Two-year old birthday parties are an exercise in herding cats. You can hire an entertainer, serve an aesthetically pleasing and/or well-balanced meal, and provide hands-on activities for your little guests, but it doesn’t mean they will appreciate it. In fact, some may cry or scream “MINE!” for the better part of your event. That’s why we encourage you to take it easy.
These are some sanity-saving suggestions for planning a second birthday party.
Skip the meal. If you can get away with it, host your party when neither lunch nor dinner is expected. Serve fruit, crackers, pretzels, and finally cake or cupcakes. (I always feel compelled to serve a meal because we usually have out-of-town grandparents at our parties and I have to feed them anyhow, so if our party is at home, I order from a taqueria: everything you need for guests to make their own burritos, from tortillas, beans, and meat to cheese, salsa and guacamole.)
I like the snack line up below where the pretzels have been poured into a toy truck.
The rest of this construction-themed party is way too adorable, so proceed with caution.
Cupcake papers can hold individual snack portions and make them feel special. (This idea is from an amazing LEGO party.)
Simplify the theme or just don’t have one. If buying everything Dora is easy for you and makes you happy, go for it. If one key element will satisfy your toddler, such as Dora on the cake, do that, and free yourself from weeks of curating Nick Jr. merchandise. Other themes that offer flexibility, especially for the licensed character-adverse, are stripes, animals, or transportation. I usually have no theme at all, other than a color scheme — red and white for Scarlett who was born on the 4th of July; orange and black for Julian, born October 29th. I don’t think my kids have ever demanded a theme. This is not a Bar Mitzvah, guys.
Searching “rainbow party” on Pinterest may leave you feeling inadequate, but picking one simple point of focus for the rainbows could just be a 20-minute project.
Crepe paper is a cheap and easy way to decorate with big impact. Two-year olds will enjoy running through the “curtain” (and tearing it down.)
Let them swing, bounce, dig or splash. Outdoors is ideal for two-year old parties. If at all possible, set up a sand table, water table, or trampoline. A playground party will do the trick as well. Winter birthday parents might consider children’s gyms or children’s museums where kids can roll up their sleeves and get involved. Remember when we hid plastic animals in the sand table at Scarlett’s fourth birthday party? Two-year olds are too young to socialize, share, or play cooperatively. Empower them to have a good time on their own terms and the party will be a success.
photo sources: truck, puffs, rainbow veggies, crepe paper, sand table
I have something to add to this! I have a Rainbow Party board Pinterest lol. The rainbow fruit on kebob sticks was fun but not worth it with running kids – so I like the bowl you have shown as a simpler way.
The BIGGEST HIT was the ice cream sandwiches – and I mean the cheap ass rectangle ice cream sandwiches from the grocery store, unwrapped, cut in half, and the sides dabbed in sprinkles. Set in a pyramid on plate and put back into the freezer until cake serving time. Easy way to add your colour scheme with very little effort and even parents thought they were adorable.
I also did that Martha Stewart thing where you cover a frosted cake with m&m’s, which I did spelling Ever’s name in rainbow colours, then in about one hour’s time all of the candy coating melted and ran down the sides of the cake like a Zombie Rainbow Party.
These are such fun ideas! I love the rainbow party ideas. The way to make a birthday party perfect for children is to cater to their specific likes and dreams! So a fairy theme or princess theme is great for the little girl that loves those things and so on. Once you find the right theme, the next step is decor and games! I have found some great, fun games and have loved the response from the kids!
We always do our birthday parties at a park. We’re spoiled by Silicon Valley weather and can count on good weather for an outdoor party for either kid’s birthday. My son was (and still is) obsessed with cars, so we did hot wheels for his 2nd birthday. Cheap black plastic table cloth with yellow duct tape stripes down the middle turned tables into roads. Orange paper cups turned upside-down and taped on a small orange paper plate made for construction cone utensil holders. The rest of the cups and plates were used for food. Printed out coloring pages, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and the fenced in preschool playground were all it took to entertain the kids. A mid-morning party (10-12) means bagels, cream cheese, fruit, coffee, and juice is sufficient for food. Hot Wheels cars were a perfect cake decoration (and driving the cars through the frosting was a fun, if not insanely messy) sensory experience for the birthday boy 🙂 Decorations were cute, easy, and cheap, and everyone had fun 🙂
it is so much funreading all the ideas here. I for one is looking for ideas for my son’s upcoming 2nd birthday and im trying to figure out what kind of party im going to give him…we dont have backyards or any kind of yards 🙂 , the weather in our place is the kindof weather that you really cannot count, do you have any idea for small parties held at home that would cater 20-30 visitors? i would really appreciate it and theme suggestions would also be perfect