Last year my friends and I decorated for my church’s Christmas Party.  The theme for the party was “The Polar Express.”  Like any good party planner, I immediately signed into Pinterest.  I started searching for “Polar Express theme” ideas.  After searching through many creative sites, I landed on a few I liked.

On the first site, Partylikeacherry.com, the blogger created graphics and a party similar to what we were planning. I downloaded her free graphics and received great inspiration. One of her ideas was coffee filter trees.  I did a google search and found this Martha Stewart youtube tutorial on making coffee filter trees.  I ordered the filters from Amazon and we were on our way.

We decided to do a light blue plastic tablecloth with a candy cane striped square on top.  We purchased the topper in a roll Here and cut them into squares. The Centerpieces consisted of a large styrofoam tree with a silver star on top, three coffee filter trees, greenery that I got free at Home Depot (they have a bin of cuttings from their fresh trees), and various Christmas balls and bells. I printed the tag from partylikeacherry large and tied it to a silver bell.  I found several boxes of these at Home Goods.

We loved the large trains that chocolatesforbreakfast made and Marlene built these using black foam board. We decided we wanted a mix of round and long tables. We put black plastic clothes on the long tables to mimic the look of a train and added pine cones and greenery down the middle.  Marlene found the pinecones on her walk.

The youth in our ward hung lights, blue pom poms and these amazing snowflakes.

We decided to do a large Believe (like we’d seen on the website sarahlemmondesigns) on the stage. We were planning to add lights and make it fancy but found out during set-up that the extra fluff would interfere with the program. We ended up with a scaled-back version of Sarah’s stage.

We put a little entry table by the door as people were arriving. I used the printable from partylikeacherry, framed it in a silver frame and added other Christmasy Stuff.  I liked her printable because it brought the Savior into the party. I also added a little statue of the Savior with Children.

Chris did a super cute door cover at the entrance, preparing all the guests for the fun to come.

Everyone was asked to come in their jammies. I got the cutest nightgown from PajamaGram and had the best night with my family, my ward, and my cute grandson.  I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Check them out Here.

I love Pinterest and the inspiration that can be gained from it.  We used the creative ideas from several people and came up with our version of a timeless Christmas theme.