For birthday’s, I love to pick party themes and play games and eat cake all centered around a theme. My little girl just turned 3 and for her birthday she chose to have a Care Bear Party. We celebrated with hearts, rainbows, and bears – Cheer Bear is her favorite. And I have to say that life has now come full circle for me as my daughter has embraced the love of Care Bears, “Care-a-lot, we care-a-lot, clap clap – clap clap“! You can even take this fun Care Bear quiz to see which little bear you are. I’m Harmony Bear – always helping others get along!
Once my kids choose what type of party theme they want, I get to work on what games can be played or what the cake will look like to support the theme. There’s lots of great party websites out there with supplies, games, and cake ideas.
Here’s a few Birthday Party Sites I check out for almost every birthday:
- Kids Party Guide – full of themed games
- Amazing Moms – great site for crafts and parties
- Family Fun – cake and cupcakes
- Kaboose – party and birthday cake ideas
- Care Bear Party – this blog has great Care Bear ideas
For the Care Bear Party, my daughter wanted “cupcakes with fire” (meaning with candles)! I made cupcakes with rainbow colors of frosting. Then shaped the cupcakes on a tray into a rainbow, just like the tummy of Cheer Bear.
When my daughter’s two friends first arrived, I had blown up balloons for them to kick and hit around. They would be content on playing with these for the whole hour! Then we played a few games centered around Care Bears: A Care Bear Blanket Toss, Pin the Rainbow Belly Badge on Cheer Bear, and a treasure hunt for their go home goodie bags.
My son has been planning his next birthday theme for months, except it keeps changing. It’s Ninja Turtles, then worms, then Transformers, then Star Wars, and so on. What fun theme’s have you chosen for parties?
Well, we had a great time at the party. I’ve learned what can make or break a party as a parent. I’ll be posting more on birthday tips soon. Happy Birthday my little princess!
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My mom did the best birthday parties and she always did everything from scratch. She never bought a cake or bought a decoration! She was so great! I remember having everything from a My Little Pony to Princess to Easter Egg Hunt (my bday is right next to Easter). When we got older she would make our cakes around our current interests, like a “driving class/getting your lisense cake” She always had the house decorated for when we woke up. One of the best ones I remember is my brother’s Power Ranger party :) My daughter will be turning 3 this year and I think it will be the first “real” party I will plan for her :) I am excited!
Looks like it was a great time. Her face says it all :) I’m Harmony Bear too.
For birthday themes, I think we’ve done them all. For my oldest son – we’ve done bugs, firetrucks, Nemo, dinosaurs, construction, pokemon (twice). My daughter: duckies, Care Bears!, Ariel, Princesses, Winter Fun. My little boy: farm, Cars (twice) and sports.
Usually the theme revolves around their interest de jour. My daughter sounds like your son & keeps changing her mind. She’s already thinking of her party & it’s not until January.
I’m like you – I like everything to be theme centered – last year (my daughter’s second birthday) was a great one for us. She LOVED Dora so that was an obvious choice. We had a Dora cake and some snacks and then to find the goodies we had to follow the map thru a tunnel, into a forest where Boots had lost a boot and we played Pin the Boot on Boot and finally to the bouncy castle where their treats awaited them. It was loads of fun!!
For our daughter’s 3rd birthday, we did a barnyard theme complete with a 20# barn cake, (I am not kidding! that thing was heavy!) complete with barnyard, haystacks, and animals…the local bakery did it, and it was such a hoot! The kids all dressed in farm themed attire, and we had so much fun! I haven’t done a party for the kids in a year (we moved, didn’t know anyone…blah, blah, blah,) but am totally getting inspired to do parties again…it’s 6 for her in october…and she’s thinking horses! So much fun! What a blessing you are to your family!
Happy birthday girl! Looks like it was a fun b-day party. Do you feel old with your son going to school and your daughter turning 3!
How adorable! I love how the toys we played with as kids are now coming back, and I’m sure some marketing genius knew we would be sucked in… I love to throw a party, and I’ve been posting a series on tips to save time and money when party planning – today’s topic was “pick a theme”! :)
I do a theme party every year for my kiddos. When my oldest was young we did dinosaurs, Toy Story, and the like. My middle son just had a golf 16th birthday. That was fun! No real party but the cake, plates, and such were all bought to match. My youngest gets things like Transformers, Pokemon, Incredibles. All the fun stuff! We always do games that are on the same theme and the cake is too. Fun!
I love parties….almost as much as I love all the ideas! One of my favorite ideas is from one of my readers: A Thirteeny Tiny Tea Party. So cute! Most dear to my heart however is Pirates! Arg!
Having a theme is a MUST! It is so much fun for the kids to choose and for me to make it special for them.
We’ve done Thomas the Train with cardboard train boxes for the kids to wear and a train track drawn on the sidewalk. Last year we did a Scooby Doo party for my 4 year old boy. At the party, the presents were stolen by a mystery burgler and the kids had to play games to find the clues to solve the mystery. They thought it was so much fun and the kids and parents were talking about it for weeks! This year my son wants a star wars party, so we’ll see what we can come up with.
Your daughter is so cute. It looks like that was a great party!!
When my son turned five, he could NOT decide between Power Rangers and Spiderman and Batman, so we had them all! We had three different stations with three different games (one for each super hero theme), the invitations had three different pictures printed on them, and so on. It was fun and then he didn’t have to choose just one.
Birthdays can be a blast or a breaker for mom. Make sure you take time for yourself in your preparations. It’s ok to breathe.
What a cute idea for a party. We did Curious George this year back in July when my little guy turned 2. We did yellow and green as the theme. I posted pictures on my blog. That was a fun theme and I made a pinata. That went over well with the older kids.
For my son’s second birthday we did a “construction” theme. I made invitations where my son was waving from a digger (love photoshop) and then for goodie bags I got cheap construction helmets at Oriental Trading Company and filled them with some fun stuff (bubbles, a few trucks, construction stickers, etc.). I put each child’s name on the hats with stickers. They were a hit! The cake was fun too (I didn’t make it) but it would be easy for someone who bakes . . . basically it was a construction site with some plastic trucks on it. The “dirt” the digger was digging and putting in the dump truck was crushed oreos. Very cute!
I just found your blog last week and I am enjoying it! My four-year-old just had a Carnival party on Saturday and my six-year-old had an Olympics party last month. We have also had Princess (3 or 4 times), Camping, and a Water Party. I love planning birthday parties!
Attention—-> birthday party nerd!
For my son’s first birthday, we dressed him up as a cowboy, put red and white gingham tablecloths down on the tables, white gerber daisies. We printed “Wanted” posters of all the guests, including my son on brownish paper with a western font then enlisted my husband to char the edges. We bought thick rope from the hardware store and draped it around a giant plastic longhorn head. We BBQ’d ribs, cornbread, and baked beans. We sent out invitations (photocards) with a sepia picture of him from shutterfly.com that said “our little buckaroo is turning one, so come on over to join the birthday fun!” It made a nice keepsake for the guests too, everyone got a cute, inexpensive photo of him. We also tied red and blue handkerchiefs into streamers and draped them. I also decorated two wilton cakes, one of a little cowboy and one of a horseshoe. It looked great, and we know he won’t remember it at all. We figured it was the only year he’d be too young to be asking for a character party.
This year was Mickey Mouse, and we went (a little) lower key. All food was cut into tiny mickey mouse head shapes with a cookie cutter (jello jigglers, mini cheese sandwiches, cheese slices, etc.) We rented a knock off mickey mouse costume from an online company so Mickey came to visit and take pictures with the kids. We went with themed plates and cups, bought mickey mouse ears for everyone to wear (anyone interested? :) It was fun, and less work with the exception of the tiny mickey mouse cookie cutter that was imprinted into my fingertips for a good week. We also made two more wilton cake pan cakes, goofy, and donald. I nearly cried when we cut them up. :)
I’m sure baby #2 will get birthday in a box. I’ve gotta wear out soon.
What fabulous ideas. Invite me to your next parties!!
Baba – You are too right on this one. I’ve now chosen the easy way for birthday parties as they can get out of control. Thanks for the great advice.
Well, let’s see. We’ve had a giraffe party, an Elmo party, a summer flowers party (all pinks, yellows, and oranges w/ gerbera daisies!), a cupcake-themed party, and up and coming, a Curious George party!
I think I am having more fun w/ the themes than the kids are! :)
I love the Cheer Bear cupcake platter!
We just had my daughter’s fourth party this past weekend. We did a Mad Hatter Tea Party. I just did a post about the party detailing everything. I love planning parties also. You can see it here:
http://adayinthelife-amy.blogspot.com/2008/08/mad-hatter-tea-party.html
I love your rainbow cupcakes. My dd would have loved a Carebear party.
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