Daughters 2Nd B-day

How about a water party with slip and slides, a water sprayer thing that connects to the hose and a little wading pool? You could even set up a little table with plastic tea party dishes. The girls could use the plastic tea party dishes for their cake and "tea". The party favor could be beach balls!

Have fun!

Y.

Hello C.,

I'd like to help you narrow down to the options that may most interest you, then go from there. First you want to consider what your budget set for your daughters party is. Then jot down if that budget is flexible or not. If it is, then you'll have a few more options to choose from for "extras".

Determine how many children and ages of the children that you'll expect at the party. This will help you decide if you are going to need a small or large area dedicated just for their fun.

You said you are not interested in Chuck E. Cheese. Are you eliminating ALL party venues?
Are you looking to rent a hall or a park? Are you interested in a HOME party instead?

What is the theme of your party? Knowing the theme of your party will help you focus on theme related decor and possible ideas to spin from.
EXAMPLE: Princess Theme
- Set up a photo play area with princess hats, inexpensive princess play dresses, king crowns, king capes, royal wands, maybe tiarras, maybe boas, stick on gems. Set up a big
unbreakable mirror (at Walmart for $10-$15) and have the children pose for photos a few at a time. Those photos you can either put on a slide show and email or put on DVD to send to each of the children or their parents after the party as part of your thank you note.

GAMES: You can theme-ize any game. And there are some plenty of game ideas online.
WATER: A cute sprinkler type attachment and have a SPLASH time where the children
can just have fun getting wet in their wet suits.

ENTERTAINMENT: If this is an option, how about a short puppet show or a small petting zoo or even a puppy party. Young children LOVE animals.

VENUE: Santa Monica Pier has a carousel, the beach, all the pier festivities, but it's much like a Chuck E. Cheese by way of surrounding games on the outside of the carousel section.
there is also a limit to number of persons at the party.

PARKS: What cities are you interested in having a party if at a park. I know of several in the surrounding areas of Downey, Santa Fe Springs, Whittier, Commerce, Montebello, Pico Rivera, and surrounding areas of about 50 miles. Some with a hall, some without a hall.
Usually parks in the city in which you live as lowered priced and sometimes FREE if you
or someone you know actually live there.

2 year olds as you know have a very short attention span. I look forward to other ideas too.

C. Tellez
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Party Services with Artist Entertainment
Los Angeles - Orange County - San Bernardino and surrounding areas
877-725-6967

I had my daughter's 2nd birthday at Hullabaloos in Orange on Katella. It was relatively inexpensive, you rent the whole place so you don't have to worry where your child is like at Chuck-e-Cheese and the kids have a great time (plus you don't have to do anything. I paid $200 for up to 20 kids and 20 adults. Pizza is extra, but not a big expense. You get 1.5 hours of play time and then and 1.5 for pizza, cake and presents.

There is a bounce house, big slide, karaoke/dance room, tree house, and a place for little babies to play which is out of the way of the bigger kids.

My daughter loves this place and we've been to several parties there. Good luck!

You should go check out Wild Kingdom in Chino Hills. Huge bounce house, tons of inflatables good for all ages. They have an open play time on tues and thurs so for a couple of dollars, you could take your little one to go check it out and see if its a fit. Hope this helps.

Try My Gym. There are several locations but we go to the one on PCH and Loynes. The teachers are great, lead a class, parents do nothing! You can have outside food and even beer and wine. Also "Look What I Made" on PCH at Anaheim near Clark is a fun preschool art place with a play area, easel painting, collage making, etc. The owner is a mom to twin 4 year olds. Also, outside food welcome and they label and bag all the artwork so you don't really have to do goodie bags!

I have 3 little ones with summer birthdays also. We've had almost all of their birthday parties at home. A good option - if you have the yard for it - is a sprinkler/waterplay party. Barbecue some food (or get takeout) and have all the guest kids bring their bathing suits and towels and run around in the sprinklers. They love that at that age and it's a good, easy summer birthday party :)

My daughters first b-day was at My Gym, and like all the other reviews, it was really nice. You really get to sit back, and enjoy while they do the work. It was a little expensive for me (a single mom) but I really wanted to do something that a 1 yr old would enjoy, so it was worth it. For her 2nd we went really simple. It was Elmo themed, so i just grabbed a couple of Elmo napkins and a centerpiece, everything else was just solid red and yellow. It was at the park so easy on the decorating and cleaning. It didn't "plan" any games. They had a blast playing on the toy, and we had to PULL them away to eat! They only thing I really paid for other than the food was a Elmo. It only cost $130. I did a fruit and sandwich tray from Albertson's, and cupcakes so that it was easy serving and clean-up.

If you're looking to have the party at a business rather than the park or home, I'm a big fan of My Gym. I don't know where you live, but My Gym is a fabulous location for 2-year-olds. Our Long Beach location gives you the luxury of having the whole place to just your party, they keep all the kids busy and manage the party, and it's always age appropriate with your child being the center of attention. Check it out!

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C.,

How about a park picnic? You can pack each kid an individual lunch (using disposable plastic containers or have your daughter decorate brown lunch bags with stickers and markers for all the guests). You can have a scavenger hunt- each parent/child team collects typical park items (leaves, sticks, pincones, rocks, etc.)

You can also have an Underwater-themed party- like sea life, fish and sea shells, where the kids all come in their swim suits and you have water play activity- a slip and slide, though those things are dangerous. Still, a small wading pool, sprinklers, and lots of bubbles are fun!

A simple Fun in the Sun theme, where kids make crafts such as coloring, cut and paste, collage, a picture studio- where you take pictures of the kids and they decorate a frame out of popsicle sticks. You can have a Make Your Own Sundae bar- with ice cream, sprinkles, fudge, chocolate chips, peanuts, etc. and have the kids go crazy.

Remember to make it kid-friendly and take lots of pictures and have fun!

Take Care,
F.

Hello C.,

My son's birthday is also in August! He will be 3 this year. We have held my son's parties at our house and once at a park's craft room. My son's receives 2 parties each year, 1 my his friends and my family and 1 with my husband's family. The larger of the 2 is the one with friends and my family so lots of planning goes into this one.

You could check out your local community center and parks about room rentals, some are very cheap, as cheap as $15 an hour.

Also, you could just hold it at your house and have a kiddo pool in the back for the children, beach themed maybe.

If you have any friends or relatives that live in a complex that have a clubhouse, see if they would be willing to reserve the room for you and hold it there, they normally have air conditioning in those.

In our area we have several places like Chuck E. Cheese, like My Gym, Hullaboos house (bounce house like place.) You could even do Mc Donald's if need be. There are tons of options just need to get your budget together first.

I am an event planner, so if you need help with anything please feel free to contact me (free of charge of course) I enjoy helping people plan their events,especially their child's birthday party.

My son's party theme this year will be pirates (his thing this year) we are renting one of those bounce houses that are in the shape of a pirate ship that has a water slide with it. So, it will be a water party, everyone comes in their swimsuites.

Hope this helps,
M.

Hi C.,
I'm a mother of two. I have a 4yr old turning 5 in June and a 9yr old turning 10 in July and were expecting our last baby in Nov. I know about summer b-days especially because of our son. We had his his 3rd b-day party at the beach for a luau. It was really fun. We served hamburgers/ chips/ watermelon and instead of cake I made cupcakes. You don't really need to plan games unless you really want to. We had a couple of rounds of hot potatoe. I took plenty of sandtoys and leis so they had a favor to play with & then take home.When the sunset we had a bonfire and roasted marshmellows and hot dogs. Some guets left before the bonfire and some arrived for the bonfire. Everyone had a really good time. This year we're planning a party for our daughter at an inflatable bounce place. Also a good idea especially cause your indoors and its air conditioned. Check in your area for a Pump it Up or Animal Kingdom or Scooters Jungle those a few places. Good luck and have fun. Happy b-day to you little girl!!

For our son's 2nd b-day, we invited the kids over to "paint and swim" -- we have a cinder-block wall along the back yard. We got tempura paints at Michaels (water soluble, so they wash off both the wall and the kids, lol, and cheap!) and lots of paint brushes and let them all paint whatever they wanted -- there was a lot of painting each other, too, but parents had been warned and everyone had a change of clothing. We provided plastic bags for them to take the painted/wet clothes home. We also had a small wading pool (and worked to keep painted kids out of it <grin>). The kids had a ball.

Find your local "MY GYM" and go there! It is worth every penny. We celebrated my older son's 2nd birthday there and I think it was one of the best parties we've hosted. You get 2 energetic helpers who run the party and entertain kids for 2 full hours. They make the birthday child feel so special. The games are age appropriate. If your guests are a mix of older and younger kids, that's o.k. because everyone had a blast on the equipment.

Themed parties are always fun. They have bouncie house that are water slides that squirt water. There are also pull string pinatas. They pull a string and it unlocks a secret door and all the candy comes out. It is a better alternative then beating a pinata up. Those sticks can be dangerous. I foung it on Oriental Trading.com.

C. A.

I had my first daughter's 2ndb-day @ Amy's Playground in South Pasadena and my second daughter's 2nd b-day @ Under The Sea in Altadena. Other suggestions: Gymnastikids in east Pasadena or My Gym or Little Gym.