3year old's birthday party ideas

wendyphant

Hi guys not sure where to put this but I need some ideas for my DS's 3rd birthday party.

His birthday is 4 days before christmas we have a large extended family and a small house so no chance of having it in the house especially not 4 days before christmas. Also the house will be decorated for dec 25th by then and i want his party to look like a birthday.

In any case last year we had a hall and a bouncey castle but it has gone up in cost to £120 without the food decs plates party bags ect ect and money this year as with a lot of people is tight.

I have hired the church hall for £14.
For the party bags I bought the playdoh gift sets from argos (2 for £15) but had a £10 voucher so it came to £5 for each kid to have 2 pots of play doh and 2 cutters.
I also got the boxes of heroes from asda (2 for£7 - 10% staff discount) =£3.15:D
Sister is a stunning baker and is making a 3d thoas train cake for free:T
total so far £22

I need help with:
*ideas for entertainment for 2-5 year olds
*paper plates table cloths ect at a reasonable cost
*any offers for kids party food
*invites
* help trying to sort out who to invite:eek:

katglasgow

For a 3 year old I would keep it really simple. Pass the parcel and musical bumps! I always find a treasure hunt goes down well to and sometimes use chocolate coins for this (real treasure!). You can get a cheap themed tablecloth from an ebay seller very easily, why not try and get a thomas one and then you can use white paper plates and cups? I got some great links to free invites on this site, if you pm me I can send you the links.
Food for that age: cheese sandwiches, ham sandwiches, grapes, cucumber sticks and melon segments and crisps if you are feeling generous. Birthday cake for pudding. They wont eat much as will be too excited and just want easy things to pick up and nibble. I am always amazed by how well the cucumber/grapes go down at our parties.

gill_hc

Always find the pound shops really good for paper plates etc. They do loads of good prizes as well for pass the parcel etc. You can also get paper table cloths which you can give them some crayons and they are allowed to draw on the table which can keep them occupied for ages.

For 3 yrs olds would suggest drinks in cartons rather than open cups!

Could also have cake decorating for an activity - buy or make a load of little fairy cakes, some plastic knives,bowls of icing (maybe even coloured) and smarties, little choc sprinkles and hundreds and thousands etc Solves the problem of pud as well and then the birthday cake can go into the party bag to make them look fuller !!

If you have an asda close (not sure if the other stores have them as well) but in their party bag type bits they do these little medals that say "winner" on them. I think there are 4 in the bag for 50p. I got a load of these and handed them out to the kids when they were "out" in musical bumps - saved a lot of tears.

GreenQueen

use plenty of balloons for the decorations - 3 year olds love these and they're cheap (but can take a bit of blowing up!). You can always send them home with the kids as an extra party present - if they haven't burst by the end of the party.

Have been to lots of sports centre/bouncy castle parties with my 4YO recently, but in the summer one friend had a party at home with trad games - pass the parcel/ musical chairs/statues, etc - and they all loved it as something different.

If you or one of the other mums feels confident enough, you could do some singing with them - nursery rhymes, action songs.

Would second the suggestion about cartons of drink instead of cups for that age (or fruit shoots are good and feel a bit 'grown up').

Make sure you take plenty of black bags for clearing up, and get the other mums to help you clear as you go along.

I always appreciate it when there's a hot drink for the mums, although you may want to decide whether that's safe/practical in your chosen venue.

fernliebee

I agree with others, keep it simple! If you have a fairly large space then they will just enjoy being able to run around with their friends, have a few simple games like pass the parcel musical bumps etc and then some simple food. You can just do things like sandwiches and crisps etc for really cheap, and then some grapes, cucumber, carrot sticks with hummus or dip for them, (I don't know what it is but kids love to dip stuff ) I did a halloween party for about 14 children this year and the food cost me just under £30 including paper plates and 2 pumpkins. All I had were 3 different types of sandwiches (Jam, P.nut butter, and marmite), cucumber, carrot, pepper and cherry tomatoes, 3 different types of crisps, nachos with hummus, chocolate fingers, boxes of raisins and juice to drink. Kids loved it, and for once it all got eaten (normally I go overboard!)

Asda party aisle is so cheap for the basics stuff, I got a nice table cloth and then the cheapest plates and cups I could find.

OrkneyStar

Keep it simple.
Bright coloured plates....perhaps his favourite character, and table cloth, balloons, streamers....
Sandwiches shaped like cars/lorries/whatever else he likes, jelly and ice cream, crispy cakes, crisps, fruit/veg sticks (strawbs, blueberries, carrots, grapes, cumber etc) and dips.
Pass the parcel, musical chairs, pin tail on donkey, lucky dip for party bags, hide n seek.
Enjoy it but don't stress.....keep that until he is 12 and demanding certain things....at 3 years they will like simple best!

Nomoneymummy_2

Corners is a good game for boy of that age (running about!!) as are all the traditional games,
Newspaper islands (you dance about and when music stops fold paper in half and balance on it untill it begins again!)

Ebay do big lots of party prizes so if you have a few children or plan for a few years ahead buying in bulk for £20 can get you around 500 pieces!

Other than that a traditional teddy bears picnic may work at his age, themeing the games so its pin the nose on the bear, that way you can do the dinner on the floor and not worry about tables, most kids have favourite teddys and things.

Iceland comes tops of food offers at the min for partys still but I normally do 3 types of sandwich (cheese spread, ham, jam or similar one triangle of each per child) small handfull of crisps, grapes, carrot cucumber mini cake, 3 mini sausages per child.
Advanced plate up reccomended, Last party I did 30 this way with very little hassle!!

I have worked as a kids party entertainer in the past ( I still do a few but prefer my weekends to myself!!) and its not too hard, just remember if your enjoying it they pick up on that and enjoy it more too.... and dont be afraid of looking silly!!!

I have a very retro kids party book that was my mothers from the early 70's that is my bible btw!!!! I know its not in print anymore but will type out some of the best advice for you..... Most of it has stood the test of time and is on its way back in as more people are opting to host their own to cut costs!!!

Good Luck!

Nomoneymummy_2

Plain paper plates with the childs name written nicely on it work well...
Also plain digestives (or HM biccys) and name written on in icing!

Kids will like the little personal bits and its cheaper than character plates! If your good at art and have the time you can decorate the plates yourself, just make sure the pen is food safe (cake decorating isle!)

Indie_Kid

Do you have anyone who could do party tricks for the kids? Such as balloon animals?

OrkneyStar

Nomoneymummy wrote: »

Plain paper plates with the childs name written nicely on it work well...
Also plain digestives (or HM biccys) and name written on in icing!

Kids will like the little personal bits and its cheaper than character plates! If your good at art and have the time you can decorate the plates yourself, just make sure the pen is food safe (cake decorating isle!)

I was going to suggest that but was not sure if plain plates plus all the decorating stuff would cost more than some pattern plates (99p shops etc do them quite cheap!).

wendyphant

Thank you all soooooooooooooooo much. I love loads of these ideas amd def going to do the decorate your own cake and i like the idea of them decorating the table clothes with crayons ect. I am going to do pass the parcel but was wondering - we went to a party recently and there was a gift within each wrapper am i meant to do that??? it can get more pricey