My son will turn 3 in August and I am trying to think of a fun birthday party. Last year we had a Mud Pie party. That was a blast, we had dirt, flour, water, dried leaves and dandelions and the kids loved it. This year I am not sure what to do. Any ideas would be appreciated.
What is he into? I know that on my son's 4th birthday he was into anything and everything pirates! So his party was all Pirates Of The Carribian...We even had the kid's dressed up as pirates! I went to the dollar store and picked everything up including the foam swords! They loved it! Plus, instead of doing goody bag's they got to keep the pirate gear! They really had a blast! My son is 8 and he STILL talks about his 4th birthday party!
A big hit at my son's 3 yr party last year and the kids still play with it this year: Get a tetherball on a rope (no pole) and attach it to a fairly high horizontal surface. We attached it to our deck railing that is about 9-10 ft off the ground level. Tape up packaging boxes of varying sizes. Kids can stack them and use the tether ball as a wrecking ball. They can do it over and over again. We had a construction themed party with a dirt cake and gummy worms in the bed of a large, toy dump truck. The wrecking ball was our demolition area. They had a sand box, decorate plastic hard hats with construction stickers, etc. The kids had a great time. I also had pieces of wood and glue, but they weren't too interested in this area. I just put everything out and let the kids move about freely. The demolition area was the favored area, sand box a close 2nd.
We just had my 3 year old's bday party recently and the kids all still loved the bubble machine! We had it running for most of the party and they loved running through the bubbles! Have you heard of the "penny whistle party planning books"? Check them out at the library, they have lots of good, old fashioned ideas.
HAVE FUN!
I was a chicken mom and did not take children to outside events before the age of four for birthday parties. With my first child all parties were home centered with six friends. With my second I did all parties on Sunday enlisting my husband. Fourth birthday second child we went to the children's zoo. It was a great party.
If I were doing it today I'd be braver and take the kids to the zoo at age three with three adults.
This year we are doing a water fun party. We will have a slip in slide, sprinkler, water gun fights, water balloons and any thing else water we can come up with. We will be giving away water bottles as the "goodie bag". Hope to have a lot of fun.
IMO 3YOs (and even 4-5YOs) are happy enough just to have a lot of play time with their friends at a party so there's no real need for a "theme" - if you have things like sidewalk chalk, beach balls or other large soft balls, bubble blowers, etc. they'll have fun. You can even make an inexpensive DIY sand or water table by using those rectangular plastic concrete mixing tubs from the hardware store and have an assortment of bathtub toys and/or sand toys for the kiddos to enjoy.
At that age it's cute to have a theme but I don't think any organized games, etc work well. I recommend doing it at the park or if you have a large yard with just water play or balls, etc. Freeze dance, tag and maybe duck-duck-goose are about the limit of activities, I think. For my son's 3rd we had a dinosaur theme and they got to dig for plastic dinosaurs I'd hidden.
go to birthdaypartyideas.com, tons of great ideas :)
