This weekend I am throwing my 2 yr old son a birthday party. There will only be a handful of kids there (between 3-6 others), but I am struggling with how to entertain them. I was orignally going to have a pool & sprinkler set up, but it looks like the weather will not hold up. The children will range from 9 mo to 5 years. We are having lunch and cake, but do I just not do an activitiy? Are there things that could entertain the whole group without mass chaos?
thanks
What about having some crafts on hand? You could pick up cardboard boxes at a craft store and let them decorate as they wish - markers, stickers, foam stickers, glue-on foam shapes. Or have them make collages out of construction paper, sequins, craft feathers, foam mosaic tiles, pompoms, etc. Crayola Color Wonders products are great for no-mess fun.
Or just have some balls, blocks, cars, puzzles on hand.
Since the kids are young you could just treat it as a playdate in addition to lunch and cake. At that age they don't need a lot of structure. They will just have fun playing with each other.
I would suggest having a movie that you can throw in if it is pouring rain. with an age range like that i might be too hard to have an activity.
We had a party for my son when he was 3 and 4 with older and younger kids and his birthday is in the Fall so we can't depend upon the weather either.
We did a bean bag toss game--I took our existing game and enlarged photos from his theme (Batman characters) and taped them over it. Kids stood from different distances depending upon their ages.
A pinata works well for all ages--filling it with super balls instead of all candy makes it fun when it bursts. This past year, I made sugar cookies (shaped like bats) and then gave each kid 2 cookies to decorate with edible markers, edible gel paint and that was a really big hit--I was surprised.
We only had 5-6 kids total from 1 - 8 yrs old.
AE
I usually set up a coffee table with crafts at my kids parties. It is a little late to order on-line for this weekend, I usually order the crafts at Oriental Trading, but Michaels sells alot of the same types of things, they are just a little more expensive. I would recommend the foam crafts and if you could get self-adhesive that will be easier and less mess. I have done picture frames and then I take a picture of all the kids at the table and print it out for them to put in the frame before they leave (we have a photo printer at home).
For my daughter's birthday (3) this year I bought rubbing plates and put those out with chunky crayons (I tore the paper off of them) and contruction paper and those were popular with the kids about 5 and up.
Also, I usually bake a round cake for the adults and cupcakes for the kids. I don't frost the cupcakes before the party and I buy 4 or 5 different kids of sprinkles. I put the sprinkles in little bowl and then I frost the cupcakes and give them to the kids when it is time to eat cake and I let them decorate their cupcakes with the sprinkles. They enjoy this. I cover the coffe table that I have them at with a plastic table cloth and I put a splat mat underneath it to make clean up easy after the party.
Good Luck,
D.
how about blowing up pink and blue water balloons (with air) and throwing them in the center of your backyard. The boys have to pop the blue and the girs have to pop the pink? or you can get bigger balloons and have them race 2 by 2 to the other side of the yard and pop them with their butts.
How about Old School games like duck duck goose, red light green light, musical chairs, and momma says. Pin the tail on the dunky is still fun also. Good Luck and enjoy.
You could put some music that you could get from your library and the kids can dance or play musical chairs.
You could also play simple games like "Simon says".
Also you could get a bunch of balloons from the dollar store and the kids like to play with them
Crafts are always an option.
Wish you well, 2 years old only have short attention spanned . They normally play by themselves .
My daughter have several toy area set up, make a photo shoot area, she use cardboard with two holes, draw a curious George pictures, have some mother in charge of taking pictures.
The bd party is for the adult, they needed social time too.
Another area of the house, just finger food only, keep food simple, enjoy your time, because the baby is overwhelm with lots of people, we put our grandson sometime on high chair. He can watch others enjoy the party, open gifts and say thank you too.
I love the game Hullabaloo for a group of kids that age. You can find it at Walmart, Meijer etc.
Are you only having children? I am hoping a few mothers will be there, too. Otherwise that is a handful by yourself. Get some great books, worse comes to worse at the library, a movie, wow are you brave as I think about it. Good luck!
