I Want to Have a 3-Year Old Birthday Party with My Son's Friends from Daycare

I have taught children from 1 year to age 15, as well as having two of my own. Early on, I discovered, and found agreement with other parents and professionals, that it will be a much more pleasant experience for any birthday party to have a limited number of children: generally, as many children as the child's age. So, if he's going to be 3, have no more than 3 guests. If he's going to be 9, have no more than 9 guests. If the child happens to be shy or has special needs, this may be too many. But it's rare that it works well to have more children than that basic guideline unless the party is managed by a professional educator who knows the interests of the children and can plan accordingly, as teachers do for classroom parties. You'll have much more fun if you limit the number of guests.

Hi T. -

I have a three year old in preschool and so we have been to about 10 parties so far this year! The biggest hit is the bounce house. The kids love it and play so well together in it. They are not too expensive to rent (usually about $100) and even the parents sometimes get in and have a blast. And they come in all kinds of themes so you may be able to find a pirate one. Then I would get pirate themed goody bags and you should be all set!

Have a great party!

Hi T. - For my son's 3rd birthday, we invited 4 of his friends from daycare (the ones whose parents we see alot and kind of know) and just let the kids play. My son's birthday is in February, so we have the party indoors because we never know what the weather will be like. The kids were very excited to be at a party and to play with toys other than their own (we picked up Matthew's fav toys before hand so there were no real sharing issues). We've had all of Matthew's parties in the later afternoon, that way the kids could all still nap before coming. I think 2 hours or so is enough time.

I think you are smart to be planning ahead.

C.

Our families don't live locally, so all of our brithday parties are friends only. For each of my kids' 3-year-old parties I just invited all their friends (parents and siblings came too) to the park for a big playdate and provided food, cupcakes and picnic blankets. They were so busy playing, they didn't care about having organized games. It was hard enough to get them gathered for eating, cake, and presents. The kids all had loads of fun, and we moms got some chat time. It was great.

Hi,

Most kids at that age just want to play. So make sure wherever you decide to have the party, there is plenty of space to play. Also, limit the party to 90min max. You could do pin the tail on the donkey- it just depends on how focused the kids are-- we ended up skipping it at my son's party-it was too much. You could have activity stations- like painting, playdough etc.available for the kids that don't want to play the whole time. Good luck!

Molly

We had a petting zoo and it was alot of fun. I thought they would bring a couple of animals but they put a fence up in the front yard and backed a trailer up then let out about 20 little animals. They also brought a pony and took the kids on pony rides. I had purchased the certificate from the Valley Pyblic Television auction for like 50 bucks.

Greetings T.: Children's parties are the best time ever. Here are some of the things we have done for our 5 children, and Grandchildren.
You have a theme now just dream it up as you go. Get a box and decorate it as a treasure chest- fill it with junk jewlery ( I got most of mine at yard sales and asked all my friends for their old stuff) and what ever else you can think of. Go to the dollar store they have lots of pirate birds, plastic swords and hats. WalMart has scarves really cheap that come in lots of styles. Find old pie pans and use them for plates. If you have the space- cut a make believe ship or if you have a play structure add pirate flags to it. At the end of the party send home with the children their hats and scarves as their treat. This party can have a "buried treasure" which is your box of color books and treats." We did this once at our apt. so had the treasure in my bedroom under a blanket. But the kids each had a map to get around the house to find it for the 3 year olds this could take some time. With eatting and this you have spent your hour! You could get lots of kid size boxes and have them decorate their pirate ships and give prizes.
One time when we did this we had all the gifts go into the box and took them to the police station for the officers to take to a shelter or to give to children they had to help in the line of duty. So you could ask each child to bring a bear, for example. I hope that you have a lot of fun with your pary and that you take pictures or have someone assigned to take pictures of the guests dressed up and then send them to them as part of the Thank You for coming. NanaG

We love a parade! The children can make shakers (decorate two paper plates - fill with beans or rice - staple or tape together and shake away. You can buy kazoos really cheaply so everyone can march around the yard or house with a kazoo and shaker. It's lots of fun.

Also, check out these two sites for lots of ideas...
http://www.partygameideas.com/kids-games/
http://www.partygamecentral.com/

Hi T.!
This may sound silly, but for my husband we do themed kid style parties for his birthday, just to be goofy and have some really innocent fun that our friends kids can be a part of, and our new nephews too. Last year we did pirates. His sister had a pirate cake made, and his mother made those old hats out of folded newspaper. Everyone was given a cheap patch (from the dollar section at party works) and a bandana. Lots of lame pirate jokes were told, pizza was eaten, and we let everyone just run wild with their hats, swashbuckling their way through the 2 hours or so we were there. I think games are great, but little ones have short attention spans. Maybe do burlap sack races in full pirate gear (use pirate speech! you can find it on the web by googling it). It should be a blast. Oh and take lots of pictures of the kids dressed up.
This year for my husband we are doing a superheroes/villains party. No one can enter without a sheet tied around their neck or a mask or a hero t-shirt. They HAVE to dress up. The point is to be silly and have fun. Ask your child what kind of games he likes to play with his friends, whether it be duck duck goose or red rover, if they do it in silly pirate speech with their hats and patches on, it will always be more fun. You can even play a version of capture the pirate flag and let them run around wild.

I hope this helps and that you have a blast with this party!

You don't want a lot of organized type games with three year olds. But your pirate theme is great for having things that kids will enjoy.
Put out a blue sheet on the ground, with all sorts of plastic fish (or just heavy paper cutouts of fish) on it. Have some sort of metal fastened to the fish so the kids can catch them with a magnet fastened to a pole.
Get a couple of child sized string floor mops (we ended up getting several cheap mops, and had to cut the handles down to child size). Put out some balls and set up an area for the kids to push the balls around with the mops for a "swab the deck" game.
Have a large container filled with sand. Bury "treasure" in the sand and give the kids small shovels to dig for the treasure. This could be used in place of having treat bags to take home. You might just have small bags at the digging site and set an amount of items each child is allowed to dig and put into their take home bag. Or you can use it simply as a dig it up and put it back for the next person type of game.
These are three that I recall from our grandson's first birthday party last year. His party included mixed ages and these games were enjoyed by all the kids. Just have the games all out, have an adult responsible for each area and let the kids move freely from one to the other. At age three, they'll entertain themselves better than you can with highly organized games.

Excellent book on kids parties.....The Children's Party Book by Anne and peter Thomas.
P..

We had a pirate themed party for my sons 4th bday. We had a couple of games planned but what the kids seemed to enjoy the most was playing in the 2 kiddie pools we had set up. (We have a big pool but thought to deep for so many little ones at one time) and going on a treasure hunt. We made treasure maps of the area aound ours and a couple of neighbors houses (if your neighbors are OK with that) using mainly pictures of things that even the smallest kids could regonize and went on a treasure hunt.
At the end of the hunt the kids found the treasure chest and it had everyones goody bags that were shapped like little treasure chest for kids. They loved it.

T......at age 3...it's all about play and maybe a quick fun craft possibly.....if it's pirates...maybe the kids can all be dressed up at pirates....get them eye patches and hats...and if you are bold...swords...styrofaom....if you have a game...maybe have a find the booty or treasure game....

Pirate Party...

Invitation- Type up info on regular paper and make it look old (tea stains, then bake to dry) and burn edges. Then roll up and put in a plastic water bottle (no label).

Arrival-
Have everyone get piratized..put on pirate gear (avoid the swords unless you want sword fighting).

CRAFT-
Decorate pirate hats or bandanas (Decorate with fabric pens)...Oriental Trading Co.They could decorate a sand pail too. This can be used to hold all their party treasures/prizes.

OR

Make water bottle sand globes (like snow globes, but with sand, shells, and glitter) or one of the other 3 Things to Do With Shells activities. (http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/feature/ff...)

Individual Activity-
If you have a sandbox, you could bury treasures (bottles of bubbles, anything small) and let them use a sifting tool to find one. (We did this for Nemo...used Nemo bubbles and had a sign that said Finding Nemo . . . in the sandbox.

Group Game-
Working in teams they have to bail out their sinking ship. Have two teams. In front of each line have a container filled with water. Behind each team have an empty container (the one they need to fill). Each team has a bucket, but it has holes in it and they don't know that at first(They pass over their heads). The first person fills their container and passes it over his head to the next person, who takes it and passes it over his head to the person behind him. Continue to the last person who dumps what water is left into their container. He then runs to the front of the line and it starts again. The team that fills their container first wins.

PRIZE- Chocolate gold coins, of course. (At three, everyone wins, especially if you play only one game.)

CAKE-
Make a one large or individual Treasure Chest cakes out mini pound cake. (http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/treasure-chest-cake...)

If you have a pool, you can add some pool games or parent and me swim lesson (We did that with our Nemo themed 3rd old party).

Have fun!
Stephanie

You can always ask other mothers at the daycare and get suggestions from them.

But since you are having a pirate party. Buried treasure can be set up like a Easter Egg Hunt. Don't worry about goody bags for this type of party. You can use the buried treasure as part of the goody bag. Buy bandanas and eye patches or You can also have them play a game and when they finished that part of the game they can add pieces to their costume like the eye patch or the bandana and you have to have sword. But remember safety is always first.

It looks like several people have already mentioned treasure hunts, but I wanted to share the version I used at my daughters party. We had children of different ages at the party, most of them under the age of 5. I used our sand and water table. I filled both sides with sand. I got sand shovels and rakes from the dollar bins at Target. I got a bag of fake coins from Party City. The coins were buried in the sand. I had a treasure chest filled with party favor toys from party city. The kids dug for buried coins and were allowed to exchage the coins for toys from the treasure chest. The kids were allowed to exchange coins until the toys were gone. We made sure everyone had an equal amount. When the toys were gone the kids were having so much fun, they asked if they could keep digging for the coins. I put all the coins back in and let them dig for the coins and then let them keep the coins. Once again making sure everyone had an equal amount. The sand can be messy. I put the sand table on the patio and then swept the sand up when they were done. I almost bought a sand box. Toys r us has the plastic ones shaped like turtles and crabs. I decided to use the sand table, because I already had it. I saved money and did not have to worry about kids with sand in their pants tracking sand everywhere. The kids would have loved being able to climb in a sand box though. If you don't have a sand box or sand table and don't want to purchase one any big plastic bin will do. A friend of mine who did a similar game used a big plastic tub. It was the big round kind with rope like handles. She always used it to put ice and drinks in at parties. She filled it with sand and buried treasure. She put toys in the sand. The kids liked that they had to dig deep to find treasure. However, some of the toys would not function quite right because the sand stuck in them and one child got sand in his eye when he pulled out a toy that you look through and immediately tried to look into it. That is why I choose to bury coins instead. If you choose to bury toys just be aware of what types of toys you choose. I hope you have a fantastic birthday party!

Hi- I suggest you rent an "jumpy house" for your son's b-day party- kids love them!!! They are about $80 to rent, or if you'd prefer, you can buy one at Toys R Us for about $200-$400, depending on the size. They were a big hit for my daughter's 2nd birthday, and I had kids in there ranging from 1 yr. old to 7 yrs. old.

I'm doing a similar party for my daughter, who turns 4 in September. Here are a few of the ideas I've been bouncing around in my head:

Do you have a sandbox at home? If so, bury "treasure" and give the kids little shovels to dig for it. Allow them 5 treasure each (or 3, or some other number that you like). Our sandbox is too small for this, so I plan to import several bags of sand (which I'll need for soil amendment anyway) to make it look like a "deserted island" and bury the "treasures" there. Think dollar store necklaces, rings, fake coins, etc...

Do you have a picnic table or some other furniture that could become the "pirate ship"? If so, use an old sheet to make a sail and get a skull and crossbones flag. We'll be using my daughter's tree house for this for her party, but we often fashion a sail out of a broom and an old white sari and sail away on the living room sofa. Her stuffed parrot sits look-out, of course.

Distribute bandanas and eyepatches to the kids when they arrive -- they can take these gifts home as their goodie gifts.

I found a great cupcake recipe: make cupcakes and blue frosting, then cut blue card stock into little "shark fins" and insert them coming out of the frosting "waves". Super fun!

Also, we have a kiddie pool in the back yard and I plan to make a "plank" for the kids to walk (if the weather's nice).

And if all else fails, BUBBLES!

Good luck. I hope these few ideas help. I have TONNES more, but it's early and I need a coffee...

K. in EC