Birthday Party Ideas for a 4Yr Old

There are so many places to celebrate there. Have you thought of Pump it up or the Blast or the Children's Museum?

We have done the skating rink, the kids gymnastics studio, the local pizza place in the back room, of course all those other kid friendly places that offer package deals for parties.

But the most favorite ones ore the ones that are at the gymnastics studio. We pay about $100 to rent the building and get the teacher. Then we pay $10 per child over 10, I think it's over 10, so if we only have 10 kids it's just the base $100. They do about an hour of basic gymnastics then go in the back to a break room area and the owner has tables set up for us. He even supplies the theme table coverings and plates, cups, napins, etc...if he can get them inexpensively. If it's an odd request he just goes with a solid color theme and you can decorate with a few well placed posters or table decorations.

The time for the party is about 2 hours I think. I brought the cake and some pop. All I had to do to clean up was gather all the gifts and grab the items left over that I had brought if I had brought any decorations at all.

This is a good activity because all kids want to be able to do cartwheels, hang upside down on the bars, climb on a rock climbing wall, they want to have some fun and get active. To me it was the easiest party yet except Chuck E Cheeses where I didn't have to do anything but play games.

Our skating rink is fun too, the owners do little games and stuff on the rink for the kids. For 4 yr. olds they would probably do stuff like the hokey pokey out in the middle so the non skaters could be safe. The parents went out with their own kids to help them skate, they wore regular shoes and held their kids hands to help them skate. Our skating rink also allows kids to bring their own skates and a lot of the kids around here have those pre-school skates that have 3 stages. One stays still and they walk along and get used to the feel of the skates, two the wheels only roll forward, and three they roll like regular old fashioned roller skates.

But the gym was still the kids favorite.

When my duaghter was that age I bought Little Ceasar's Pizza. Then had cake & ice cream. Kids love pizza and it was a quick clean up.

Does it have to be 15-20 kids? Can you have fewer kids? I would be concerned it's still going to be chaos with that many kids. I would also make sure you have extra adult help and supervision. Kind of a recommended guideline for kid parties is 1 guest per every year of age of the birthday child so that would be about 4 guests for your son. I don't always follow this rule strictly, but I try to stay close to it to maintain some order. Is there an indoor playground or community center nearby? They usually have party rooms and are a great way for kids to burn off steam in a safe manner. There is the Blast at the Eagan Community Center and they host parties, but I don't know if that is too far for you. The Minnesota Zoo does birthday parties and they have the new penguin exhibit. YMCAs offer a variety of birthday party options and are usually fairly reasonably priced.

In my area we have a bounce-house center. Its basically a building just filled with bounce houses! There are also rooms you can reserve for birthday parties so your guests can be in once place for opening presents, cutting the cake, etc. Not sure if you have that option in your area or not. Maybe look at the option of renting a gym or an area in your church....as long as kids have a space to just run around I don't think they care! Do you have a basement in your home? If it is unfinished like mine i would just go to a carpet store and ask them for their scraps....it will be in different sizes and different colors but that might actually be cute for the party!

I understand your problem with the November bday...my daughter's 4th bday party is coming up and her bday is at the end of October. We have been really lucky with weather the past couple of years but you never know with KY! Good luck with everything and I'm sure he will have a good time no matter the location!!

I am not familiar with what is in your area, but are there any indoor playground or bounce house-type places where you can host a birthday party? This is what we are doing for my daughter this weekend (also 4) and the cost per child is pretty small, they get pizza and drinks, they get to run around and climb all over the place for 2 hours, we are bringing in our own cake, and best part is they do all the set-up and clean-up - so I don't need to worry about my house at all!

My son went to a birthday party at a local place that has all of the inflatable bouncers. He LOVED it and had the best time. He has told me about 50 times since that party two weeks ago that he wants his birthday there, who he wants invited, that he wants pirates on his cake and he wants to blow out cupcakes in the dark lol. He has a plan :-) He will be 4 in January and I will definitely book the place - I hope his friends show up. I am sure they have these types of places in every area. This party was at 1030 am so it was not crowded at all. The party ended by the time general population were allowed admittance. Have Fun !

Bounce house
Bowling
Movie theater
science museum
fire station