Vintage Travel Party

What have I been up to? Well, since my own birthday party season is well and truly over for the year I've been helping a friend with a birthday party for her two kids - a brother and sister turning 6 and 4. It's sometimes difficult to do a combined party for young kids because the girls tend to want something very pink, and the boys... well, they don't. 

The party was held at a miniature railway so we decided to do a play on the train theme and do 'travel' with a vintage twist instead. Over the last month I've been busily making things out of old maps and collecting bits and pieces from op shops. This is what  I came up with.

For these Airmail style envelopes I used free downloadable fonts from Dafont.com like 'Dead Letter Office Seventeen' for the airmail stamp and 'stamPete' for the writing. The red and blue border was a free printable that's available here: airmail envelope. After printing them out onto white card on my home inkjet printer I glued an old stamp onto the top of each envelope.

Table set with vintage tablecloths from op shops. Pinwheels are made from maps. Books are memory books for each guest to write the birthday boy or girl a birthday wish.

Pinwheels with dowel from a hardware shop and maps from a map book
bought from an op shop for $3.

Memory Book bought from a craft shop and covered
in map paper.

Memory books - bought for $1.99 each and then decorated.

Main table. $3 sheet for a table cloth with a banner made from felt squares.
Picnic basket was filled with popcorn bags.

Picnic baskets are a great way to decorate a party table!

Paper plates which I decorated with a circle cut from a vintage travel book.

Decorations made from maps and split pins.

For the ladies - a picnic blanket with dress ups and a tea set.

Espresso cups make a cheap alternative to a kids tea set and there are
always loads of them at thrift stores. This set cost me $4.

Dress ups in a $4 picnic basket.

The kids had a fantastic time and the weather was gorgeous. This was a really fun theme to do, and could easily be adapted to a grown ups party or a wedding. If my budget was unlimited I would have liked to add some vintage world globes, binoculars, a compass or two, vintage suitcases, and some old aviator goggles. There is also lots of room to have fun with paper products such as passports and luggage tags.

In total I spent $56 on the styling including the invitations, decorations, the tablecloth, the dress ups, and the popcorn.

Now on to the next party....