Need Help Planing My Soon to Be 2 Year Old's Party

Hi Y. - For my little ones parties I have always set up little "craft stations" Depending on the craft and the weather these can be inside or out. For one station I cover an entire table with butcher or construction paper and just put out crayons and washable markers and let kids color (good for 1-2 yr olds). For another "station" I make cheap paper crowns out of bulletin board border (like from a teaching store) and put out markers and self adhering foam stickers/jewels. Kids can decorate and wear their crowns. Another station can be bubbles, stringing beads, legos, playdough... you get the idea. This way it is not organized games but still a lot of different stuff to do and it is all pretty cheap. As far as food goes I am always a fan of things that you can make a little ahead of time - such as a rotini pasta w/italian dressing, cheese, pepperoni and olives, or even a big homemade mac and cheese bake. Or we have also ordered pizzas for one bday party and it ended up being the same amount of $ that I would have spent on making something and it was delivered. Good luck and remember not to go too overboard - it will only stress you out!! :)

Pizza - Order pizza and buy juice boxes for the children! Make it easy

I've got 6 kids if you want advice on giving parties feel free to contact me...

Hi Y.,

If you go to www.HighlightsKids.com, enter the word "craft" in the search box, and it will give you a giant list of easy, age-appropriate, low-cost crafts. Do you have any family members that are between 10 and 12 years old? They can administer the games while you spend time with the adults. You can find low cost supplies at a Dollar Tree store or 99 Cent Store. If you package the supplies and throw a candy in, you have instant goodie bags! If you have a more flexible budget, go to www.OrientalTrading.com and purchase craft kits (they are relatively inexpensive and are offered in packs of 12.) As for food, your local large-chain supermarket, such as Vons, Ralphs, or Albertsons (or Safeway or Kroeger, depending on what part of the country you live in) offer party platters - chicken strips, sandwich plates, etc. For the kids, you can pre-make hot dogs and/or mac&cheese. I do some party planning on the side so if you need more ideas, please feel free to e-mail me direct: ____@____.com Good Luck!

Hi Y.,

I have not done this, but I am planning on celebrating my son's B-day party with a carnival theme. Even if I don't have ponies for them to ride, I am planning on having a clown that can paint faces and blow up ballons. As far as for the activities, I plan to just have a few, I am still working on figuring out the best activities to have (this will depend on the amount of kids present). I am also planning on having a jumper. As fas as the food, I am just going to have my husband barbecue some hot dogs, and burgers. Hope this helps. Just get creative with whatever theme you decide to go with.

Goog luck!
B.

We just had a 2nd birthday party for our little girl. If it is a themed birthday try to photo copy a page from that characters coloring book, pass them out to all the kids and have a coloring contest. Try to give a small prize to each child that participates and a cool prize for the winner. Ask your 2 year old to pick the winner. make sure to put their names on the back of page, to avoid favorites. Remember make it easy, you can even reserve a small table with lots of crayons so the kids can go nuts.
They will love it.

Have you looked at the website, www.birthdaypartyideas.com? You can usually find crafts and ideas that you can adapt to suit your own needs. Good Luck.

one good place for all party accessories is www.celebrateexpress.com, i am using it for my daughter's first birthday and i am very happy with them so far. i am sure you can find something you like.

We just got a jumper & ordered pizza....no work & everyone loves it....adults can socialize while kids jump, no one cooks, and kids are busy all day!!

Hi my name is Angie
I own a small company called A&M Event. Although I really specialize in the decorating side of events give me a call maybe I can help you. My first consultation is free so just give me a call and we will see if we can set something up

A& M Events
Angie Lucas
Event Coordinator
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You could prepare most of the food the day before and have it ready to throw together and put in the oven on party day. You're being overly generous having a big birthday party at such a small age, but if they are kids in your family, you don't have much choice. When my 15 and 17 year old daughter's were young, they were allowed to invite as many children as they were turning old. For instance, when they were 5, they got to invite 5 kids, when they were 7, seven kids, etc. A two year old can get overwhelmed by all the commotion, so I would plan party time after nap time. I would make it short and sweet, lasting only 1 1/2 hours max. As far as activities go, you can get a kids party music CD to play in the background (just set it on repeat mode), you could hire a petting zoo to come to your house, or have it somewhere other than your house, like at Gymboree, where the kids can run around on the equipment together.

Since my boys were old enough to walk we have rented a bounce house for ever party we have. There birthdays are in Oct and Dec and even though it is a little chilly out, they are so busy jumping that they do not even notice. It gives the kids something to do and it will keep them very entertained and it tgives the adults a chance to hang out and catch up.

E.

Hi Y.,
I just got done with my sons 2nd birthday and from what I've been told, everyone had a blast. For the food we just bbq'd hamburgers and hot dogs, it was fast and easy and then set up all the salads and condiments on a table and it was a serve yourself buffet style lunch. For the games, I found a 5 foot Sesame Street banner at Party City that said Happy Birthday with all of the Sesame Street characters (that was the theme) and I had the kids stand in front of it with either their parents, their friends, or with the birthday boy and took a polaroid picture. They were then instructed to decorate their own frame. I used the foam frames and stickers and the foam cut outs for decorations. After they were done, an adult glued the picture to the back, we added a magnet strip and they got to take it home with them. We also did decorate your own cup. Oriental Trading.com has some great craft kits for children, but the decorate your own cup were just little sippy cups with straws and they got to decorate their own and that was the cup they used throughout the party- it was a fun craft and this way we were not throwing away half empty juice containers from the kids setting them down and forgetting which one was theirs. They also got to take the cups home with them after the party. I had 17 kids at my sons birthday party but we all had a blast. I would definately check out OrientalTrading.com, they are inexpensive and have great craft kits. I hope this helps. Good luck with the party and Happy Birthday to your son!
Take Care,
H.

Make it simple...2 yr olds LOVE pizza, chicken nuggets and mac & cheese and of course CAKE...that's all you need for food.
As far as activities try to have stuff for the different age groups depending on what those are, of course for the 2yr olds have coloring, little tykes has the basketball adjustable hoop and get a soccer ball and maybe TBall for the little ones to play.
Are you having the party at a park?
That always help keep them busy on the play ground!!

You may want to consider a jump house for the kids. It keeps them busy and they love it. They can jump for hours. Not only do they build up the appetite for the party food but it's a good form of exercise for them. This also gives the parents a chance to mingle apart from the kids. Rental jump houses run about $100 a day. There is no time involved in setting it up the day of the party. They come in different themes & sizes. It's fun for 1 year old to the young at heart.

Hi,
I had so many birthday party during my kids growing-up, and I found out its easy to order party trays you just pick it up you dont have to cook and for the kids I rent astro jumps keep them busy and pinata with the games I have pin the donkey,boble apple or apple eating with their hands behind them or musical chair/cake walk or pin the donkey the kids have a lot of fun if you have a lot of kids that will keep them busy so do you, I hope it helps let me know I like party's.
regards,
M.

Dear Y.,

You have the right idea, just easy stuff that kids can eat easily. According to what you like for your children to eat - Are hot dogs o.k. with you? Just serve them boiled with a bit of catsup on the plate - cup cakes instead of a big cake that you have to cut. That cake can be saved for later on with the family. I recently saw a wedding cake that was all cup cakes, so that must be coming into style.

Think of something that your children love to eat with their hands, then have some warm wash clothes on the center of the table so that people can clean hands easily. Cups that won't tip over !! and maybe the cups can have a sort of thin milk shake type thing made of ice cream, so that you don't have to serve ice cream the regular way - or just small ice cream cones.

Don't do crafts, please, you will regret it. Just have a lot of toys set up in the back yard, even if you have to borrow tricycles and wagons, lots of teddy bears set in the there too. Get them at the dollar store so that the kids can have their names put on them at the party and take them home afterwards as a gift to them, you might have new sand in the sand box and new toys there, I don't know about that though some Moms might not appreciate that. Just think along those lines. Music in the back yard just like at preschool. You can find lots of those cds that will set the scene. Also you know all sorts of decorations to make it festive, be careful with balloons if they pop, grab up the popped ones quickly so noone will put them into their mouths. Trucks on the patio with chalk roads drawn for the kids 'to drive on'.

Good luck, C. N.

Y., I have been planning parties and providing entertainment for the children at the parties since 1993. It is great to do a simple clown or other entertainer so you can enjoy the party! Take a look at our website and give me a call if you have any questions. www.partiesbystacey.com
S. P. Owner
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Hey just wnated to let you know when I do big parties I make cup cakes the day before and ice them. Then I set the kids up either outside or on a table cloth on the floor and let them decorate their own cupcakes. It's a lot of fun and after they get done you can substitute cake for cupcakes let him blow out 2 candles on his cup cake. It lets you have grown up time it's great for picture taking but it does get messy. Good Luck!