What to Do for 2Nd Birthday

We have two parties in one day. My family for lunch and his for dinner. We split the friends between the two families. If some friends can't make the lunch then we invite them for the dinner. Between parties we put away the gifts from the first party and refill the crock pots. We have two cakes and extra table covers if any need to be replaced. It works.

Have a small party with immediate family, closest friends, grandma/ grandpa. Just cake and ice cream. Small and simple.

I don't understand the pressure these days to have a ginormous party for every single birthday. Did we grow up that way? I sure didn't.

You COULD skip it. At age 2, your girls won't even remember it. Historically, the one-year-old party is important for a reason--you're celebrating survival (the child, the parents, your sanity, etc.). But the other parties? Have your families over if you have the energy. But I wouldn't exchange gifts (unless they want to bring something used.)

-Just my opinion. Most of us are so broke right now, the last thing we want to do is host a party or be buying gifts for other peoples' kids.

Grandparents and cake is party enough normally. Of course, that's about all I have to work with- we have a very limited family.

Kids do not NEED a big party. I think they have more fun at this age having smaller more personal parties.....

My husband and I took our son to chuckee cheese and I made a cake. At three is when we threw him one with his buddies. THEY ARE TOO YOUNG TO CARE

K.~
My husband and I just went through a similar situation. Our daughter turned two the 11th! We had a very large (and stressful) 1st birthday. What we decided to do for this one family only. (we both have large families too, with great grandparents still with us!) I had a hard time asking, but we asked each family (minus great gparents) to bring a side dish and we provided all the meat and drinks ofcourse cake and ice cream! It turned out great! I wouldn't dismiss a large party because of the stress- it only comes once a year and she's worth it I'm sure! Good luck and happy birthday to your little one!
~T. T. :)

For my daughter's second birthday, we did 2 smaller parties, one for each side of the family. We spaced them out by a week, and it was great!

My son turned 2 last October also and we went to a pumpkin patch where they have several kids activities and hay rides. We have a smaller family so it was easy to accomodate everyone. We then just went out for lunch to a restarant near our house since we live in a townhome. You could just do cake and presents at your home and do something outside your home.

Our daughter just turned two. On her actual birthday we went out for dinner and came home to open presents and eat a small birthday cake. If had been up to me that would have been all we did. But, we have some family in the area so on the weekend we just had them over to grill out and have cake. That ended up just being 4 adults and a 3 year old. Originally we had planned on sending an e-mail to close friends who have kids the same age inviting them to join us at a local park for an hour of play and birthday cake. We were also going to ask them not to bring gifts. We ended up not doing it because being 9 months pregnant I just wasn't up to it. I agree with some of the other posts, you don't need to do something big and fancy when they are this young. Our daughter was excited about getting to play with her cousin, getting balloons and blowing out birthday candles. Keep it simple!

AT her age she won't remember and probably doesn't even realize that she has a birthday coming up. When they hit 4-6 they will start to realize this is a special day for her. At this age why don't you just have your immediate family for cake & ice cream (Or whatever is typical for your family). I wouldn't worry abt who to invite other than immediate family. If someone ask just say we are just having a small immediate family only party this year.

We invite the Grandparents and "related" aunts, uncles and cousins. We are close to a lot of our friends, so there are a lot of aunt and uncles.

We also follow the "invite the number of friends for how old you are" rule.

We live about 5 hours away from our immediate family so that usually keeps things small for us -- however, this year everyone is planning on making the trek down, so we will have up to as many as 20 people (including adults).

Nothing wrong with having a small family party. At 2 your daughter won't know the difference. Bake her a cake and have her favorite food or go to a fun restaurant. Do something fun that she enjoys. Go to a zoo, playground or somewhere she would like. At her age she doesn't need a big event. Just a fun day with her family.

Though I agree with all these posts I had to tell you that we did this and our friends were upset that they "missed" her birthday. Good luck finding an answer.

I would say just invite your close family and friends. It dont need to be a big party. At 2 they still dont fully understand the birthday concept. My son just turned 2 last friday and we had his birthday with my cousins daughter the weekend before. He couldve cared less. He opened a couple presents and then just wanted to play with the kids so we still ended up opening most of his. Still have a party but keep it simple because odds are she wont truley get it yet. Have fun and happy early bday to your little girl!

I agree with Tracy. Generally birthday parties are more for the adults than the kids at this age. My son turned 2 last year. We had only a small party with just immediate family. He enjoyed the toys and just wanted to play after "cake time" was over. He loves Spongebob so I made a marshmallow fondant cake of Spongebob's face. It was quite a bit of work but he loved it. This year we plan to invite a couple kids his own age. Birthdays will remain simple and family focused with few friends until he starts school.

If you're afraid your family and friends' feelings might get hurt being excluded from your little girl's big event, then keep it simple. Serve only cake and ice cream or perhaps spin the focus to a potluck family reunion/birthday. Another option is to leave the family/friends behind and go somewhere to celebrate her birthday-camping, visit grandmas, carnival, festival, etc. Where ever you end up, just be sure you tell everyone it's her birthday so she'll get treated like a queen on her big day!

If you want to keep it rather small but still have a nice party with gifts for her to open you could just invite Grandparents and Godparents. If you want it a little bigger add your best friends or do just Aunts,Uncles and Grandparents. She will have fun no matter what size the party is :) Good luck and Happy Birthday to your daughter!

We follow the "you can invite as many friends as you are years old" rule. The first birthday was a family party, but a small one. Then when our first son turned two, we had two of his little buddies and their parents over. We did simple, fun toddler activities, and the goodie bag was a board book instead.

My limit is ten, so now that the oldest is almost twelve, he can still only invite ten. I really don't want to participate in party competition, always trying to be bigger and better. We try to make the party fun for the kids, and about the kids.