes we had a fruit salad, cut up veggies, pasta salad, chips, tortilla chips and cheese dip, and lemonade to drink. CAKE:  This was the thing that was the most fun and I was the most proud of: I made a 3-D Thomas cake from scratch, with a coal car as well.  For Thomas: Made a pound cake from scratch.  Cooked it in 1 meatloaf pan (for base), 1 large soup can (for round part of Thomas) and 2 mini muffin pans (for behind round part).  I made the cake on a thursday, froze it to frost on Friday night before the party sat.  For the coal car, I made a choc. box mix in a 9x13 pan and cut in half to stack for frosting after it was frozen.  For the frosting I made a huge batch from scratch, colored it with Wilton icing coloring (blue) and frosted both cakes while they were frozen.  I had to place the cake on the top of a storage bin as it was so large.Once frosted I decorated with red, yellow and black icing where appropriate. I used an old glue stick with a funnel shape for the funnel.  For his face, I cut it out of one of the plates for the party and it fit perfectly on the front of the cake. I then used oreos with blue M&M's for the wheels (3 cookies on each side), the same for the freight car. I also used brown and yellow M&M's where appropriate on the cake itself. On top of the coal car for coal I was going to use oreos' but I had just gotten my girlscout cookies so I crushed some thin mints for that. The cake looked excactly like Thomas and my son was so excited!! Activities:  Downloaded free printable coloring pages off the internet so kids could color. Made "trains" for the kids to wear and play train with. Used old diaper boxes, covered with red, green or blue vinyl tablecloth I bought from the dollar store using packing tape.  Poked holes in the sides to run twine thru so they could wear them.  For wheels, I got blue plastic paper plates and cut them in half to mount on cars.  The kids then could tape the picture of the train they had colored on the front (Thomas -blue, Percy -green, James - red).  Favors: Bought blue bags at the dollar store, decorated with the child's name using stickers. Inside was a foam door hanger (dollar store) with a downloaded Thomas pic glued on the front and a saying appropriate for the child (i.e no sisters allowed, no brothers allowed, etc.) Individual spill free bubbles purchased on clearance, crazy straws, and a "train" whistle. The party was a huge success, and a lot of work, but worth every minute of it!!