Birthday Party Ideas for a 4 Yr Old

I just had a birthday party for my 1 year old daughter and 3 year old son. We live in a small house and therefore needed an inexpensive place that was large enough to have a combined party. I found the community center in North Ridgeville to be very accomodating. It cost $100. I didn't really want to spend the $100, but it was nice having it at a different location than my house. We were allowed in the hall all day. They have table and chairs. Good Luck.

I am trying to plan my daughter's 11th birthday and it sounds like we are in exactly the same boat! I was thinking about one of the older bowling alleys which tend to be cheaper. My daugher really wants to go roller skating, and their cheapest package is $80. ugh! We did a pizza hut party a few years ago, and that wasn't too bad. If adult friends come, they can chip in for pizza, or get their own.

I'm not sure if you live close to a McDonalds that has a playland but if you do and its a nice one it's a great place to have a party for kids that age and a group that size. Its very affordable too. You buy their lunch/dinner and I believe its around $10 to have the party there and they provide a small cake. You can also take your own decorations and set up a small area to decorate. Another idea, is Donato's Pizza. I know a few of their locations have party rooms and again, the price is reasonable. Good luck and remember to have fun!! :)

Jen,
I don't know if you belong to a church, but I also live in an apartment. When my daughter turned 4 last April, we rented our church basement for a small donation for 2 hours. There was plenty of room to play games and still have a nice party for her, and still have all her friends and family.
The only problem we had was we were not allowed to stick anything on the walls. We still had really cute decorations on the tables.
Dont' buy to many of those party hats. They will not leave them on, and you end up throwing them away.
The least amount spent is to get the plates, and two sets up napkins in the theme setting and everything else in colors that match out of the plates or napkins.
The items that go over big are the party favor bags.
Hope this helps.

We just had my daughter's 4th birthday party at the bowling alley. The kids got to bowl for about an hour and we were allowed to bring in cake. We did her whole party (alley, cake, treat bags) for around $110 and there was no clean up. It was a GREAT experience and my daughter loved it. We even invited friends that didn't have kids and others to bowl at their own expense, we just reserved the lanes. I hope this helps.

HI, we also live in a very small apartment, and for my son's 3rd and 4th birtday parties, I invited 5 -7 children. Of course several of them cannot come, so it turned out to be only 3 boys and my son, and one of their sisters. Just move some stuff around, clean out, put stuff in the closets or temporarily in your bedroom. Get some balloons and streamers and stuff at the dollar store, and tablecloths that follow your theme. They don't really need any games at this age-I tried it. An art project-coloring or stickers-is great, as is decorating cookies cut out as princesses, and don't worry, they will LOVE playing with all your daughter's toys. Just put up what you don't want them playing with. They will have lots of fun. You will just have to spend some time cleaning before and after. Your daughter can help by putting up all the toys in her room!. Have fun.

Jen,

What about the YMCA......I had my older daughter's birthday party there and I brought in snack foods and cake and they loved it. I was really surprised because I brought in healthy snacks and the kids loved it.......YMCA has a wide variety of birthday parties you can have and they have reasonable rates....you have to clean up the room when you are done, but it is a nice room.....they supply plates and silverware as well as the tables and chairs...........

I hope this helps.........

Sue

Many Mc Donalds restraunts do birthday parties and they clen up the mess. It isn't too expensive and most kids love it. They plan games and include like a lunch and I think you bring the cake.But personnel from there helps you with the children. It was a life saver for my sisters kids and thier friends.

Hi Jen,
I'm not sure where you live, but we have a local Church in the Canton area that has playground equipment (like McDonald's but cleaner!)and they are FREE! You'll just need to provide snacks, cake and paper products. It is called First Christian Church. Might be worth checking into! I have a daughter turning 4 in February and am having the same dilemma!

Your church or the home of a friend or relative are possibilities.

Take them to Jhonnys Toys! When my daughter was a little girl she loved Todder Otter Ville! That can always be fun! good luck! :)

I also live in an apartment and do not have space for birthday parties. However Chuck E cheese has a party area but you do not have to rent the space. If they have open tables in that area they will let you use them. You can go on thier website and get coupons. We took my son there last year for his birthday when he turned 4 and there was like 5 or 6 kids with him. The nice thing is that they have someone at the door so the kids can kind of do thier own thing without haveing to be too supervised. My son and his friends loved it and I think we are going to do it again this year.

Hello, as for where to host the birthday party, I would suggest breaking out the local phone book. Check to see if you have a local complex in your area. Where I live we have a complex that you put a deposit of $25 down, when you reserve it. And it has the chairs, table, and kitchen. All you do is clean up your mess and put everything back to how you found it and when the advisor do a check later, they refund you the full amount back.

As for party ideas, since you already plan on the princess theme, I would get some construction paper in your DD favorite color/s and make handmade invites with some glitter paint pens, etc. Fold the paper in half and make a crown and cut it out or a heel. Then add all the information to it and get some plain evelopes to put them in and add some stickers to it. I would also suggest asking the girls to come dressed as princesses, excluding the crown. You can buy these foam crown shaped visor hats at walmart for cheap. Get enough for the amount of guest that you know are coming. Get a glitter paint pen or sticker foam letters and add the names of the guest to each crown for the party hat/favor. I think they even sell some foam purse crafts as well. That could be what you do as a actvity and it would make a nice party favor. Go to a dollar store and pick up a few of the makeup kits to add to the purses. Some ringpops. Get some big beads and yarn and make braclets. Make a pin the glass sliper on the foot game.
What ever and where ever you decide for the party will be fun. They will enjoy being together playing. Take lots of pictures and make a princess scrapbook with your DD a few days later. Best wishes and loads of fun.

Also here is a link for how to castel cake:
http://familyfun.go.com/utilities/global/feature/fftv-arc...

Does your apartment complex have a party room? Maybe you can use that. Then, your apartment stays clean and you have the space for the kids. Check some of the local party store's inventory...you can find discontinued items(because they change our last season's styles)and the price is really reduced. Even if they aren't exactly the same, the theme is still the same!
Hope this helps!
Good Luck!!

Maybe you can limit it to 5 girls. I think that would be a "bigger" party and still small enough to be able to keep calm! (If that's at all possible! I have a boy, there's no Calm at birthday parties!)
I just thought a cute idea would be to get a big cardboard box and allow them to "build" their own castle. Or a few small boxes for them to make individual ones. Sometimes you can call local grocery stores or even places like McDonalds and ask them to save the boxes for you before they throw them out. Other than thinking your a little odd they do it and then it's a free craft!
You can buy some inexpensive foam and have them decorate their own princess hats with glitter and markers. Maybe you can even find some lace or pretty fabric on the clerance rack.
Factory card outlet has a great birthday party suggestions, and cheap ways to make treat bags. Just a thought, we just came home from a birthday party yesterday and the treat bag was mostly thrown away.

Hi Jen,
I just had a Princess party for my daughter that just turned 5. We had it at home & had about 13 girls.
Of course you could do it smaller in your apartment. I'd just recommend moving some of the furniture around to make more space in the family room.
I sent out a invite & asked all the girls to come dressed in their royal attire. Most little girls have dressup clothes already. They loved wearing their dresses to the party. I would then have a craft, like make a princess wand or crown. You can find a lot of ideas on the intranet. Just type princess party ideas on Google. Then have some princess theme games: Pin the kiss on the frog, or pin the tiarra on the princess. Pass the tiarra(like hot potatoe game). Also the girls loved having us play princess music & dancing. We also did some glitter makeup on each girl for a Princess makeover, which was a hit too.
Hope you have fun. Best of luck & happy birthday to your daughter.

Does your apartment complex have an activity room of some sort? Maybe they'll let you borrow it for an afternoon. Or how about a friend who owns a home, or grandparents who own a home?

Not sure where you live but a party at McDonald's usually works out for little children and isn't horrid. You might call the Danville Theater (the Royal) and ask them what they would charge to have the party there.
Chucky Cheese and places like that are very expensive and very loud.

You can rent out the Donatoes party room or Panera Bread party room. It does not cost anything. You just pay for your food.

J. R.

I have rented out Donatoes a few times for my Book Parties. I sell Usborne Books. These books are for kids Birth- Teenagers. Quite the variety if you need gift ideas. Here is my website.

Ubah.com/T2267

If you have any questions or would like to find out how you could host a party and get free books , send me an email.