Try a Google search for "Sesame Street Party Ideas" and you will get a wealth of ideas for games, decorations and websites that sell party supplies at great discount prices. If you order online, buying from another state means no sales tax. This could make up for the shipping cost.
Here are a couple of ideas that would be fun for 2-year old kids:
Big Bird’s Balloon Pop
This is a great game for small children to play and will keep them entertained and laughing. Place a chair in the middle or back of a room where everyone will be able to see what is going on. Blow up brightly colored latex balloons and hand one to each child and have them stand in line. Place the child’s balloon on the chair and tell the child to pop it without using their hands! Show them how to sit on the balloon and make it pop! We did this at one of my birthday parties when I was about 3 and my Mom put a piece of paper inside each helium balloon before she tied it to the back of each of the chairs around the dining room table where we ate lunch and had a cake with the traditional candles. When the game time began each took turns popping our balloon to find out what our prize would be ~ inexpensive age appropriate gifts she had bought at the five & dime. Little puzzles, HotWheel cars, coloring books, Pokemon card sets, etc. can all be bought at your local pharmacy in the toy aisle for under $2 a piece. Everyone gets to have fun popping their balloon, plus they get a party favor to take home. Just remember, if you have gender specific prizes to color code the balloons so you can have the boys receive the HotWheels and the girls receive the Polly Pocket dolls.
Rubber Ducky
Everybody knows that Ernie loves his rubber ducky and even has been known to sing a song or two about his favorite duck! Gather all guests in a circle on the floor to play this this rubber ducky twist to musical chairs! Pop the rubber ducky song into the CD player and have the children
pass the duck around the circle while the music plays. Each time the music stops, that person leaves the circle. The remaining duck holder is the winner and they get to take home the rubber ducky.
Pin the Smile on the Grouch
Make a poster-size grouch at your local service bureau such as KINKO's and tape it to the wall. Make smiles out of construction paper and put double face tape on the back of each one. Blind fold one child at a time. Turn then around a few times before they walk to the wall and place their smile on the grouch poster. The child with the smile that is the closest wins! Or make it a cookie monster and the child who gets the cookie the closest to the mouth wins!
Have fun! You are so lucky to have so many little kid parties to go. Mine are all grown up now and they barely want to have a sleep-over anymore let alone an organized party with games ~ that would be mortifying for their teen sensibilities, plus the toys they want are x-boxes or iPods and they cost an arm and a leg. Oh, to have a two year old again. They are delighted by a simple lollipop, a page of stickers with their favorite Sesame Street characters, or a helium balloon. Joy and laughter at that age can't be contained.
Teens are so busy trying to be cool that they can't be bothered to be impressed by something so "lame". But nothing is more rewarding than surprising your teenager with just the right gift and they let that smile that you know and love creep back onto their face even if it's just for a moment, until they see you looking and... poof the reserved, aloof, and kewl teen-aged demeanor has returned.