Because kids are always on the go, why not provide them with a way to
get there - via a Planes, Trains and Automobiles Party? You can include
popular icons, such as Lightning McQueen from "Cars" or Thomas and his
crew from "Thomas the Train." Then hop on board and take a trip to
Transportation Station. You never know where you'll end up.
Invitations
Create over-sized tickets inviting your guests to your transportation
party. Use a plane or train ticket as a model, and copy it via computer
and printer or with construction paper and felt-tip pens. Make the
destination the party house and include arrival and departure times.
Ask the kids to come dressed as race car drivers, railroad engineers,
flight attendants, cruise ship directors, astronauts or bus drivers.
Or, have them dress as tourists ready to travel the world.
Decorations
Hang up posters of race cars, big trucks, trains, planes and other
forms of transportation. Or, use posters featuring characters from
"Cars," "Thomas the Train" or "Midnight Express." Set the party scene by
creating the interior of a plane, train, boat or different cars. For a
plane, set up two rows of chairs, use a TV as the in-flight movie screen
and serve food on TV trays. Do the same for a train, except for the
movie screen. For a boat, set up lawn chairs in a row, serve the food
buffet-style and draw a shuffleboard game on the patio. Make portholes
using construction paper, with fish on the other side of the "glass,"
and hang them on the walls. Inflate helium balloons using a Balloon Time
Helium Balloon Kit and then tie them to chairs, float them around the
ceiling and create an archway of balloons for the kids to enter through.
Unfold a map across the table as a tablecloth, or cut maps into
rectangles and use them as placemats.
Games and Activities
- Play Musical Airplane Seats (or train or bus seats). Set up enough
chairs for all but one guest. Play music and have the kids walk around
the chairs. When you stop the music, the kids scramble for a chair.
Whoever does not find a seat is out until there's only one player left.
Give everyone a prize for playing!
- Have the kids make and decorate small paper airplanes. Use a
Balloon Time Helium Balloon Kit to inflate balloons and tie the planes
to the ends of the balloon strings. Let the kids "fly" their planes
using the balloons for lift.
- Encourage the kids to pantomime a mode of transportation, such as
driving a car, flying a plane, steering a boat or riding in a spaceship.
Let the other players guess how they're traveling.
- Provide cardboard boxes about the size of a large microwave oven,
so the kids can fit them around their bodies. Let the kids create a mode
of transportation - train, car, plane, boat and so on. Then help them
cut windows, doors and holes for arms and legs as needed. Have them
paint and decorate the boxes. When they're finished, let them travel
around the party in their new transporters.
- Take the party on the road and visit an airport, cruise ship, train
depot, or fire station, and see behind the scenes. Or, go to a car show
or race, or take them to a small-car driving range for action-packed
fun.
Food
Have the kids sit in their passenger seats. Pass out packaged trail
mix or pretzels before mealtime. Then serve individually wrapped
"airline" food, such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, a
cookie and juice box, on TV trays.
Make a Train Cake. Bake or buy one small loaf cake for each guest.
Have the kids decorate their loaf cakes to look like train cars, using a
variety of frostings, decorations, and candies. When finished, line the
cakes up to make a train. Or let them decorate individual cars, planes,
or boats, and line them up with their creators for a group picture
before you eat them.
Favors
Give the kids small cars, planes or trains to take home. Or, pass out
small picture books that feature trucks, rockets, and other
transportation themes. Let them take home their cardboard vehicles and
tie a helium-filled balloon to the back of each one.
Penny Warner has more than 25 years of experience as an author
and party planner. She has published more than 50 books, including 16
specific to parties. Additionally, Warner writes a weekly newspaper
column on family life, penned a column for Sesame Street Parents
magazine and has appeared on several regional and national TV morning
programs. Her latest book, HOW TO HOST A KILLER PARTY, debuted in
February 2010 from NAL/Penguin.
Balloon Time is the leading brand of consumer helium balloon kits
in North America. Balloon Time kits feature a helium-filled tank, latex
or foil balloons and ribbon, and are available at national retail
chains, party goods and grocery stores nationwide.