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No doubt about it—planning
a birthday party for a baby or toddler can be challenging. The birthday
child and his guests may not be able to play ‘regular’ party games
like Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and they may not be able to eat typical
party food like cake and ice cream. Even decorations can be a challenge,
since traditional decor like balloons may pose a choking hazard to young
children. The parent or caregiver planning a party for a baby or toddler
quickly discovers her unique dilemma.
Fortunately, there’s a book to help her.
It’s called "Baby Birthday
Parties."
Written by party-planning expert Penny
Warner, this book is filled with creative ideas designed for children from
the ages of one to three years. It contains 20 clever theme ideas that
will tickle any young child. And best of all, none of the ideas are too
elaborate or time-consuming, which is always a good thing when one is a
parent of a young child! (After all,
what parent of a two year old has time to make Martha Stewart’s
elaborate cakes! We’re lucky if we just get a shower by the end of the
day!)
This 89-page softcover is a quick read,
which is also a huge benefit for the harried mom.
The book is divided into three main
sections: 1) Birthday party hints; 2) themes for 20 different parties; 3)
an index.
The first section, which consists of three
pages, includes general helpful hints on party planning. A quick perusal
will give you guidelines on party length (no more than 1.5 hours), the
best time of the day to hold the party, whether to invite parents, how
many children to invite, and how to deal with over-stimulation and temper
tantrums.
Section two is divided into chapters built
around these party themes:
Animal
Adventure Party
Babes
in Toyland Party
Barney’s
Dinosaur Party
Beach
Babies Party
Big
Top Party
Bubbles
and Balloons Party
Busy
Builders Party
Dolly’s
Tea Party
It’s
Been a Big Year Party
Kiddie
Crafts Party
Kinder-Gym
Party
Mother
Goose Party
Music
Maker Party
Party
on Sesame Street
Puppet
Party
Storybook
Party
Teddy
Bear Picnic
Trains,
Planes and Automobiles Party
Trip
to Disneyland Party
Winter
Wonderland Party
Warner uses about four pages for each
theme, elaborating on ideas for invitations, decorations, games, costumes,
activities, food and favors. She also makes suggestions for variations on
suggested activities. Each theme also includes ideas for a simple themed
cake that the parent could make.
I adapted the Kinder-Gym theme for
my son’s second birthday and it was a hit. Using Warner’s suggestions,
we set up a "gym" in our backyard with large balls, a ball pit,
a toddler-sized basketball hoop, a tunnel, a toddler climber, and large
plastic inner tubes. Instead of printing the invitations on exercise
headbands (Warner’s suggestion), I purchased some sippy cups that looked
like sports bottles (found them inexpensively at Oriental Trading Company, Inc.
) and attached the invitation to it. (I asked everyone to bring the
cups to the party, saving me the aggravation of trying to dig up enough
sippy cups for all of the young guests.)
We let the kids free play on all the
equipment, since organized events are difficult with two year olds.
For favors, I gave out goodie bags filled with a small ball, some
sport-stickers, a couple of large crayons and a sports-themed coloring
page.
My favorite idea in Warner's book was the Mother
Goose Party. This fairytale themed event included dress up time,
using chef hats and nightshirts to recreate characters from rhymes like
"Willie Winkie" and "Pat a Cake" and "Muffin
Man." Warner also suggests playing games like Jack be
Nimble (jumping over a homemade 'candlestick' made from a Pringles chip
container.) For food, she recommends muffins (for the Muffin Man),
Jell-o eggs for Goosey Ganders Eggs and Queen’s tarts made with
sugar cookie dough and jam. She suggests sending the child home with book
or toy based on Mother Goose rhymes.
(For entertainment and a little downtime, I
suggest you show Rock and Learn’s Nursery
Rhymes. This is a terrific video and highly recommended by my
young son, who taught himself more than 10 nursery rhymes by just viewing
it a few times!)
In summary, this book is definitely worth
its $8 purchase price if you have a young child and need some
age-appropriate themes and activities for his upcoming party. You'll walk
away with many simple yet creative ideas!
Note: You can purchase the Baby
Birthday Parties book and the Rock and Learn Nursery Rhyme
video from Amazon (see links in the right
column of this article).
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