Birthday Ideas Needed

Well since you have two and a big age differnce . Why not have a sleepover. Have each girl to invite a few of thier close friends over and to help out with the party have each person to bring a food item. I have catered some birthday parties and sometime we have kids to make thier own pizza which is fun and at the same time they learn how to do something new . And you could also have them to decorate cup cakes . You cup cakes are in thing now . Good luck .

the perfect answer is........A SWIM Party
If you do not have a pool, rent some time at the Y. Covers all ages, you can be with the little swimmers and the older child can be with his/her friends.
Beach balls make great party favors and are relativly inexpensive. Cakes with a beach theme, etc.
We have a pool and 2 kids (cousins) with the same birthday September 12th. my daughter will be 6 this year and the boy cousin will be 13......we find this works perfectly.
Hope it helps

I would say the 12 year old would remember the birthday party before the 3 year old will. I would say do something really special for the 12 year old and have I little family dinner for the 3 year old.

Hi,
Well I hear this problem alot. We own a roller skating rink and many of our parents have siblings that have a bit of years difference. My boys are almost 13 and 5 so I know what you mean. Call a local skating rink, and see if they do private parties. We do alot of them and many times its for both siblings. We don't charge extra when its siblings. This way you don't have to worry about entertaining the kids. They entertain themselves. Private parties are higher than a regular session party where they have other parties going on at the same time as yours, but from the feedback I get from our parents, once you have a private party, you'll always have a private party. Also, something else to consider, with a private party, the little ones don't have to worry about getting run over on the skate floor with a whole bunch of skaters. We even allow the kids to bring scotters for the kids that don't know how to skate well. So maybe consider that as an option. You can do both birthdays at the same time and you should save money for only booking one birthday party instead of two.
Good luck and I hope this helps!
N. Blanchard

I would like to suggest Tulsa's Incredible Pizza Company. It is a blast for all ages! No violence in games and Christian owned and operated. You can reserve a private dining room if you like. I haven't met a kid you didn't love the place. FYI-I served cupcakes instead of cake which was cheaper and easier for the kids and me.

Try looking on: http://www.lifepluskids.com/

Pick a Saturday close to the kids bdays, and your younger child needs to invite a few friends over, you bake the cupcakes the night before, and let them frost them and decorate with sprinkles and whatever.....and do chips and pizza rolls. Make party bags from a dollor store. Done with younger child....Then older child, same afternoon...have this child invite friends over for a cook out, hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, dip etc. any younger kids that come to that, can have fun with the left over cup cakes, and make a bday cake for this child. Set up music outside if nice, and the kids can have fun dancing and eating. Hope this helps. B. H

How about bowling? Kids of ALL ages love to bowl. You could have the older kids on one lane and the younger ones on another. Allfam here in Cabot does parties. Also, the putt putt golf course off Hwy 5 will let you use their gazebo for free if you have your party there. All you have to do is buy a game of golf for the kids and bring your own stuff. Very affordable and again, kids of all ages enjoy that! Good luck with what ever you choose!! And have fun with it! Take care.

Well if they are both boys then perhaps a pirate party might work. I just did my son's 6th birtyday in pirates. We found alot of stuff that was not very expensive. Good Luck!!

Hello, I have 3 children with birthdays all within a 8 day period. 17,15 and 6 yr old. Do not be concerned about the little one, just yet. Have your party themed to the likeing of your 12 year old the 3 year old will be only too excited to care about anything except cake, icecream and presents. We usually get one cake with all 3 names on it and invite family and friends of both kids so they can each do whatever makes them feel special.Relax they are kids who never fail to get excited when they see cake.....lol In His Care Rhonda Garrison

Remember your kids have different needs. I have two girls born in December and with Christmas that only adds to the expense. Needless to say, maybe a slumber party for the 12 yr old with her friends with movies and pizza and a back yard party for the 3 yr old with hot dogs and little games that they can play back there. You wouldn't have to go to great expense for either of those. Hope those help.

S.

Hi D. S.
I have kind of the same problem, I 've learn that the youngest child would be okay with anything, but the 12 yr. old has to have what they want when the want. The 3 yr old would be find going to chuckie cheese or some where fun. Just planning something on different weekends will be the best thing. I ask mine what they want, the youngest wanted a party, the oldest wanted to have a slumber party with her friends spending the whole weekend over and some money for her to go shopping. I hope this help you.

Many friends of mine have been paying for a hotel suite. The girls can watch movies together and use the indoor hotel pool. In the morning they can all eat breakfast together. Nothing to clean up, etc. Order pizza for dinner, do the pool and movie. Sleep and go to breakfast. Should be a lot of fun. If you get the Entertainment book from your school, you can use a discount on a local hotel.

Have each kid invite a few friends and set up a tour of Krispy Kreme donuts. The tour is free and each kid gets to put sprinkles on a donut and see how the donuts are made. Took my 3 yr old & 2 yr old on the tour and it was fun. Good for older kids too - all the moms on my tour enjoyed it :) If you wanted you could buy the kids all milk to go with their donuts.

I also had that probelm as my two are 8 years apart, so I would bake each a different cake and have 1 party with both ( each could have 3-4 friends over) and 1 for each to spend the night. I know that it is hard to do but seemed to work for us.

Hi D.-
My girls are 6 years and 15 days apart, 9 & 3. The best combined party we did was a BBQ, space walk, and a pinata. We also played the stereo really loud and let the kids have fun. The catch is you have to have a nice size yard. Good Luck!!!

Try incredible pizza. They have things geared to all ages.

Hello D.!

One of my daughter's favorite parties of all time was a party with a cheerleading theme. We invited several of her friends over and asked a couple of cheerleaders from the local high school to come and help out. I bought several megaphones in the school colors and let the girls paint their names on them at the beginning of the party. The "real" cheerleaders taught the girls a couple of cheers and a few simple jumps. Near the end of the party we had a "cheer off" by dividing the girls into two groups and having them compete for a spirit stick. The dads who were present were the judges.

All of the girls had a great time, and it really didn't cost much at all! That was the good part! I made a megaphone cake by arranging cupcakes in the shape of a megaphone and using the icing in different colors to make it look right. I'm definitely no Martha Stewart, but I thought it looked OK. We had the party in our back yard, so cleanup was minimal.

I don't have much advice for a boy's party. I have all girls! Hope you all have a great time!

Hello D.!

From the description you provided of the age span being 9 years, I presume you are trying to figure out party plans for the 3 year old and the 12 year old.

Probably one of the easiest types of parties for really young children is the Pizza Party type. In one of those places like Chuck E. Cheese (I don't know if you have one in your city) but these types of Places are kid havens. They have built in entertainment, the whole place is an adventure and they serve you food. The only work for Moms is escorting the kids to the age appropriate play areas.

You could then expend more energy (and more money) on the party for your 12 year old. At twelve kids are still into themes. I hear there is some kind of Hannah Montana sensation, maybe that could serve as your theme. Invite all the guest to either show up as Hannah Montana or have a Hannah Show as the central theme of your celebration.

If you want a more mixed gender party, plan some kind of Treasures of the lost temple type of theme, wherein all guests are given some type of clue (perhaps in their individual invitations) wherein each invited guest will have to "discover" their hidden treasure during the course of the party. Of course all successful treasure hunters turn in their find for a real gift by the end of the party.

There is also the incredible fun Party and Sleepover. This is a never ending party of dancing, food and fun. The girls might give each other a makeover (provide them with inexpensive wigs, make-up, faux nails, washable tattoos and clothes-perhaps from a thrift store). The girls can turn themselves into "stars" put together performance routines and lip-sync a performance. It ought to be hilarious. They end the night in their favorite pajamas, wake up to a splendid breakfast and their moms pick them up before 10:00 A.M.

Well those are my ideas!Have a great time.

Sincerely,
Angie

My daughter and I recently opened a Cheer & Dance Studio in Hamilton- We saw a need for something for girls to do without having to travel so far. We teach cheer- dance- tumble and also do Birthday PArties kind of like Club Libby Lou. If your in our area check us out Both of your girls would love it. we also have a web it is www.jumpskickssplits.com.

Have a Cheer Ful! Day!

My daughter just had her 11th birthday. We've done skating parties, pizza parties, bowling and swimming parties in the past and this year I told her she could invite 10 friends for a sleepover. They ate, drank, played a card game in which each person won a prize (from the one dollar shop), had a p.j. fashion show, sang with the karaoke and danced, had a mini talent show, did each others hair, nails, makeup and watched movies. They were loud, rowdy and laughing the whole night.

We live in a small house (with only one bathroom) and all the parents thought I was crazy BUT, my daughter and her friends LOVED it!

I see a lot of good suggestions on here, but I think the thing to remember is that most of the time it does not matter what the celebration is, as long as a celebration takes place.

Good luck on your parties!

P. S. My husband and son left the house for a few hours and did "guy" stuff so they survived the night too.

Would either of your girls enjoy taking a few of their best friends to have a pedicure? That is such a fun, girly and fairly inexpensive thing to do!

Am I right to think you are talking about your 12 year old daughter and your 3 year old son. For the daughter how about a sleep over party, where the girls can doing girly thing like they mails, hair , maybe cook a little bit. A group of kids here in town had they Birthday party where they brought things for the dog shelter here in town, maybe she and her friends can do some charily work for a group they feel strongly about.
For the son I would kept it simple with a cake of his fav cartoon hero and some simple games. I once had a party for Jeff where he play pin the nose on Micky, we play music chairs.

I have 3 kids, my son is 14 and his birthday is Sept. 11th, I have a 13 yr old daughter who's birthday is Oct. 13th and now a 1 year old daughter who's birthday is Sept. 28th. I found that just having a large gathering of friends and family at my house and just cooking out and maybe playing volleyball or something works just great!

Hi D.,
I have a friend with a son and daughter with birthdays 2 weeks apart. After several years of big parties for both she came up with what I think is a great idea. They take turns having a big party with friends and having a family party. This year her son is having a party at Lazerquest with his friends. Her daughter will have a family party and maybe take a friend skating or somthing low key. Hope this helps.
D.

I have two sons, ages 10 and 3. Their bithdays are a day apart, September 1st and 2nd. A fun party for us was a trip to wild river country. It was great because it was one last fun outingto end the summer. It was also great for all ages. One way we made the trip cheaper was inviting family. They were able to pay there one way at a discouted rate because of the party. We spent the entire day celebrating!