My daughter will be three Feb. 27th. I am trying to figure out what we are going to do for it. We are inviting 4 kids and Nana and Papa...that is it. She is shy and does not like the typical games played at birthday parties. I was wondering what kind of things I can have the kiddos do to have fun and low key. Also some EASY food ideas to serve. It will be a 2:00 party so I thought more along the lines of snacks? Just needing a little direction.....thank you in advance!
You can never go wrong with a piñata and the limbo!
Make a crockpot full of little meatballs and some buns and a salad.
Cake & ice cream.
Find something your daughter enjoys - skip the typical games if she doesn't like them. Maybe you could do some crafts (1 or 2) that she likes.... I also recently went to a neat 3 year old party based on the book pinkalicious (spelling?). The mom read the book, then the kids got to decorate and eat their own pink cupcakes - frosting, sprinkles etc.... those were the cake for the party too. Enjoy!
No matter what theme or plan we have for our children's parties I always make sure I set up one or two simple activities that the kids can do in case they don't like the other activities or just in case everything moves faster than planned. Usually I have some coloring books and crayons, maybe another craft that they can make or a playdoh table set up. Something that can just sit out for anyone to go to when they want, but doesn't take any adult help and isn't too expensive in case they don't even do it.
If you're going to be outside, you can purchase a small bubble machine at Walmart or Target and it will just blow continuous bubbles. The kids love to chase the bubbles around the backyard.
Food wise, I've noticed that typically a fruit/cheese plate is really popular with the kids. You'd think they'd go for the chips and junk food but I've always noticed that the fruit plate actually gets emptied first :-).
Good luck,
K.
My son didn’t liked big crowds/gatherings either at the age. For his 3rd bday I invited family/cousins and we all went to the regional park by our house. It has a huge lake and lots of trees & flowers. I chose to do that because my son absolutely loves the outdoors. We fed the ducks, went on a nature walk and played games like hide and go seek, tag and ball. I just packed a lunch/snacks, brought several blankets and we all sat by the lake for a picnic. Snacks included fruit salad, trail mix, pretzels, cheese sticks….stuff like that. For lunch I made a variety of sandwiches and packed them all in a cooler. We did cake after at the house. My son had a great day! Happy Birthday to your daughter!
If you want to do some sort of organized activity, maybe you could have them decorate their own cupcakes, or cookies. That takes care of a "snack", too. Attention span is limited, but most little ones love to put frosting on a cupcake and pick out sprinkles and such. Or you could have them all make their own party hat. That would take longer and you could take a picture of each kid in their hat and send them to the kids later. We didn't do anything organized with my daughter's 3rd, but all the kids there were much younger, so they wouldn't have been able to do anything. But the party was fun even without a planned activity. The kids have fun just playing. Have fun!
Its a child's birthday party. Keep it simple. Cake, balloons, juice.
Don't worry about having food for the adults, if you must has a fruit, cheese and craker tray.
regarding the games, pin the tail on the donkey, a pinta (with pull strings, see Walmart for those). Have some puzzles, dressing dolls.
Make it as easy on yourself as possible.
I've found that kids this age think a special play date with all their favorite friends = a party. What would she usually like to do with some friends? Play with Playdoh? Do a simple craft? Run around in the back yard? Build a tower with Mega Blocks? If you do one or two of those things on a regular day with a friend over, doing a whole bunch of them will be super fun!
Of course, we never had friends over for parties before age 5. We decorated and made a special cake, and invited our family (grandma & grandpa, aunts & uncles) when we lived near them. When we moved away from family, we invited our friends (the parents) who had a young child. We had them over for dinner, and then sang and had cake afterward. Then we opened presents and the kids played with the new toys, and the adults talked. We had a great time, but most importantly, my son thought it was FANTASTIC. Even better, it was simple and easy.
The Playdough idea is good.
What about a Tea Party where they can make their own Hats and Necklaces (to wear at the table for the party), some ribbon, flowers, beads and string...that might be a fun activity for them to fill some time...then you could set the table all cute and serve the Tea sandwiches (cucumber&Cr.Cheese, PB&J, Turkey,cheese,tomato), they have so many cute cookie cutters...some lil' scones or mini-cupcakes and ice cream in pretty dishes?~Maybe have then each bring their favorite doll/teddy bear and they can make matching hats and necklaces for them as well...
Sounds fun and delightful to me.
For our son's 3rd birthday (June), we were going to let them run around outside and had gotten a bunch of outside activities to keep them occupied. Rain ruined that, and we ended-up inside. They destroyed the house getting literally every toy out, and they had a blast.
At 3, they're still a little young for organized games, etc. so, we opted to just let them play.
We found boxes of Corn Dogs at Sam's Club (30 for $9.99) with fruit salad, veggies, cheese and crackers, and I made buffalo chicken dip for the adults. Everyone was happy as can be, and kids were nice, tired, and in bed early that night.
We also got one of the helium tanks at WalMart for $18 and let the kids choose their own balloons/help blow them up (with the assistance of an adult, of course) - that was a HUGE hit.
Good luck.
Have a playdough party. Buy a couple sets of the playdough tools and contraptions and more than enough playdough colors and let them have at it for 30-40 minutes. (For sanitary reasons, throw out the used playdough when the party is done).
For my daughter's 3 year old party, I heated up a couple of the sausage in buscuit tins, and had ketchup for the kids to dip with. Some fruit and juices.
Some cake and you're done.
This isn't that low key, but my kids always love pinatas. My daughter's party is Feb 27 too. :) We got her a big cupcake pinata - the kind where you pull a string rather than hit it with a stick. Each child pulls a string and eventually one of the strings opens the pinata and all the candy falls out.
We are serving:
mini cherry cheesecakes (cupcake cups with a vanilla wafer on bottom, cream cheese mixture - very easy to make - google and you can find recipe).
homemade chex mix
chocolate dipped strawberries
whole foods homemade tortilla chips and whole foods salsa
artichoke dip (VERY easy - mix cup mayo, can artichokes, dash of tabasco, dash of worcestershire, some grated parmesan, and top w/ parmesan - bake 350 for approx 20 min and then broil for a few minutes to brown very slightly - serve w/ bagel chips or crackers)
Texas caviar: Can black beans drained, can of black-eyed peas drained, few dashes of red wine vinegar, one chopped avocado, chopped jalepeno, half can rotel mild tomatoes and green chilis, little olive oil, tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp cumin, one chopped red bell pepper, one chopped onion, squeeze of fresh lime juice, salt/pepper to taste. Serve w/ tortilla chips. Very healthy and very good!
i suggest picking a theme first. I know that sounds cheesy but I think it helps everything flow. the tea party idea is great for a little girl. maybe pick something she really likes like Disney, Dora, Sesame street and then do things surrounding that. or if she likes to help you in the kitchen maybe pre-cook cookies or cupcakes and let them decorate their own with icing and sprinkles. or even maybe have them help with making cookies. have the dough ready and they can roll it out use different shaped cookie cutters. then while they are baking and cooling you can serve food, open presents and then decorate the cookies. You could even do little chef hats and aprons! that would be really cute! Good Luck on what you decide and let us know how it went!
