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Hosting an affordable toddler birthday party

Inexpensive and Fun Toddler Birthday Party Ideas!

Toddler Birthday Party Ideas: Chef's Aprons

Here is an idea that my children and their friends always loved! You can make small one-piece chef's aprons out of a piece of cheap fabric or an inexpensive sheet. At the party, let the kids decorate these with fabric pens, and each child takes home what he has made! They will love it!

Here's another thing you can do at a toddler birthday party. After each child has decorated his/her apron, let them make their own individual pizzas (homemade crust is cheap) or some sugar cookies to decorate and take home. Yours will be the most fun party of the year!
Mary L. in Bellevue, Nebraska

Toddler Birthday Party Ideas: Pictures with Barney

I had a "Barney" party for my son's second birthday. As a party favor, we had a Polaroid picture taken of each child with Barney and put this in their goody bag. It became a prized possession of most of the children attending. That was seven years ago and we still get comments about it.
Alisa

3 Toddler Birthday Party Ideas

I had to share some ideas for really cheap kids' birthday parties. Here are my ideas that worked best:

Obstacle Course - This was a great hit for the younger set, ages 4 to 8. I took objects from my garage and basement and created an obstacle course in the backyard. I used a milk crate, an old tire, some hula-hoops taped together and suspended from the swing set, sidewalk chalk, some bricks, and a few other items I don't even recall. The kids had to jump up on the milk crate and back down, in the center of the old tire (like football training camp), crawl through the hula-hoops, hop over the bricks, etc. They were told in the invitation to wear play clothes.
Day at the Park - For free, one can hold a birthday party at a park that has a playground. A park near us has two playgrounds close together. One is for toddlers and the other is for older kids. We packed picnic lunches items for the kids, got a picnic table, blew up a few balloons, and let the kids play to their heart's content. My husband and I were able to monitor the kids, but a few other parents always hung around to help.
We do not give out goodie bags for birthday parties. We have cake and Kool-Aid or a meal if the time is appropriate, but goodie bags are a waste of money and the kids never missed them. They're far too involved in the activity at hand to worry about a goodie bag.

JD in St. Louis

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