I need suggestions on simple fun things to do for my sons 3rd birthday. I am happy that they have the pinatas with ribbons now,so i do plan on having a pinata
Buy a small bubble machine at Walmart. I believe I paid $5 for mine. It was the BIGGEST hit! All the kids would just flock to it and didn't seem to be interested in much else. Also, I gave mini play-doh as gifts and they were fully entertained w/that as well.
I've found that working within a theme helps organize the whole party. If you are doing a Thomas the Train theme, you can do games around trains, decorate room like a train station, and give out goodies associated. If you are doing a fiesta, you can do pinata, water balloon relay race, egg on spoon relay race, pin-the-tail on the donkey, a craft. All types of things that don't take a lot of time, money or energy. Three year olds are happy with a craft, a few games, a puppet storytime or regular storytime, pizza and cake. Some people even opt not to have toddlers open gifts in front of guests, as they are still learning gift-giving etiquette, but will have child give goodie bags out as guests leave. Do not give out goodie bags while guests are still staying, as the children start asking for more goodies or someone else's goody. My favorite parties, though, are at party places, like Chuck E Cheese or My Gym where the staff does all entertainment and you just bring a cake and juice. Usually $50 more than at home, but so worth the extra without cleanup and prep time. Plus, the kids [and adults] have an absolute BALL!
feed ducks at a park, play on the playground, race cars on the sidewalk, give them all maracas/drums and let them pretend to be a band
We had a cupcake party, perfect for 6-8 kids. Bake nut-free cupcakes (Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker), put chocolate and vanilla frosting in small bowls, along with candy and chocolate sprinkles. Buy small colored candles, and have the kids decorate the cupcakes.
When they're done, put them on a cupcake stand ( Wilton 307-831 13 Count Cupcake Stand, sold on amazon for $14), and you have a great birthday cake for your child that the kids will love.
I recently had a b-day party for my 2YO. Kids ranged from 2-4. Biggest hit was a spin on something I saw here from another mom. I bought teddy bears from Dollar Tree, put a long ribbon around each one's neck and put the bears in a big gift bag. I covered them with scrunched tissue paper and had the ribbons from the bears hanging over the sides. Each kid grabbed a ribbon and on the count of three I pulled the tissue paper out, then everyone pulled their ribbons and out came their own bears. Just need scissors to get the ribbons off immediately. I knotted the ribbons instead of tying in a bow in case someone was a little too zealous with their pulling. Last thing I wanted was a LO with a ribbon but no bear!
The original post was to put ribbons on small toys and hide them in a bucket of sand. This would work great with cars or hard plastic animals but I couldn't find any inexpensive, nice animals and since most of the kids were girls I figured they wouldn't want girly toys like dolls that were in the sand. I found out later I probably could have just done the cars anyway. My DD received one as a gift and loves it!
Grab a broomstick, download some music and LIMBO! Kids love this and it's (nearly) free.
Piñata, Pin the tail, baloons, cake, ice cream cups and viola! you have a birthday "theme"! I hate theme parties! (can you tell?)
