Birthday Party Ideas

[LittleSpirit02]

Need advice from moms (and dads!) - what are the best party games for kids turning or around 3? Dancing of course is always good. Freeze dance. ...What were your kids faves?

[Katzateer]

Keep it simple- if it can be an outside party I always had plenty of chalk so as the kids arrived they could entertain themselves while waiting for the party to begin. Music playing and outside toys so the kids can run around and enjoy being together. It is nice if you can feed them outside too- no mess to clean up.

For games, if you need ideas look at Girl Scout resources or pre- school ideas. A craft is fun but at a party it won't hold their interest very long- make it very easy.

Have fun!

[Tiggerlovr9000]

My kids liked anything that had to do with playing in water.

[HollyB]

When our twins turned four we did a fish themed party. I had one wading pool where the kids could splash in the water, one wading pool where they could fish (no water, just paper fish cut outs that I had stuck a magnet to. The fishing poles (a dowel with a piece of string attached) had another magnet on the end of the fishing line. There was another pool with sand in it where I hid sea shells for the kids to find. We had a cake with blue frosting and fish decorations. It was all easy to do, cute and fun.

[NJGIRL]

I did a themed party for my son for 10 years. lol. I think I did every theme there was to do for a boy.

One year will had a carnival theme. We rented a hot dog, popcorn, & snow cone machine. We even hired a magician and had a bouncer.


If outside you can buys the kids water guns. That will keep them busy for hours. That year I bought 50 guns from Rite Aid. That was part of our Army theme.

Most of the game playing came as they got older, but there is one game that the kids loved. It was kind of a reversed "hot potato".
I wrapped boxes inside of boxes. One of the boxes had a note in it that said "you are the winner". You start the music and the kids pass around the box. When the music stops whoever is holding the box gets to unwrap it. If it's not holding the note the game continues until the winning box is unwrapped. I never made the winning box the last box.

[kcrc]

It's been awhile since my kids were 3, but I think we have tried games like:

-whatever your theme is print out pairs of pictures related to your theme. E.g. If Nemo was your theme, print out two Nemos, two Doris, two Crushes, etc. Mix up the pictures. Have the kids spread out. Hand one picture to each child. Then, when you say GO, have them search around to try to find the other child with their matching picture. When they find the match, they should link arms or something like that to show they are done.

-spread out a blanket on the ground. Spread out small treats etc on the blanket. Have the kids toss a ring or two onto the blanket. Whatever is inside the rings goes into their goody bags.

- agree with the above poster...anything with water.

- we have done the fishing type games as well.

- a lollipop tree -where they select however many lollipops from a styrofoam tree. The bottom of the sticks are colored differently, and, based upon the colors selected, they pick prizes.

Good luck! The kids will have fun no matter what!

[princessgirls]

I love the 3 year old stage!! They are cute!!!!

Anything with movement is good, 3 year olds don't have big attention spans. Keep the party to under 2 hours, and you will be good!

Red Light Green Light is fun.
Dance Party

Enjoy!
Julie

[DisneyDog]

It won't take a lot to keep them occupied. When my son turned 3 (he is now 11) I had a Mickey Mouse themed party. I had been to WDW and brought back Mouse Ears for each of the kids, got each kid a Mickey themed coloring book, and gave each one a small box of crayons. They spent a while coloring, then we ate, then they played something else (can't remember!) and then had the cake and opened presents. If it's going to be a decent day, I would get them bottles of bubbles to play with, and the recommendation of sidewalk chalk is a good one. Maybe duck duck goose or musical chairs. Definitely keep it simple.