Halina and Caroline: Toddler Birthday Party Ideas

It all started with a lady bug - I thought we'd do a lady bug themed party, but when the ladybug tent arrived and I put it up in the living room, Halina was terrified. She actually wouldn't enter the living room. She only peeked her head around the door and asked suspiciously: “What's that?" So, a day later, I ditched that theme idea and happily settled on "Nemo" or "fish" theme. Really, I guess a theme isn't all that obvious or necessary, but it gave me a way to focus my planning.
Here's what we did:

Invites: Ocean/ water paper cut as a fish with print-outs of party details. I had the idea to have a magnet on them, but the re-used magnets kept falling off.

Time: 9:30AM, which was a hit with most parents. The party lasted 1.5 hours, which was perfect.

Place: I had read online that I should keep the party to one floor, which I was going to, but with as many people as we had, it became useful to have the girls room open to everyone.

Who: I invited 8 people, 2 couldn't come. Half were from Day care and half were neighborhood folks. I gave out invited 2 weeks in advance and asked for an e-mail RSVP.

Activities: I had the idea that I'd put out baskets of "things" to do, which worked "ok"... I had a basket of colored balls with baskets and fish signs of the different colors - the idea was to have the balls dumped and the kids race o put the balls back into their matching color baskets (That didn't happen when it came time, I couldn't find the song I wanted to play fast enough and got distracted to do something else. I had a basket of musical instruments and another of "things that go" with wheels, both of which worked well to pull out when things got slow. Now, I went a little crazy and found these great cut-outs of ocean critters with the idea of making a fishing bin. I pasted magnets on the colorful paper cut-outs and made a couple of fishing poles out of wrapping paper rolls, ribon, and a large harmless S hooks. I say this was a little much because it was, too much work for the kids to "fish" and too much going on for anyone to concentrate enough to catch a fish.

Decorations: balloons - I should have gotten enough for each kid to take home one and should have made sure that the string was plenty long enough for kids to get them on their own. They are best when bought the day of, but since the party was so early, it worked fine to buy the afternoon before. I bought one mylar balloon on Nemo and hung it on Halina's chair (they are expensive, but last a long time). Tablecloth: I used a long piece of butcher paper that I drew ocean animals with crayons at each place setting, which worked well (I even drew a back-up in case of a big spill). I pinned up an ocean poster and set out every ocean themed book I could find on the shelves. I also used the crayola website to turn pictures of Halina into coloring pages.

Goodie bags: Simple white bags with Nemo stamped, CD of party music - 20 songs, ocean stickers, a little notebook, and fun foam ocean cut-outs that were magnetic.

Help: I asked my friend Emily to help out and be a "hostess" during the party. She was such a HUGE help. Mike was also a huge help and even took care of Caroline in the Bjorn the entire time.

Food: pastries and coffee for the parents and red velvet and carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing for the kids. I had plenty of gold fish and pretzel fish sitting out and cut apples in a large bowl too.

General reminders (edited list I compiled from several websites)

Music: I made a playlist of 20 songs that just continued to play. Many of the songs had an ocean them, I even bought a couple from iTunes, but then mixed it up with a bunch of favorites.

1. Remove from the room any portable electrical appliances and everything breakable or sharp
2. Block off any exits to the party room with shut doors or gates. Keep a path open to the bathroom and/or a diaper changing area, but be sure other rooms along the way are not accessible to the children
3. Don't serve small candies, peanuts, popcorn, or even raisins. Children can pick them off the table and choke on them while running around, or even when seated, given the excitement of a party.

4. Decide on activities and games to play. Plan more games than you expect to use in case you run out of activities before the party is over.
5. Plan your menu.
6. Order cake from a bakery if you are not baking your own. Remember the candles and matches.
7. Charge the camera and/or camcorder.