Children's Birthday Parties

I don't know about you, but whenever my child's birthday comes around, I think, "Whatever am I going to do THIS year?!" Well, I've got a couple fantastic ideas for you, and the birthday will certainly be a big hit, if you choose one of these!

One of my girlfriends had a "Safari Party" for her 2-year old last year, and it was so cute, and yet so fun for the kids! The kids were given toy binoculars and safari hats to use for the "safari hunt,"which consisted of the children finding the peanuts (in shells) around the backyard. They put the peanuts into their own paper bag painted (or you could use stamps) with their name and a safari animal. Once they were all found, they took the peanuts over to feed the "elephant." The elephant was so craftily done: it was a big gray plastic tub as the body, a box painted gray for the head, with painted black eyes, and the trunk was made out of some coiled tubing (see image below). The kids got to keep their hats and binocular as party favors - too cute (and my son still plays with the binoculars!)

For food, you can do animal cookies of course and jello jigglers shaped like wild animals. For a beverage, serve up some "jungle juice." Just pour lemon-lime soda into a punch bowl, then right before serving, add lime sherbet, which will turn it into a green, swampy "jungle juice!"



Another idea, especially for that girly girl in your life, is to host a garden birthday party. You can use green tablecloths to represent the grass, set out your child's tea set/s as the dishes, and fill little terracotta pots with dirt as the table centerpieces. The children can plant seeds in the pots, and then take them home as party favors. This will not only be a great hands-on activity, but it will be such a learning experience for them, to not only see how plants are started, but how they grow later when cared for with sunlight and water! Decorating pet rocks with glue and glitter (used to make flowers on them, of course!) would also be fantastic! And yet another activity would be for them to draw garden scenes on a big sheet of brown kraft paper; you could use the blooms crayons from Gourmet Play to really play up the theme, which would again double as fantastic party favors! Make sure your invitation tells all the little girls to come dressed in their best sundresses and sun hats - how fantastic do you think those birthday pictures will look?!

For food, little cupcakes decorated with ice flowers, and finger sandwiches will delight! Don't forget the fruit and veggie sides with dips! For a fabulous and very easy fruit dip, just mix a jar of marshmallow creme with 8 ounces of (softened) cream cheese and whip until smooth. For the veggies, classic ranch dressing is always a hit with little ones!