What did you do for their second birthday?

I'm trying to come up with a fun idea for their second birthday. My niece turns 6 just about a week after my girls turn 2, and I thought about seeing if my sister wanted to combine parties, but that's a hassle for DH's family (good for mine). It's going to require a group of people to travel doing it that way.

I would love to do a party at one of those bounce places, but it would have to be on a weekend and they only do the "large" party on the weekends and we would not have anywhere near that many kids so we'd spend a lot for just a few kids. I'm still contemplating that idea, but just looking for other fun ideas.

The other complication is that their birthday is 3 days after Easter, so I'm trying to decide whether to just combine Easter and their birthday or do it the next weekend. This is why I am thinking kind of early.

TIA for any advice and ideas!

 

We didn't do one! We decided to do milestone bdays - like 1,5,10, 13, etc. But I would recommend something for everyone - combined with Easter (the elders would appreciate seeing the family on Easter). I would try to come up with something outside and adventurous that no one has done - that's cheap and at home...those bounce places and other typical places aren't as fun for adults, and have too many limitations (and $$$). Just rent a bouncy for your house?

 

Well ours is next month and I'm just doing it here at the house for family. There are lots of cousins so there will be lots of kids to play with. I am doing an Elmo theme, not too many B/G themes to choose from, and are doing it from 4-7. We are going to order pizza for dinner and have cake and ice cream. Pretty simple, but still lots of fun.

 

We had an Elmo party last year for the twinks second bday.

 

We had a party at the park for the kids second birthday. The theme was a general Happy Bithday theme with balloons. We did sandwiches, chips, fruit, drinks and cake. I think we had around 60 guests. Maybe 20 were kids the rest were adults-- family and friends. Nothing too fancy.

 

My girls' second birthday is next month. We are planning on having a party with family and a few friends at our house. We will have cake, ice cream, and punch as well as finger foods. I don't really have anything else planned. The party is going to have a "neon monkey" theme. I am going to wait until at least their third birthday before thinking about having a party out somewhere.

 

My guys 2nd birthday is the day after Easter this year. We are going to do it the Saturday before Easter. Just a few friends and family over with food and a bouncer. We bought one for DS1 2nd birthday for $199. It has already paid for itself.

Cari

 

We did a small party at the house with family and a couple close friends. The only kids that were there were cousins. No bounce house or anything fancy; they just played with their toys in their rooms. We had Elmo cupcakes, balloons, etc. I can't even remember what we served for food? But nothing over the top.

 

We did a Blue's Clue's themed party at the house. We played several rounds of "Blues Clues" and handed out age-appropriate prizes to the kids who solved the clues. I also dressed up as blue. It was a hit!

Jamie

 

I did a very cheap party. I had a ton of balloons for the guests to 'pop' while waiting for everybody to get there. I taped the table with freezer paper, the wax side down, and had the guests wear old clothes, and they got to finger paint with homemade flour water paint. They had a BLAST!!!

It was a very short party. After that it was cake and ice cream and open gifts and that was it.

You've got more of a dillema with it being so close to Easter. I'd probably put it together with an Easter meal, since they're still young.

 

Well today I went to a second b-day party for a boy who is part of my play group. This mother I decided was the Martha Stewart of parties. It was very well organzed. No theme, but lots of actitivies. I thoroughly surprised at how smooth it went given that there were 8 kids between 18 months and 2 years (the b-day boy was the oldest). She definitely set the bar high for parties!

1. She read everyone a book called I can fly that talks about acting like animals and after she read each page, the kids acted like the animal.She even had some props, like scarves to help them act out the animals. (my kids loved the scarves)
2. Fishing game.. in clothes basket she had small presents with big loops and she make a fishing pole with a big hook. (This was a bit challenging!)
2. Sang songs (ring around the rosy, etc.)
3. Painting
4. Play doh
5. Little waffles, fruit, and cake for food
6. Plus the kids had time to play with all the toys and play outside.
7. She gave out gift bags and balloons.

 

I think we're going to do a party at an indoor water park, I found one pretty close to home and I know my girls and the limited number of child and teen attendees will love it (and so will DH and I). Now to just decide on the date, I may go for the day before Easter so we can have family who travels stay over for Easter.

 

We just did ours this past Sunday at Gymboree. Everyone had a great time, it wasn't that expensive, and all I had to bring was cake, plates, napkins, and drinks. And nothing to clean up - hooray!