Help! I am a complete novice when it comes to kids parties. So far I have managed to get away with small family gatherings to celebrate the birthdays. But this year ds would love to have some friends around to our home to celebrate. Now I only have 2 weeks to get organised :shock:. I am probably going to keep it small (about 4 little friends) and have some games and food for them. I can't really spend a huge amount of money on it. I am not sure whether to invite little cousins who are only 2 years old - and probably wouldn't join in the games so well. Things that have worked for you and those things that didn't work too well? Can anyone offer any good party ideas? It may well be raining - so we probably need to plan for an inside party. I love the theme ideas for parties - but ds would chose a Cars theme or a train theme which would be of no interest to his little female friends.

For spring....toddlers are ITCHING to get outdoors, so I bring the outdoors into them to get them 'in the mood' for the warmth! I set up the low/rectangle clear plastic tubs....one with bubbles, one with beans, one with sand, one with water......we set up in the garage on a huge tarp and decorated out there so the mess would be manageable.....they were all told to wear old clothes too! Then, for favors....I made little plastic buckets with their lunches in them and added their favors tied to the bucket handle so they could use them on the tables.....a toy shovel, a few bubble wands, and a little bag that had a car in it....they used them along with the toys I had at each station to play. We also spray painted a big board with the chalkboard paint and then had sidewalk chalk out for them to sit and use too....

Or...it's right before Easter...you could have an Easter egg decorating party and have them decorate a plastic Easter egg basket too.....or have an egg hunt outside or in the basement if weather is cold....

Thanks for your reply. Those are some good ideas.

Does no-one else have any wise advice for me :(? I am sure some of you must have more experience than me at thowing kids parties.

I have decided to have a zoo theme - I think it will be fun for all involved and I can get lots of relatively inexpensive party accessories/food/prizes with this theme. Ds is going to dress as the zookeeper (and little sister as one of the cute zoo animals). I have the decorations organised I think (green streamers, green balloons, a "Welcome to the Zoo" sign, stuffed zoo animals). I thought that I might help the kids make some animal headbands to wear instead of party hats. Food is easy too - still a bit stuck on the cake though as I am not a great cake decorator. My biggest problem at the moment is the games - anyone have any suggestions? I have decided on an egg treasure hunt and "pass the present" - but I think I need at least one more activity along the animal theme.

When my ds turned four, we did a really simple party. I wondered for the cake if you could do a basic green and use little plastic zoo animals and trees? Though that might be more safari-ish than zoo? Does your ds have a favorite animal? You could maybe do one zoo animals face, or I though about an orange and black striped (tiger) cake? I havn'e done any structured games at a kid's party yet, probably this year though when ds turns 5. Maybe a small little art/craft project of some type?

I say if he wants cars, go with cars, you might be surprised at the girls reactions. We have had 3 cars parties here, and the little girls were just as excited and into it as the boys.
theme coloring pages on the tables are always good to keep them busy while waiting for cake or snacks or whatever. I find mine on the internet.
any little kid game can be converted to your theme...
cars:
red light, green light
hot potato (using a small car, or a stuffed car if you have one)

safari:
put pictures of animals all over the space they will be in, and lead them around with cameras (party favor or pretend), taking pictures of the animals they see...


always a hit:
bean bag toss
freeze dance - put on music, the kids dance, at random moments, stop the music and yell FREEZE, everyone freezes. (for safari you could yell RHINO or something, that they would have to be still for.)

oh, I just read the post above mine... we did a jungle party one year and I got a bag of animals, and put them on the cake. I used green food coloring and coconut to make some jungle grass, on green frosting, looked awesome...

Games that went over well at our home parties: Hot Potato (we used a football instead of a potato), pin the steam stack (or whatever it is) on Thomas the Tank (I was rather proud of this - I free-hand drew a Thomas the Tank onto poster board, colored it in with color pencils, and then cut out the steam stack thing - one for each kid with their name on it - and then played the game.

Another one that is hysterical to watch while the kids play is to fill up some balloons (regular sized ones.) But don't overfill them with air. You can also shove in a small piece of candy into it if you want. Give a balloon to each kid and tell them they have to sit on it and pop it. If you didn't blow them up TOO much, it'll take them a few minutes to pop it to get the treat you put inside (I recommend a small, thin candy like a tootsie roll or something).

My son's last party was a bowling party (first big kid party), and I decided to boycott the take-home goodie bag. I'm a rebel. :twisted: