"Need Ideas for a 3 Year Old Litte Girl Party"

to add to the onther J. S.'s tea party theme...

have the girls bring their favorite doll and stroller. After the girls are dressed, go for parade around the neighborhood, pushing their dolly's along.

How about a dress up tea party? ... Suggest the girls bringing all sorts of clothes... beg and borrow from friends and neighbors to see if anyone has any old stuff they wouldn't mind throwing in to a "trunk" for the girls to use. And then have a tea party with them all dressed up.

BBQs are the best way to go....if not hamburgers...Hot dogs are simple too! With a little fruit and some chips and dip you're set! Or even goldfish crackers. Kids love finger foods.

As far as games....the jumper may be enough for those little ones...if we had one...our 3 year old would be in it all day! But if you have a bubble machine going or hula hoops or just a few toys out they can play around with you should be fine! 3 year olds can entertain really easily, it's easier to have things out for them to play with than to actually organize a specific activity for that age....unless you want to have a waterballoon toss??? It's been pretty warm these days!

J.,

I do like the bounce house idea, but my only concern is the timing of the party. Kids jumping around in a bounce house midday may be fun for a while but once they start getting hot, sweaty, and uncomfortable, the novelty can soon wear off. If it were me, I would need to consider how hot it is outside. Or at least keep an eye on the little ones to make sure they aren't getting too hot and they are staying hydrated as well.

As for a princess party, if you haven't already gotten the party supplies, Michael's has adorable princess themed paper goods and decorations. It's pink and pretty basic but very cute. For one of my daughter's princess parties, I bought some of those wands with a foam star at the top and ribbon embellishment. They come white but you could pre-decorate them with paint, stickers, glitter, and/or jewels. Or as an activity, you could have the little girls decorate their own. I used spray adhesive and covered both sides with glitter. Then I tied my own ribbons on each wand. (You can find spools of inexpensive ribbon/fibers at Michael's as well).

I wouldn't BBQ. I'd keep it simple with ordering some pizza. Maybe toss in a salad, some fresh fruit, and other finger foods like cheese/crackers, chips/dip, or veggies/ranch. I would make my own cake or cupcakes. Who wants to spend $30 on a half sheet of cake from the store?! Some cupcakes, a little frosting, toss on some sprinkles...voilà! I made 4 dozen cupcakes (from the box) for my daughter and son's combined birthday luau and decorated them with those cute cocktail paper umbrellas. You can do the same--perhaps a little faux jeweled ring or a pretty artificial flower. Just buy a bunch of them at a craft store, snip about 1 1/2 inches beneath flower and press into frosting on top of cupcake.

I think the bounce house will keep the kiddos occupied but in case it doesn't, here are some other ideas (A friend if mine recently had a party and I liked that they played for "fun" instead of "prizes"):

-Freeze dance--play music while kids dance and have them freeze when music stops

-Hot potato--pass around a balloon or princess themed toy while music plays and when music stops, whomever is holding object is "out"

-Put out some sidewalk chalk

-Let the kiddos blow bubbles

-If you or someone you know is creative, have them paint faces (I do this at all of my parties--it's a hit!)

-A piñata

I hope this helps! I'm sure your daughter's 3rd bday is going to be fantastic!

You could do something like make your own pizzas or decorate your own cookies. Have premade pizza dough and/or cookies (already baked) and put out a bunch of toppings. Let the kids make their own creations. Put out aprons or smocks to keep their clothes clean. Works with cupcakes too!

Limbo and freeze dance are also very fun at this age.

K.
http://oc.citymommy.com - ultimate network for moms

She's 3...don't make too big of a deal out of it!! I would just serve finger foods (dinosaur chicken nuggets, fruit, cheese and crackers, etc). If you want to get messy, let them decorate their own cupcakes... frost the cupcakes and give them sprinkles, m&ms, etc to put on top. Have unstructured play stuff - sandbox stocked with toys in one section of the yard, lots of hats, scarves, necklaces, princess shoes, to play dress-up in another section, crayons and coloring sheets on the tables. If the party is just for a couple of hours, the kids won't be bored, you will have a blast!

Hi, J....

You know what? The princess bounce house is going to be just fine! Believe me. We've done all sorts of parties, and when you have a bounce house, it's nearly impossible to get the kids off/out of the house long enough to do anything else! :-) For one of my daughter's b-days ( I think number 4) we did a house and planned games like "crown the princess" (like pin the tail, but with a princess and crown instead), pinata, the doughnut game (string small powdered doughnuts on a string and dangle them above the head of the child, and with their hands behind them, they have to try to grab the doughnut with their mouths... fun and messy!!!)... anyway, NONE of the games were played other than the pinata... they had too much fun with the house! Good luck and have fun! If you need other ideas for games, send me a private email and I'll tell you what we've done. My daughter is 10 tomorrow (the 23rd) and we're doing a jump house party on Saturday for her and 22 of her closest friends! :-)

We get a jumper every year, and that's what most kids do the whole time. You'll miss the party if you're cooking--just get pizza, fruit, and a nice cake since everyone will like that. An easy game is one like musical chairs (except nobody is left with no chair). Just draw chalk circles (or flowers, etc.) on the ground in a large circle. Put numbers inside each small circle, and have the kids walk around while music is playing. When you stop the music, each kid should be standing on a number. Draw a number out of the hat and that kid gets a small prize. Play many times, and, if a kid hasn't won at all, you can cheat and pretend you drew his/her # out of the hat, and nobody will know! : )

the bouncy sounds like it would entertain them for a while, but if they get bored you can do something like a prince and princess dance contest or freeze dancing or whatever, and every time a girl (or boy) wins you can give them their goody bag. that way everyone feels like a winner! one thing i did was also stick all the goody bags in the pinata. that was a blast!
at my daughters 2nd 3rd and 4th b-day parties i had set up a kid sized table with tons of finger foods, that were also all her favorites of the time.
good luck!

Have a look at Kaboose. Lots of great ideas... http://party.kaboose.com/disney-princess-party3.html and have a look at this short video on planning a stress free birthday party http://scraplesspress.com/blog/tips-for-a-stress-free-bir...

3 year olds can be very difficult to keep focused to play a game. I would suggest "stations" where they can do what they want for as long as they want.
Station 1 - the jumper
Station 2 - a table with coloring sheets or easy crafts (color your own crown, etc)
Station 3 - a box with dress up clothes
Station 4 - a table with decorate your own cookie or cupcake
Station 5 - a big birthday poster that the kids can sign or color (a keepsake for the birthday girl)
etc

Do easy finger foods. Mini sandwiches, cheese & crackers, cut up fruits & veggies, pasta salad, etc.

Musical chairs, pinata, if it is an inside party get some balloons and tie a string to it...Then tie the string to each of the kids ankles...The object is to have the kids try to pop each other balloon but be the last one with their own balloon. Put the crown on the princess very similar to pin the tail on the donkey. Other than that the jumper should take care of them the rest of the time. Have fun. God Bless

You could also find a bunch of dress up clothes and have a fashion show.

BBQing is a lot of work depending on how many people will be at your party. If you know someone who you could hire to cook for your party then one of your guests won't miss out on the party b/c they are cooking the whole time. I did quesadilla's for the kids for my sons second birthday, which seemed easy, but I ended up missing most of the party b/c I was in the kitchen the whole time.

I would suggest subs or pizza. They are already cooked/prepared and all you have to do is put them out on the table. Might not be the healthiest option but it's one day and it's easy.

I love the idea of dress up clothes for the girls....although the jumpy is probably more than enough. They will be in that thing the whole time. You could do a pinata. Kids love pinatas.

If you get a jumpy, you don't need any other games, so save your money, but yes, make some good food. Ask a family member to help you with the bbq-ing, you cannot do it all by yourself. You won't enjoy your daughter's b-day at all if you try to. I got my daughter a jumpy for her fourth b-day and we had a great time, even the adults went in it!

Will it be all girls or a mix of 3 yo's?

I'd say keep the games to a minimum. Maybe one or two simple ones. For my sons 3 yo party we did a Curious George theme. So I cut out banana shapes out of yellow construction paper. I numbered them, then taped them all over the park area where we had the party. I probably made about 100 of them, but we had about 20 kids ranging in age from newborn to 6. I gave the kids their goody bags and told them that whoever finds the most bananas gets a prize. And the one who finds the banana with the #3 on it gets a prize. That kept everyone busy for about 20 minutes, which gave me time to get the cake all ready to be done right after the game. So maybe you could cut out small princess faces and do the same?

If you are having all girls attend, maybe you could have a princess dress up time. Put out a stash of fake jewelry, some heels/shoes you don't use, and some other girlie princess costume props for the girls to have fun with. Maybe even get the moms to dress up too :). You can find a lot of this kind of stuff for really cheap at garage sales or thrift stores. Especially with Halloween coming up, all the thrift stores will have all their costume stuff out.

For food, if your hubby or someone else can man the grill and take care of the hamburgers, let them go for it. Our friends did this for their DD's party. Her hubby just grilled everything right before the guests were set to arrive and my friend just set up the extras on the table inside right after everyone arrived so there was no smokey grill to deal with all the kids running around. Hamburgers and hot dogs are always a fave among kids. Add in a fruit/veggie platter, birthday cake or cupcakes (I think cupcakes are easier for the kids to eat and less mess for me to clean up...I just make a small birthday cake for my kids to blow their candles out), some juice boxes and water bottles and you are set! I'd just check with the parents to see if any of the kids have food allergies. Wouldn't want anyone to feel left out or accidentally eat something that could make them sick.

Have fun!

I don't have any girls but I think having a princess party would be fun... let the girls dress up and make necklaces. Michaels always has such fun crafty ideas. After the girls dress up, you can put a little bit of makeup and make their hair "fancy" and have a little tea party. You can get a couple friends to help with the make up and hair!! :)