Aiden's 4th Birthday - "I want a CHUGGINGTON party!!" Not exactly an easy feat considering the wonderfully enchanting new show does not have a line of party products on the market yet. But loving my little boy the way I do and being a crafty individual I figured there had to be a way to make it happen. All of that creative thinking and hard work paid off when I saw the look of absolute delight on Aiden's face the day of his party. In fact the Happy Birthday banner is still hanging in my living room under Aiden's request.How we did it -
The colors that were my inspiration actually came from the bright paper gift bags I found at a local Walmart. The cheery red, blue, lime green and yellow are key colors from Aiden's favorite new show. Using pictures I found on the Chuggington website I printed high quality graphics on photo paper, mounted onto to white cardstock and adhered to the gift bags with 3D dots. After filling the bags with custom made goodies I used contrasting tissue paper for a fun, fresh look.
The same colors inspired me to create those delicious homemade chocolate cupcakes with fresh whipped buttermilk frosting. A few drops of food coloring made the icing extra special. The 'traintastic' cupcake toppers were created on photoshop and then the circles were adhered together with a toothpick in the center.
We recycled a used Happy Birthday banner from a previous years party by applying custom sized Chuggington graphics that were designed on photoshop.
Our 'chuggingtinis' (for the grown folks) are actually just simple kool-aid...of course no alcohol was served with children about!!
Loot bag goodies consisted of crayon boxes covered with printed Chuggington graphics, the back of the box featured a coloring page. Custom made coloring books were created using the coloring pages found on the Chuggington website. We also made some Chuggington stickers by printing our favorite designs onto sticker project paper.
And last but definitly not least came the fantastic Chuggington ice cream cake. I brought in a picture to our local Dairy Queen and they were able to make it happen.
57 comments:
You've outdone yourself! This is WONDERFUL!!! Really inspiring!
That comment totally made my day. Thank you!!
WOW...you did an awesome job!!
Wowwww! you pulled out a great party. the pictures came out great too.
Thanks for sharing with us.
I have a question. It's about the show. Are there any bad-guys in Chuggington, or at least characters that tease others and cause trouble?
BOOYAH - I don't think there are any "bad" characters but some characters of course have had moments where they have acted somewhat troublesome.. but it all works out in the end in the world of Chuggington.
Oh, another question. Do you think that Chuggington will have some competition with Thomas and Firends?
BOOYAH - My 4 year old has been a DIE-HARD Thomas & Friends fan since he was 18 months old and since seeing Chuggington has definitely lost some of his interest in Thomas. He still loves playing with his Thomas wooden railway set of course (it's his very favorite toy) but would much rather watch an episode of Chuggington than Thomas & Friends. Since Thomas is such a classic I doubt it will be going anywhere any time soon. I think Chuggington is just another great outlet for train lovers. Why not love them both? :)
Good point. Chuggington looks like a cute show, but believe it or not, Thomas has been around since the mid-1940's (Back then he was a book character). I doubt Thomas is disappearing any time soon, or ever. I know all this, and yet I'm from the USA.
BOOYAH - Well Thomas is popular far and wide. We are Canadian Thomas fans!! Big change to the show now with the animation being added. We are enjoying the new season.
It's a ptiy Chuggington doesn't air in my country. It would have been nice.
BOOYAH - :o :o *SHOCKED!!!!* I imagine it should only be a matter of time..the shows popularity is really growing. Wow we very rarely get to see something before you guys do. I'm very surprised!!
I'm sure it will (hopefully). But do you think they'll change the voice actors like they did in the Thomas show?
BOOYAH - I strongly doubt that unless they need to replace someone for whatever reason. Chuggington characters each have their own unique voice unlike the narration style of Thomas.
Well, it's been nice talking to you. Let's hope for the best.
amazing ideas my soon to be 4 year old wants chuggy party so you have given me some real inspiration-we don't have any chuggy birthday party stuff in uk either
Wow, my little boy loves Chuggington too. I don't really have the time to make everything for his birthday but it looks fantastic.
Thanks so much for the ideas, what an awesome job you have done!!!
My daughter wants a chuggington party for her 4th birthday - with your ideas it will truly be possible for my little chugger.
Traintastic!
Hi, I was just working on my Chuggington website and I stumbled upon your website and I have to say I am so impressed with your ingenuity in getting your Son's Chuggington party together! WOW those buns look very tasty indeed!
I'll do a post on my blog tomorrow sending parents here for some ideas on their Chuggington Parties. Hope this is ok, once again top job! I could almost go so far as to say Traintastic! lol
Hi! Your party looked fantastic!
Just a quick note to say I'm a designer for a company called Gemma International and we are currently designing Chuggington Party Products and greeting cards which will hit major stores in the UK early 2010!
Hope that helps make things a bit easier for other Chuggington 'Party Planners!'
so if its early 2010 for uk will it hit US at least by April? My son LOVES Chugginton and I prefer Chuggington over Thomas any day of the week. I was hoping to do his 2 Bday party with Chuggington. Does any one know how sales are handled from UK to US.
Hi Bobbie, if it doesn't reach you in time, email me - might be able to help u with invites tigerflower@kinect.co.nz
Wow! I love you! My son will be 3 in April and he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Chugginton and we were trying to figure out a theme for his birthday party! Being a crafty Mama myself, i can do this! GREAT idea and inspiration! Thank you thank you thank you! woo hoo!
I am well impressed ;-)
My son is Chuggington mad and we were looking to produce a Chuggington Birthday cake for his 2nd Birthday on March 10th, we have managed to purchase Chuggington eadible cake decorations for cup cakes but were looking for inspiration on the main cake, can you please provide the details on how this was produced??
Many thanks in advance
Darren England
Thank you soooo soooo much for your advice:) My son will be turning 2 on March 17th and I have been going out of mind CRAZY trying to find decorations, gift bags...ect for his birthday party! He absolutely love love looooves the show! I was considering buying Thomas stuff:(:( already! Good job Momma:) You have given me great ideas:)
Chuggington was actually created by the same people that help create the Thomas show.
I love your ideas for the Chuggington birthday party! I was wondering how you got the pictures to print out and not have them digitized(pixilated). Any input you can give would be greatly appriciated.
Your ideas are super creative! I have twins that adore this show and have a birthday coming up. I'd love to know where you found the pictures. I can't seem to find any on the chuggington website other than coloring pages.
Heres a high res one, I used for pin the sticker on the nose as my daughters party. hope this helps. http://floorplan.licensingshow.com/LCNS2009/Data/EC/Event/Exhibitors/242/productPhoto1.jpg
Thanks for the link to the great picture!! If anyone knows where I can find any more it would be greatly appriciated.
I found the images I used for our party by doing an image search with Google. I hope this helps :)
Thank you everyone for the compliments :)
Heres another good quality one...
http://www.stitchkingdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Chuggington_-_smaller_highres.jpg
If you google colouring in comps they make great goodie bag printouts too :)
email me if you have broadband - I might be able to help with invite tigerflower@kinect.co.nz
(will have these email address for about a month)
Does anyone else have any ideas where I can get more high resolution photos of Chuggington?
Thank You for sharing with us how you did such a fabulous party. My soon to be 2 year old loves Chuggington and I have been inspired to create him a "traintastic" Birthday Party!!
You did a fantastic job! As others have stated - I too have a great Chuggington fan - my son's 4th birthday is coming up and guess what he has to have for his birthday!! Would you be willing to share information on your invites!
Well done!!!
Have a great day!
So excited to have found this post. Sounds like our lil' boys are one in the same. My lil' one has loved Thomas since months old...and as of late, has been in a trance about Chuggington. He's turning 4 next week and I would LOVE to give him a surprise like this. Thank you so much for sharing your great ideas. You did a wonderful job! I'm def. giving this a shot myself. Lots to do, little time but the outcome will be well worth it. Thanks again!
Looks like you are the Chuggington birthday pioneer! Is there any way you will send out the documents you made in photoshop? I don't have photoshop so it would be great to print out what you made :)
Hi ..my name is epi, just read your post about chuggington birthday theme, it's totaly creative :-). My boy is a big fans of chuggington also, and i'm begining searching some idea on making birthday theme using chuggington :-). I feature your post to my blog :-
Just a quick one I would love to do the same thing but, am having trouble getting the images to print with out all the other menu items. i tried to save them to my desktop but, then it wouldn't pull up for me to cut and paste. what are your tips for getting these images to print? thanks so much my 4 year old is obsessed with chuggington now and it is giving me a huge break from 3 years of thomas..yeah!!!
Unfortunately I no longer have the images I used in this project. As I have mentioned before a multitude of images can be found by using Google image search. For those who are having trouble finding or using saved images you can try copying the image and then pasting into a word document. I printed out most of the photos used by resizing on word and printing onto photo paper.
If anyone is looking for any direct advice please feel free to email me at theitmom@gmail.com
Thanks everyone for the WONDERFUL comments!!!! This year we did a SpongeBob Squarepants themed dance party..pictures are coming SOON!! :D
I'm so excited to have found this. My boys turn 2 & 4 in May and want a shared Chuggington party and I can't wait to use these ideas. Thanks so much for the inspiration!!
I have been searching for days to find a way to get Chuggington on a cake. totally forgot about DQ. Thanks for posting, you saved my kiddo's birthday party!!
Brandi in Idaho
The banner idea is excellent becuase i have loads of them from various parties over the years so no wi have found a reason to save them. My youngest is turning 3 next week and we have a Chugginton birthday theme planned. When I showed my older son (5) your pics he alsmost thought it was his brothers party cos the names are so similar (my Son is called ADRIEN) uses the same alphabets as yours +R..:)
Where did you find pictures to print? The Chunnigton website I cant find any. Please post a link. thanks
my sones 1 in aug id like to do some thing like this for him thanks for showing me how. u did a wonderfull job. hope it was a great day
My son is going to be 2 in october and he loves Chuggington. I really want to throw a Chugger party for him. This blog has been all I can find with great ideas. Thanks so much for sharing and giving me much need inspiration and motivation for his party.
Just wondering how did you get the pictures from the Chuggington website. I can't find any..just backgrounds, videos, games, etc. I am planning a party for my son's 2nd birthday in October.
Coloring Book images can be found here - http://uk.chuggington.com/#/chugger/games/coloring
Other various Chuggington images - http://www.limekilnb.co.uk/lgpp31777brewster-koko-wilson-chuggington-poster.jpg
http://www.abc.net.au/children/chuggington/images/video-default.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/m7e1ww.png
http://www.shoppingblog.com/pics/chuggington_three_trains.jpg
wow!! what an amazing job! Im in Australia and my son LOVES the show so thought that I might try and do a theme for his 2nd b/day this year. Thanks for the tips!!!
What a wonderful job! I will definatly be borrowing some of your ideas for my son's birthday party this December. He'll be turning 2 and is more than a little bit obsessed with his CHUGGAS! Thank you for sharing!
i cannot thank you enough!!! my timmy is turning 4 & chuggington is all he wants! i cannot find it anywhere. you are a great mom & thanks for sharing!!
AWESOME!!! Thanks for the tip..My son is turning 2 in June and i was reallying thinking of just changing the theme since there was not much things for Chuggington,but this is just so helpful:) thank you again!!
thanks for this nice post 111213
Lynday-thanks for all your ideas! we want to do a chuggington first birthday party for my son Jaxon..now that you've done it, any additional tips for me to make it a special first birthday party!?
Devon
Boohah: Chuggington is on the air in the US on Disney Channel every weekday at 7.30 AM EDT. It's gong to be on Disney Junior Channel, too, every weekday at 1.30 PM EDT. Hope you have Disney at your house!
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