Birthday Party Help! - Stevensville,MD

At the last 2y olds party I went to we did the basics. The kids ranged in age from 2y- 10y.

- limbo
- pinata
- red light/green light
- dora says (simon says)
- balloon toss

For my son's second.... We did a fireman theme. I found fire hats pretty cheap. We had the cake baked in the shape of a fire truck. I made paper fire flames and had the kids "put out the flame" and when the paper would go down from the water, there was a pize behind it. (Water guns to put out the flames). I cut out the bottom of paper cups and put try again, you win, sorry on the bottom and they would pick one out of the bowl of water. (babies love water). We did hide the stuff kitty and had the kids be the firefighter and find the kitty... (Of course it was pretty simple to find). I made the icecream into scoops with the cone as fire hats with the scoops as faces and told the toddlers they had to eat it before the fire melted their fireman... It messy, but made great pictures and a lot of fun. I had the kids wrap up an adult with the "water hose" which was just a rope. I had a jumbo firetruck puzzle that the parents had to help the kids put together. We practiced stop drop and roll... The toddlers loved the "roll." I even had the kids wear rain boots if they had them... We read a firetruck story and to end the party, we took a quick trip to the fire department. I arranged this ahead of time and told them to keep it to 5-10 minutes. As party favors I brought firetruck coloring books and crayons from the dollar store as take home gifts. They got a chance to keep the hats too... It was great pictures and video. Of course none of the kids remember. Now do note, about 6 of my friends and I had babies within 3 months of each other, so we did base everything as having toddlers, but the older preschoolers and adults who atteneded had fun as well.... Hope something here sparks an idea for you. Have fun and congrats on your baby hitting another milestone!

My son will be 2 in early Sept. We are having a farm theme party. I bought from the following 2 websites: www.buycostumes.com and www.birthdayexpress.com I got everything on sale and/or clearance. It has been a couple of weeks but they probably still have some things. Birthday Express even has items specific to a 2nd birthday which I had not seen before! I don't plan on games b/c I think the kids are too small. My son would not cooperate! I am planning on rides on his toy tractor, play time in the yard and LOTS of bubbles! Remember, at this age most kids play side-by-side, not together. Good luck!

At that age, games that are not too competitive: ring around the roses, Simon Says, and Follow the Leader all help children with listening skills. You could do a storytime and craft activity around whatever theme you choose. I love working with themes because it helps structure the party. For one 2-year-old party (we have a September child, too), we did a "Down on the Farm" theme, so we did a Bob for Apples dunk for the adults and the little ones could try to use a bucket on a string to grab an apple from a kiddie pool; we bought a pile of hay for less than $5 from a farm and got handkerchiefs for guests from Oriental Trading Co. Kids put on kerchiefs and we took Polaroid pix of them on our ride-on mower. We had told everyone in invitation to have child dressed in jeans and t-shirt as a cowhand. You can still do photo shoot of them in front of haystack holding a rake. Add to their goodie bag along with a thank-you card to save time on doing them later if you want. Ask a friend or relative to do face painting. Stories, games, craft, snack, cake & punch, and goodie bags should be more than enough. If it's not, and you run out of activities, last-ditch effort is a Bob the Builder or farm-type movie, which should give you a minute to talk to your adult guests. Get wedding bubbles from a party store and let the babies blow bubbles with their parent. All of these activities can be done regardless of the numbers and the weather (if you don't mind the mess). Craft could be finger paint a picture of farm animals and be able to name them. There's probably a farm-type Bingo set at a party store, too, but look for the game stamper instead of the chips. It's nontoxic and you don't have to worry about a baby swallowing a chip. Everyone had a ball. I think adults had more fun than the children. If you don't want a mess or have a small space to consider, there's always taking the party to Chuck E Cheese, MyGym or The Little Gym.

My son just had his 2nd birthday and instead of having organized games, I did stations that the kids/ moms could rotate around at their own pace. The biggest hit was the bounce house. I ended up buying one from www.bounceland.com It is NOT industrial quality like the ones you rent, but I could buy one for the price of renting it twice. Right now we have the bounce house set up in the basement and my son LOVES to go down after breakfast and jump. I imagine it will be wonderful to have in the winter months as well.
My son's party was a Thomas the Train theme. I made individual train car cakes for each child (from a cake mold from Williams Sonoma), which was a huge hit as each child could select their train from the "cake". I have been to many 2's parties where cupcakes are used - it makes life easier for everyone. For the party favor, I purchased the train conductor hats from Oriental Trading and had a local woman embroider each child's name on the hats - they turned out GREAT!! Personally I appreciate one "nice" birthday favor versus a bag of little stuff.
Hope this was helpful! Good Luck!!

If all the kids are going to be 2-year-olds, I think it is way too early to try to have organized games. I saw some parents attempt this at a 4-year-old's party and it was like herding cats to get all the kids coordinated for a game, so they gave up. For the first few years I would recommend just having open play for the kids.

When both of my sons turned two, I had their parties at parks with playgrounds. Then, no matter what the ages of the kids, they can all just go and play. If there is a kids musuem in your area, they often have party rooms, and will include museum time for the kids. They normally have an area for the younger kids as well. Organizing games for 2 year olds is not easy! I'd just go with free play- maybe a moon bounce?
Have fun!

What are his likes? What is he in to?? You can ask him what kind of birthday party he wants~ I took my kids to the birthday party stores and they got to pick their theme.. or if you dont want to deal with a crazy toddler at a store then go online to partyexpress.com or iparty.com and look through the themes for him!!
birthdaypartyideas.com is a greeat...no FAb website with great ideas. Parents submit their party to get rated and the ideas are all posted based on theme and ages!!
Oriental trading is another good website and has tons of crafts and cheap stuff- especially if you are having a big birthday party!!
Best of luck!

Updated

What are his likes? What is he in to?? You can ask him what kind of birthday party he wants~ I took my kids to the birthday party stores and they got to pick their theme.. or if you dont want to deal with a crazy toddler at a store then go online to partyexpress.com or iparty.com and look through the themes for him!!
birthdaypartyideas.com is a greeat...no FAb website with great ideas. Parents submit their party to get rated and the ideas are all posted based on theme and ages!!
Oriental trading is another good website and has tons of crafts and cheap stuff- especially if you are having a big birthday party!!
Best of luck!

www.birthdaydirect.com I found themes on there that no one else had...

Use evite... its cute and free

Happy Birthday to your little one!