Toddler Birthday Party Has to Be Inside this weekend! Help!

July 27, 2017 5:46 PM

My daughter is turning three and I was planning a fun-filled splish splash party for about a dozen 3 year olds this weekend - we have a big back yard and lots of baby pools. Toddlers and parents are all coming...and its predicted to rain all Saturday. I'm in NOVA. We can't reschedule due to a really busy August....so how do I turn an outdoor party into an indoor party that will entertain these toddlers for 2 hours?!

I am not extremely crafty, creative or experienced with young kids. I am a mom to a 3 year old and 1.5 year old so I am learning on the job. Please suggest ideas for entertaining the little ones for the duration of the two hour party indoors. A google search turned up a few ideas which I will do: I"ll bring two baby pools indoors and fill them with balls (a ball pit). I have a pop out tunnel and an indoor toddler's tent as well as a bean bag toss game and a ring toss game.... Please suggest a few other options as well - my house is not super big so its going to be a little chaotic and intimate but I've decided two hours is not that long and as long as there is food, and some kinds of activity everyone will have fun regardless. Any anecdotes/experiences from toddler parties you've thrown would be helpful -- both what to do and not to do. I'd also like tips on how to handle/entertain the parents at toddler parties...I've planned for food and drink...one last possibly idiotic question: do parents serve alcohol to parents at toddler parties (timeframe is 11am-1pm)? TIA!

posted by SanSebastien to Human Relations (28 answers total)

Could you stop at a thrift store and grab some cheap silly dress up clothes?
posted by Grandysaur at 5:53 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Could you set up a big plastic tubs with water for kids to race boats in, or to "fish" for magetic sea creatures with magnets on little poles? Or even have a plastic tub filled with bubbles so that kids can't see plastic animals at the bottom, and they get to take turns fishing them out. I find that kids like water when it's brought indoors. You could have towels around the tub for spills, or given kids aprons or a big t shirt to wear over their clothes to help with cleanup.
posted by shortyJBot at 5:57 PM on July 27, 2017

Pin the tail on the donkey.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:00 PM on July 27, 2017

Boxes. Lots of big boxes.
posted by noloveforned at 6:10 PM on July 27, 2017 [8 favorites]

Decorate sugar cookies with tubes of colored icing. (Then mop the floors later.) And YES on some beers and wine for the parents.
posted by sheldman at 6:11 PM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

If it is not too cold or pouring, have the party outside in the rain anyway. My kids loved to play in the rain. They are in a splash pool anyway getting wet. Or could put a few pools in the garage?
posted by AugustWest at 6:15 PM on July 27, 2017 [18 favorites]

Blow up a bunch of balloons, put on some music, and tell the kids to use their hands & feet to keep the balloons from touching the floor. This has been extremely popular at all the birthday parties I've hosted.

We also play a lot of Duck-Duck-Goose.
posted by belladonna at 6:22 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

WRT alcohol: I would say it's relatively unusual to see parents drinking at kid-centric occasions but not unheard of. More normal for expected drinking is an all ages event like a backyard bbq, but it would be very hospitable of you to have some beer and wine on hand for the parents who would like some. This is in the PNW among 30-somethings, I suspect it is a regional thing.

On preview - I was going to suggest boxes too! Big boxes and some smaller boxes. You can tape some back up closed and they'll get used like building bricks. Ask the parents coming if they have any large boxes that they can bring, I bet there will be at least a few. In the biggest box place a battery lantern or flashlights and a pile of blankets and stuffed animals. Markers for decorating them, too.
posted by Mizu at 6:24 PM on July 27, 2017

I've had a couple of kids parties - an hour or two goes fast.

Kids:
- are happy with less than you think at 3
- what you have set up is plenty
- balloons
- cardboard
- trains
- do one or two group activities and then let them roam
- movie time if it necessary

Adults:
- no alcohol necessary since it will be around noon and don't risk any kids accidentally drinking any
- would appreciate some decent adult food like pies, sandwiches and lots of them please 'cause we get hungry around this time
posted by oink at 6:30 PM on July 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

Your games are great. I have two tips:

1) have on tap some song games (hokey pokey etc) in case it's getting crazy and

2) similarly ask a friend or relative to be ready to read a stack of books - with voices etc -

as that's a good way to help kids bring it down, stepping from free play to sings/dance to reading to food or leaving time - but only needed if the group dynamics go belly-up.
posted by warriorqueen at 6:39 PM on July 27, 2017

I also think you'll be great! If it's a rain of the warmer variety, asking guests to BYORainboots could be cute for some puddle stomping at the end.

I would also consider reducing the time down from two hours to more like 90 minutes. At this age I assume it's not a drop-off party, so you could easily email guests that you're excited to have them and will plan to wrap up a bit earlier than previously announced. I think it'll be a fun time and your guests will enjoy themselves a lot, but don't feel badly if you want to make it a bit shorter.
posted by handful of rain at 6:45 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also: I don't think it's weird to have alcohol at a toddler party, but I think the timeframe of 11-1 makes it unnecessary (eg no one will expect you to do it, many people won't feel like drinking). It would be more appropriate in the afternoon and in the context of something more relaxing and outdoors. It sounds like this will have a lot more kid energy and the adults might not have as much time for sipping wine and chatting.

But definitely have adult food/snacks available!
posted by handful of rain at 6:57 PM on July 27, 2017

Stop by a Dollar Tree--they have a ton of kiddie appropriate party decorations and games.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:58 PM on July 27, 2017

If your indoor space permits, organize a parade.

(Cribbing this from Beezus and Ramona, natch.)
posted by stevis23 at 7:06 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

I, too, am having my first toddler birthday party this weekend, and I plan to have beer available, but I also live in Wisconsin, so that's a factor.
posted by juliapangolin at 7:35 PM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Where I live, I'd probably have mimosa supplies and some beer, but stuff that I liked anyway because not THAT many people will drink in the 11-1 timeframe and you'll be stuck with it! (But yeah, totally always alcohol at toddler parties where I live.)

Butcher paper roll down the entire (ideally wooden floored!) hallway, with crayons scattered along it, is a little-kid magnet.

I'd put Moana on quietly on a TV off to the side (probably with the captioning turned on for adults who get sucked in), so tired kids or shy kids can go be entertained by Moana. Like do not underestimate the greatness of having a Disney movie in reserve for the second half of a little-kid party because OH MAN do they fall apart.

Another icing activity you can do is get pretzel rods and squeezy icing bags and have kids ice their pretzels, and put sprinkles on them. A little less sugary and less icing ends up on the pretzels than on a cookie ... and toddlers suck at cooking decorating anyway, they're just as happy to make a messy iced pretzel and wander off with it.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:51 PM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

I have never seen toddlers more entertained than when a mom brought a couple of rolls of crepe paper streamers to a birthday party for the kids to play with. They tossed it around the room, they danced in it, they laughed and laughed and made a big mess BUT it was shockingly easy to clean up, somehow.
posted by dysh at 8:55 PM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

The most insane toddler party I've been to, the parents had saved Amazon boxes for months and used them as bricks to build a huge wall the kids could knock down over and over again. You might not have that many boxes, but that kind of repetitive "fun destruction" activity is crazy fun for 3 year olds.
posted by potrzebie at 9:02 PM on July 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

Balloon animals. My mom learned how to make some simple ones from youtube and it kept many happy 3 year-olds captive at a rainy day party.
posted by gryphonlover at 9:32 PM on July 27, 2017

Agree with everyone that you will be fine with what you have, and tiny people likely will start to fall apart after 90 minutes of pure unadulterated fun. Something very popular with the tiny people I know (if you need a back up) is putting on silly glasses/hats and taking selfies with their parents that they can then endlessly wonder at. It's basically the toddler version of "it me"
posted by fairlynearlyready at 10:15 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

IIRC at this age you can still just blow up a load of balloons and the kids will play with them for ages.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 10:17 PM on July 27, 2017

Seriously, have a splish splash party in the rain. Buy one of these. Its amazing and will last you decades of other uses and you will lend it to friends etc... And then you put the pools outside the rent..
posted by chasles at 12:38 AM on July 28, 2017

Get a box from an appliance store, some crayons, and let them go nuts decorating a bus or house or cave or whatever? Kids love big empty boxes as much as cats do.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 6:52 AM on July 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

Also, at that age, there's not much control you can have...they're sort of self-starting.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 6:53 AM on July 28, 2017

Whew, take a breath mama, you got this.

We've done ball pit balls in the kiddie pool and it's and excellent game. Pop up tunnels are also good.

Rather than pin the tail on the donkey you can do put the tail on the bunny (to avoid giving small children sharp pins). Glue some fuzzy craft puffs (what are those things called?) to a some magnets. Put a picture of a bunny on a cookie sheet. Bunny tail gets attached to bunny via the magnet.

We've recently discovered the donut on a string game and it's very cute. If you do it in the house put a sheet down under the game for easy clean up. You will want to tie the donuts onto the string the night before, it can take a long time because you have to be gentle in order to not break the donut.

Punchballs (a balloon on a rubber band - they have them at party city) are endlessly entertaining and if you don't want to use them at the party they make great goodie bag gifts.

Dollar Tree and 99 cent Store are excellent for party decorations, you don't need much.

A box full of dress up stuff; sunglasses, hats, scarves, eye patches, etc is excellent and will keep the kids busy. All of these little accessories you can get at the dollar store, but you can also ask the attendees to bring costumes that they may already have.

Please don't do water games or icing decorating games or any sort of painting with 3yo's inside your house. If it were one or two kids over for a playdate that'd be one thing, but with a dozen kids in the house you don't need that kind of stress.

All that being said, a group of 3yo's will pretty much entertain themselves.

It my experience it's actually really common to have alcohol at kids' parties. Trust me, the parents will regulate themselves in terms of who drinks and who will drive. No one is going to get plastered because it's the middle of the day and they still have to take care of their kid(s) for the rest of the day.

It sounds like you don't know many of the parents, and that you are likely inviting kids from the preschool class, yes? In the early years with our first we didn't have alcohol; we've come to understand that social anxiety is a real thing, and we've learned that some people, and hate to say it this way but especially the dads, who more likely have had even less interaction with each other than the moms, really appreciate being offered a beer. You can have wine/mimosas too. You don't have to make the alcohol a focal point of your table, but just casually mention it when greeting your guests "there's snacks over there, water and sodas in the red cooler and beers in the blue cooler". You've seen that FB meme that says "currently approving my kids' friends according to which moms I think will drink wine with me on playdates" right? It's not a faux pas at all to have some alcohol available.

One last thing - what is your plan for the 1.5yo? You are going to be busy hosting, while 1.5yo is going to be a little overwhelmed with so many people in the house. Is a grandparent or another family friend going to be there? Someone other than your husband that you can appoint to focus on the baby. Otherwise, you might consider getting a sitter for the baby. Nothing worse than missing your kid's party because you were so busy and distracted with your other child. Ask me how I know.
posted by vignettist at 8:04 AM on July 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

We've had several indoor parties with nothing special - just the usual toys we always have out - blocks, puzzles, an easel with crayons, a rocking horse, an indoor slide (this one is a huge hit). They always go fine. Paint or frosting could get really, really messy. Couch cushions are fun. As for alcohol, in my experience it's usually offered at afternoon or evening parties, but always lots of non-alcoholic stuff too since there will definitely be non drinkers. Sometimes there are mimosas at morning parties. For a party at 11am, definitely have coffee available! I personally wouldn't drink at a party at that time because then I'd be sleeepy for the rest of the day, but afternoon parties if I'm not driving I'll often have wine or beer. (Experience level: My kid is 3.)
posted by john_snow at 8:36 AM on July 28, 2017

Can you call a couple of the moms you know well, and ask if they would be associate supervisors? For example while you monitor the ball pit, someone else will monitor pin the tail on the donkey. Moms will help - this could be them at their kiddo's party having to change plans suddenly. You could also ask your family members to do this.

I think the dress-up parade idea is wonderful. And prizes! Prizes for everything, best boy monster, best girl monster, witch, nurse, whatever. But everyone needs to get a prize! If you have a fishing game, make the items they fish up prizes the kids can keep. You probably haven't laid in dozens of stray items planning on prizes, but I suggest you raid the party bags you have doubtless laid in. An advantage to this is that prize envy can be mitigated by having lots of yoyos, bouncy balls, temp tattoos, etc. as game prizes. I would be wary about balloon games unless there are lots of supervising parents, since they can be a choking hazard for little ones and pets, but if someone knows how to make balloon animals that could be a real hit. Anyone know any Magic tricks? Endlessly entertaining for little ones.

I've seen the paper roll spread out on the floor be really successful, particularly when the kids are tasked with doing a self-portrait, especially one where the parent draws around the entire kid's body and they then color it in. Cut up the paper, and they can take their masterpiece home. Another really, really easy game is Freeze, where you play music and then stop it suddenly and the kids have to freeze. Especially easy since there is never a winner and it's not even competitive. They love it, especially if you say " OK this time everyone has to be on one foot, or all fours on the ground, or making a funny face", and so on. This is also easy to delegate to a couple of parents while you, for example, get the cake ready or help with potty time.
posted by citygirl at 8:50 AM on July 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

My small child has a winter birthday so all our parties are indoors. What you describe (ball pits etc.) is going to be totally fine. I agree with others to avoid super messy stuff.

And I've attended/hosted plenty of kid parties where there was beer/wine/etc. for the grownups, but if you're on the fence maybe do mimosas instead -- just leave the sparkling wine next to the OJ and people can decide how they want to roll.

Have fun!
posted by somanyamys at 11:00 AM on July 28, 2017