Just like last year I am bagged down with work and other sundry life events and have waited until just about the last minute to plan my daughter's birthday party. I desperately need ideas. I was hoping my Mamapedia gals out there could shoot me some if I gave you some of her personalities and likes.
My four year old is a tom boy at heart but wants to dress up and play with dolls. She is rough and tumble and is almost never down for the count. She has Hello Kitty sheets but loves Minne Mouse, Barbie, and Tinkerbell. She is small for her age but keeps up with her older sister. We are having the party at the house and it will mostly be family and friends. We decided not to invite daycare friends yet mainly because the carpet in our living room is deplorable. It will be between 80-90 degrees on her birthday and while we have a pool it will not be ideal for swimming because the water will still be relatively cold. She has a whole slew of likes and dislikes but most of it also follows her sister - if she likes something so does the 4 year old. I've looked into bounce houses but most are booked months in advanced or are more than I need (I don;t want an obstacle course just a simple bounce house) or more than I want to pay. Can you shoot me ideas please? I need to get things in relatively handled this week. Thanks for any input.
Oriental Trading has a ton of crafty things. If she likes fairies, then let them bash a flower pinata, give them each a wand and "pixie dust" (glitter) and let them draw with chalk, and blow bubbles, etc. I kept DD's birthday pretty low key. We put out the sprinklers, got some inexpensive inflatable palm trees, some dino skeletons and some dirt. They were happy.
http://www.orientaltrading.com/api/search?Ntt=faries might give you ideas
My most recent party was an Angry Birds party - don't know if your kids play that game, mine love it - even the 3 year old. It's pretty non-gender specific.
I found a stuffed angry bird. I wrapped shoe boxes in paper and stacked them, and the kids threw the angry bird at the shoe boxes. Whoever knocked down the most boxes in 2 tosses wins.
The dollar store had an angry bird poster, so I hung that on the wall and cut out beaks with construction paper - pin the beak on the bird.
I had a bean bag toss game where kids had to throw the small stuffed angry bird into buckets. Whoever got the bird in the bucket the most times in 5 thows won.
Then pizza and cake and we were done.
I'd just do a fairy party. They can make wands, decorate wings, and you can do a treasure hunt or something.
For my daughters 4th, I actually bought dresses and wings for all the girls for like 5 bucks, from heavenly halo, and I got the boys bows an arrows....the kids had a great time.
You forgot to mention in the invited list... IF this is a drop off party or the parents can stay. Being this is for only 4 year olds.
And if swimming... parents would tend not to want to just drop off their kids.
And per supervision.
When my kids were that age, we didn't have a "party" for my kids' birthdays.
But once they started elementary school, then we did. But it was small. Per budget and just keeping it all sane.
So ONLY their, friends. Not an entire class at all.
Kids that age, get active with anything.
Just have simple games for that age. Treasure hunts too.
They have fun with anything.
Carnival theme with carnival type games.
For my daughter's 4th we did a Wonder Woman theme. But I think our activities would work for other themes as well. I could see a few changes making this a Tinkerbell, generic super hero or maybe even Minnie Mouse. I kept it simple. I bought cardboard bookmarks at Michaels (cheap) and stickers (I found Wonder Woman and super heroes at Michaels). The kids decorated book marks while we waited for the guests to all arrive. We did a save the duckies activity. I put super hero ducks in cups, covered them in water and froze them. The kids were given toy hammers and spoons to save the frozen duckies. THey took the duckies home. I put a red table cloth ($1 store) on the ground and put a wood plank over it (just a random piece of wood I had in the garage). The kids had to walk over the "lava" to save a puppy (stuffed animal). Then I put a six foot ladder out and put a kitten (stuffed animal on top) and let the kids climb up (we had two adult spotters) one at a time to "save" the kitten. The last activity was the favorite. I bought styrofoam trays and told them they were solid stone blocks. They needed to use the "super hero powers" and crush the stone. I held the trays and they karate chopped the "stone". You could spray paint them with the stone paint. I did some because I happened to have it on hand. If you have to buy it, it's expensive. Change the scenarios a bit and what is being saved and you could plug in just about any character you want. My SIL "stole" my ideas and did a pirate princess theme with her daughter (walking the plank, get the treasure out of the ice, capture the flag, etc.). It was pretty easy, cheap and loved by all the kids...even the much older siblings that came. I don't do full blown goody bags, but I sent them home with their ducks and a Wonder Woman cup ($0.87 at Walmart), the boys got super hero cups.
Scale back. She's 4. Parents get so crazy about spending a fortune on bounce houses and ponies and so on. Go back to basics. Kids just like to have fun. Don't have a zillion people - and as you go forward, please fight the urge to "invite the whole class" - it gets overwhelming and the birthday child gets lost in the shuffle.
Go simple. Go traditional. Put out the sprinkler and let them run through it. Run a few old style games like sack races (everyone has an old pillowcase or two) or potato races (get some cheap wooden spoons at the dollar store). Go on line or get a book at the library with the "rules" and ideas. Have an egg toss or water balloon toss - everyone can participate (littler kids can stand closer together). Everyone rinses off with the hose and sprinkler. Other adults can help supervise.
A few of my neighbors have gone overboard (they had an animal guy with 2 llamas, 2 goats, a rabbit and some chickens, plus portable pens). Others had bounce houses and 30 kids - no one had a chance to bounce due to long lines, and there were lots of injuries.
Another family did sack races and 3 legged races, then they did a craft with little foam or wooden frames from the craft store, plus foam stick-on shapes (for the foam frame) and macaroni shapes (put on the wood frames, then coated with spray paint by the adults. Someone took a picture of each kid or family and emailed it after the event - everyone went home with a frame.
We always did treasure hunts - bought a bunch of those plastic eggs and put a few small candies or toys or stickers in each one. We hid them in the yard, in flower pots, in notches of short trees, etc. Each child got a "color" to search for - we put a sticker or a piece of paper colored with a crayon on a plastic collection bag. Everyone went to find their own color - that let the little kids have a chance against the big kids who were faster and taller and better with colors. The eggs became their prizes, so no goody bags in addition. Kids even cooperated to help everyone find their own egg - so it wasn't competitive or cut-throat, just fun. We kept our parties small - none of this "whole class" bit. So everything was affordable, and the birthday child was the true center of the celebration instead of just one more body in the midst of chaos.
Guess which party guests had the most fun?
Keep it simple
Have a 9am PJ party at the park. It should be cool at that time. The kids can play. You could have some organized activities such as a scavenger hunt, etc. Serve donuts, let the kids put their own sprinkles on. Send a cupcake home with each kid. Have a contest for the cutest PJ or most unusual.
Kim
S. - DFW Cake Decorating P.
My daughter loves horses. At some nearby horse stables we had 2 teenage girls and their mom (who just was there for support for her daughters) give a "cowgirl" birthday and they gave everyone a lesson in horse care and safety (5 kids) and a couple horse rides each in the ring. They charged me $15 each! They both were so happy to make some money...yet to me that was so cheap! My daughter LOVED it. So, if you know of any horse stables near you find out who to call for the pony club and see if there are some 15 year old girls who want a job for a couple hours!
