Hello Moms! I'm starting to mildly panic over the first birthday party we're having for my son in a week. We thought that we wouldn't do anything over-the-top, just invite some family and friends to our house. Well, he's our second child, we also have a 2 1/2 year-old. Therefore, many of the friends that are invited are also families with two kids. Even though it's a party for a 1 year-old, there will be a small group of 2 - 4 year-olds as well. I could use some suggestions on games/activities to keep the older kids entertained. We live in a stilted home with a yard of gravel. Since the little ones would be eating the rocks, the party will mostly be inside our house and on the deck (we live in a warm climate). I'm starting to regret the decision to have the party at our house, we probably should've done a park, or something like that, but it's too late. The invites are already out! How can I keep these kids entertained?? Thanks!
- a table of blank coloring pages, packs of crayons
- a kid friendly movie like Thomas or Mickey's Playhouse running
- pin the tail on the donkey
- kids bowling (fill 2lt bottles with colored water or rice)
- red light/green light
- balloon toss/bounce
- silly dancing
A sand box outside?
A video on inside.
Blocks inside.
Have a video playing or cartoons on the tv @ the very least.
Mini bowling set inside.
Mini kids golf set inside (the balls are plastic so they won't go flying indoors. lol)
A mini shopping cart
Little matchbox cars for the boys to play with etc.
Whatever you don't have (bowling set, shopping cart....you can borrow
from friends or neighbors. Also, Wal-mart has some inexpensive things $5 shopping cart).
Bean Bag toss
room full of balloons to kick around
coloring area on small table: crayons, coloring books, big blank pad of
drawing paper
Have several books out for someone to p/u & peruse.
Don't worry it will be okay
Action songs videos! Put it in and have the kids sing along and follow the actions. If your happy and you know it, The wheels on the bus, Head shoulders knees and toes, Pop goes the weasel, etc.
If you want to liven things up, give them noise makers like maracas, whistles, or mini drums they can beat on.
gl!
First of all, don't panic. It will all work out fine. For the 2-4 year-olds, treat it just like a playdate. In the kids' bedrooms, set up toys they can all play with. Dress-up clothes, cars/trucks/Thomas train track set up if you have them, dollhouse with people, a book corner.
In my neighborhood, we have 6 families that hang out - all of us have 2-3 kids and my 5 year-old is the 2nd oldest. We never have anything special planned when they all come over...the kids just want to play. So we just make sure the toys are set up throughout the house, leaving enough space in the main areas for the adults to hang out, and giving the kids enough space to play. The kids totally entertain themselves. Honestly I think games/activities at 2-4 is asking for more chaos than organization.
In my house: in the kitchen I have a Little People farm house set up with lots of animals, and a couple of toy trucks. I have that set up right next to the fridge where I have the alphabet letters set up to play with. It amazes me how much action that little corner gets! I have a kid table I'll set up with lots of paper and crayons. That table doubles as where the kids can eat. In my son's room we set up the Thomas track and trains and the book corner. In my daughter's room there are toy bins, her dollhouse + people and little Toy Story characters, etc. that all like to be in the dollhouse, and dress-up. Downstairs I have a casio piano set up the kids can totally bang on and play music on. Also that is a bigger open space they can run around in and throw balls, etc. I have a big open futon down there too and more books.
I would put together some fun goody bags though. In the event of a child's meltdown you can always break that out. :) Also for fun snacks - freeze some of those Go-Gurt yogurts and cut them in half for each kid for a snack (assuming no dairy allergies). Also have some juice boxes handy.
If your husband or a guest suggests going outside during the party, don't panic. The parents will prevent their kids from eating the rocks. Also you might want to have a box fan and some bubbles with a huge bubble wand handy. You can dip the huge bubble wand in the bubble liquid and hold it ini front of the box fan (outside of course) - it will make tons of bubbles and I swear you can keep those kids entertained forever with that!
Good luck and most importantly, don't miss any precious moment of this big day being worried about the party. Focus on your son's birthday and the rest will be fine. :)
I just had my sons 4th birthday party 2 weekends ago. We have their parties at our neighborhood clubhouse which is at the pool. B/c we're in November, the kids couldn't swim. So I had to come up w/a craft. It was a Mickey mouse themed party, so I made rice krispies treats & used a Mickey cookie cutter & made Mickey shaped RKT's. Them I bought cake frosting & sprinkles, etc for the kids to decorate them. I bought the Walmart brand frosting & sprinkles. All were $1. Also, the RKT's were made from the Walmart brand of rice krispies. They taste the same. It wasn't very messy at all & the kids loved it!
Also, we had a bean bag toss game. Everybody, including the adults were into that.
As others have suggested just have options for the little ones to entertain themselves and be entertained (a DVD running.) Organized "games" for the 4 and under crowd is asking for chaos, they really don't get into following directions and cooperating in games until they're 5 and older...same time they're also going to school.
With food, playtime, cake and gifts a couple of hours should pass quickly ; )
Kids that age don't need a lot to keep themselves entertained. Just treat it like a big play date & have some snacks & cake & let them play freely. Organized/planned activities don't work with that age group, so, if you do choose to do a couple, make them relaxed & open ended. This age is so easy to keep happy... it's when they got older & get "bored" easily that the parties tend to get more complicated.
