This is a party theme that is easy to put together, very budget friendly, and often a favorite of kids aged 2 to 3-years-old. Essentially, the party is all about the party child. Given that kids this age are learning and recognizing who they are, having a party that reflects them will be a lot of fun for this age. For you, it is super easy to put together!

Here are the tips:

1. Ask your guests to dress in the same outfit as your child will. Make it something simple like jeans and a blue T-shirt. When everyone walks in they will be dressed exactly as your kid.

2. Decorate with your child’s favorite colors using balloons, streamers, and tableware. If there is a favorite candy, have these scattered around the table as well. Print off pictures of your kid and have these hanging around the party room as well. You could also attach the pictures from streamers for additional fun decorations for when the guests arrive at your party.

3. Have several of your child’s favorite toys on a table and Play Dough for the kids to make replica creations of your kid’s favorite things.

4. Have the birthday kid lead the gang in a round of “Simon Says,” but use your child’s name instead of Simon.

5. Play “Pin the Nose on _ (Your child’s name.)” Print off a very large picture of your kid and hang it up. Cut out a big red nose and have them use this to try and pin the nose on.

6. What are some other fun games your child loves? Charades? Tag? Hide and Seek? Freeze? Mother May I? Red Light, Green Light? Whatever those favorite games are, if you have the room, play them.

7. Take pictures of each guest with your child, and place it into a frame to be taken home by the guests for the party favor. If you have a digital camera, these pictures can be printed off and placed in the frames. Alternatively, send the frames home and send the pictures with the thank you notes afterwards.
8. Have a cake with a picture of the birthday child on it. Make it his favorite cake and icing flavors.

9. Serve your child’s favorite foods, even if outlandish, like Fruity Pebbles, serve them up to keep with your theme. It will add fun to the party menu.

The point of the whole party is to celebrate the uniqueness of your child and to share this with everyone at the party. It is easy, budget-friendly, and because there is no one just like your kid, it will be very special!

Banana Splits are so yummy, especially for kids during summertime. One of the BEST parts of this ice cream classic is that you can either make your own concoctions or stick to the tried and true. If your child loves to make and eat banana splits, a great summer-themed party could revolve all around making, judging, and eating them!

Make invitations using bright yellow construction paper cut out into the shape of bananas. Write all of the party details on one side, and draw brown spots on the other. Alternatively, hand-deliver real bananas with tags tied to them that include all of the party details. In the invitation, ask the guests to bring their own favorite ingredient for making banana splits along with them, or have them bring a banana that they dress up in some way, i.e. with a hat on it.

Decorate the party area with yellow and brown balloons, streamers, and party ware. Have a large piece of butcher paper lying flat on a table. The kids can draw a huge banana split together and hang it in the party area.

Make the banana splits on the party table. Be sure to arrange the table so that there are dishes with all of the toppings laid out, as well as spoons, bowls, etc. You may want to pull the chairs away from the table while the kids are making their sundaes.

The main activity of the party will be making banana splits. You can have a competition where the kids make their splits using the ingredients you have laid out and the special ingredient they brought. Hold a tasting competition, where everyone gets to taste everyone else’s and wins prizes.

If you have had the kids bring a banana that is “dressed up,” have a competition to see whose is most creative, the funniest, etc. Hand out banana candies as prizes and make sure everyone wins!

Play Pass the Banana like Pass the Parcel.

Have the kids jump up and down and do “banana splits!”

Hold a series of relay races with bananas. Divide the kids into two teams, and have a bowl of bananas at the opposite end of where the kids race from. When a kid runs down, he or she must peel a banana, eat it, place the peel on his or her head, and race back to the team. The first team done wins!

For another relay race, have the kids peel a banana at the start, race down to the other end and make a mini banana split, eat it, and race back. The next kid must do the same. The first team done wins!

Today, more and more parents are opting to request No Gifts on their kids’ party invitations. It often doesn’t work out very well, as some people adhere to the guideline while others ignore it altogether and bring a gift. The fact is people want to bring something to a child’s party, as a result, to get around embracing the concept of traditional gifts or no gifts at all; there are creative ideas that offer an in-between the two options:

1. Host a book exchange and organize it in a few different ways:
-Guests bring a wrapped gift and everyone takes one home.
-Some open the books on the spot; others wait until the kids have gone home.
2. Give your child an experience rather than a party. If you allow friends to be invited, let the experience be the celebration, not the stuff.
3. Hold an inexpensive gift exchange (under $10) so that every child receives a gift.
4. Request art supplies and donate them to a shelter.
5. Hobbit Practice - Better to Give than to Receive! Each child receives a gift, although they do not bring one.
6. Request a donation to a great organization like http://www.heifer.org/.
7. Contact a charity that is a favorite and ask for a Wish List, i.e. a list of stuff the organization really needs. As an example, the Humane Society may need leashes, collars, toys, etc. Request guests bring these items in lieu of birthday gifts to donate and make the wishes come true!
8. Whatever donations are brought to the party for a favorite charity, have the birthday child deliver the donations to his chosen charity.

This is a great round-up of ideas that are alternatives to traditional party gifts. Also, keep in mind, if you are concerned about the amount people will spend on a party gift for your child, it is appropriate to write in your invitation, Gifts under $__ would be appreciated. Putting a price limit guideline on the invitation can help to keep gift-giving budget friendly.

Happy Gifting ─ or not!

A perfect outdoor winter venue for a party is an ice-skating rink! It is usually quite inexpensive to have a group skate, and facilities typically offer a party room to host the lunch/cake/presents. For kids age 6 and up, this is a very good idea. Planning this theme can take as little as 30 minutes as well. So, if you don’t have a lot of time and want to hold your party outside of your home, this may be a great idea for you.

If so, here are a few suggestions and points to keep in mind as you plan:

• Call the facility 4-6 weeks in advance in order to secure the party room.
• You may want to inquire if there is a skating instructor available to help the beginners learn to skate, and to teach a few moves to those kids who already know how to skate.
• Ask the facility if you are able to bring in themed party decorations for the party room. The colors, blue, silver, and white would be good choices for this theme, though any color scheme will work here. Balloons, streamers, and party ware are all easy decorations to bring the party room to life.
• In your party invitations, make sure to provide the details of the facility. Also, guests’ parents will assume that the host will be paying for the kids to skate. It is a good idea to make it clear on the invitation that the kids’ skating tickets will be taken care of.
• You will need to decide if you will also pay for skate rentals. If so, ask the parents to provide their kids’ shoe sizes to you when they RSVP. You can rent the skates upon your arrival and have them waiting for the kids when they arrive.
• If you want guests to pay for their own skate rental, note this plainly in the invitation. The invitation can be in the shape of a skate with all of the details included on it.
• The main activity of the party will be skating! So, there is very little need for you to plan additional activities or games. Let the kids get their skates on and enjoy the rink.
• When the kids arrive, provide them with nametags or something they can pin on themselves so you can easily identify which kids in the facility are attending your party. This can also be a party keepsake.
• When the kids become tired, have them take a break. Often, skating facilities provide pizza or some other party food that kids enjoy. If you’d like food, be sure to make this arrangement with the facility beforehand.
• If lunch will not be provided, handing out a bag filled with little treats, such as a bag of chips, piece of fruit, granola bar, popcorn ball, etc., may also be a good idea.
• For a party goody:Provide a little bag of skating stuff: a pair of gloves, hot cocoa mix, lip gloss (for chapped lips!), skating stickers, skating keychain, etc.
• Another idea is to send home decorated skate cookies placed into cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon.
• Make sure to take a snapshot of the kids on ice to include in your thank you notes.

It’s winter outside and many people are actually snowed in and/or digging out from the snow. Your kids may be developing cabin fever, and are looking forward to not only spring blooming, but summer break. You can give them a little taste of the fun to come this summer by throwing their winter birthday at the local indoor swimming pool. It can either be at a hotel, YMCA or local gym that has an indoor pool and rent it out for kids’ parties. It should be pretty easy to find a place to hold your event, and easy to put together!

In your invitation, have the party guests bring their swimsuits, a change of clothes, flip flops and a towel. The entire party will be taken with the kids swimming and playing together in the pool. Hopefully, you will dive right in as well, or have a few parents who are interested in getting in as well, so they can lead some games too:

1. Marco Polo

2. Hold a Rubber Duck Race. Give each child a rubber duck and have them use their noses to move it to the other side of the pool. First one there wins!

3. Play Shark! The birthday kid starts off as the shark and must tag the fish, i.e. the rest of the kids. As they are tagged, they also become sharks. Game is over when the pool is full of sharks!

4. Who can make the biggest splash? Make sure to follow pool rules however!
5. Place floating toys all throughout the pool, and divide the kids into two teams. Blow a whistle and see which team can gather the most floaters in a two minute time frame.

6. Have the kids swim through rings, i.e. hula hoops

7. Play Water volleyball

Besides swimming, make sure to have fun pool party food and drinks on hand:

1. Juice boxes and small water bottles would be ideas

2. Fish Chow, combine popcorn, raisins, gummy fish, Goldfish crackers, and chocolate chips. Yummy snack.

3. Serve small sandwiches cut into little fish shapes and filled with all sorts of fillings.

4. Ordering pizza would be an easy option for this party too.

5. Have fruits cut up and placed on skewer sticks and yogurt dips available for dipping.

6. Serve Blue Jell-O with gummy fish inside the Jell-O.

And finally, send the kids home with a taste of summer: beach balls!
It will certainly be an easy party to pull together and the kids will have loads of fun swimming and playing in the pool during the entire party; only taking a break for party food and cake. Easy and fun!