B-day Party Ideas for a 3 Year Old Girl

The splash pad sounds like a great idea! If you do it after lunch (when it's warmer) you eliminate feeding everyone- get some cupcakes & freeze pops-- buy a pack of squirt toys & make treat bags w/ sunglasses (can usually find a pack at a party store) lip gloss- try avon or even target for packs & split up- a sucker or two & a cute hair bow! I have very reasonable bows & clips on my site- i just created a fish bow-- i am posting on my site in a few days--- if you like anything-- email me & let me know how many you'd need i can set up a price for you:)

www.birdylu.etsy.com

we just did a luau theme for my daughter's 3 birthday it is 3 days after christmas and was so much fun!! I made virgin pina coladas for the kids and they loved them we wore grass skirts and leis if your going to have older kids there they go play limbo and play Hawaiian music. Have fun

I think that the splash pad is a good idea if we are not under a cold front. If that is what you decide to do I would not send out invites to early in case we are cold again.

I would check out the Dollar Tree for goodie bags.

At this age make cupcakes and let her hang out with her friends. They won't remember much so take lots of pictures.

Mermaid theme

Froggy on the lily pad theme -- so many cheap cheap favors & things out right now in "frog".

Flip Flop - You can purchase each child a pair at Hobby Lobby or somewhere wholesale (if they're all around the same age they'' be relatively the same size) and decorate them with coordinating ribbons as their favors. You've seen that craft, right? You tie fabric or ribbon to the thongs & it makes them cute & poofy. Cut up fabric would be less expensive. A yard would get you FAR!
There are also invitations cut out as flip flops. Could easily make decorations for the girls to color - Trace your own shoe, draw on the thong part or lace through some ribbon... Could even use these as decorations - just make them out of posterboard so they are stiff.

Good luck - I just planned my 3yr old boy's party so I've got birthday on the brain.
- C.

Hi Y., last year August my daughter turned 3 and I did a Build a Bear Party at the mall. You can have a min of 6 children and I did $20.00 per child. If the child wanted something more their parents paid for it. Because they got a great bear I did not have to do party bags. I did lunch kids meals at Mc Donald's in the food court in the mall. All in all I paid $150.00 and that included the cake which I got from publix and took to the mall. I bought really cute plates and napkins at the dollar shop to help cut costs. Build a Bear keep the cake for me and the gifts she received, She LOVED it and LOVED her bear and all the attention she got. It was a great party which ended up being really reasonably priced and all the kids had fun. My daughter is also very girly and really enjoyed dressing up her bear. Good luck!! Lisa

A baking party where they get to take home what they make. Instant Betty Crocker cookies are an inexpensive and easy treat. You can buy cheap paper chef hats and aprons. They can make the cookies or treats first, then while they are having lunch, etc. you can bake them off and they can take them home. Also saves on the "goodie bags"

A "garden" party where they get to paint and decorate a flower pot and plant seeds. Small clay pots are only a few cents and soil and seeds are cheap. You can get flowers, etc to decorate. Look for kids gardening equipment for shovels, etc on line. You can usually find "lots" of stuff cheap.

Not sure if the guests will be the right age or not... but for one of my daughter's birthdays we made princess crowns. Bought the pink and purple foam things on a plastic headband from Michael's, several tubes of glitter glue and regular clear glue, and some packets of "gems" and let them make their own crown. It was part of their take home party favors... The girls loved it! Even my son, who was older and the only boy-- (it was a smaller size party and her brother has never been excluded from her parties) made one out of red foam (instead of the pink and purple the girls used) for a prince crown.

This idea, of course, would be dependent on how mature your 3 year old (and her guests) will be. You wouldn't want them swallowing the gems or eating the glue... lol. But if not this year, maybe after a couple more go by...

At 3 years old, you can easily do it inexpensively. My daughters are 3 and 4 and I have always done small parties at home with mostly just family and maybe 2 or 3 friends, tops. I prepare appetizers and snacks and then order pizza and a cake and lots of balloons.

Last year, I paid about $120 for a face painter who arrived dressed subtly like a clown and she also made balloon shapes/animals for the kids - the kids absolutely loved it. We turned on our bubble machine for a while outside and let them run around popping bubbles. The parties have all been pretty simple, cheap and very enjoyable. My oldest will be turning 5 in a couple of months and she still talks about the face painter from her "4 year old birthday." Hope this helps!