Ideas for a 2nd birthday: Two Year Old Birthday Ideas & Party Themes (& Tips!) – Paisley & Sparrow

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How To Celebrate Your Child’s Birthday Without A Party

Birthday parties are great for some kids and are not ideal for other kids and their families. There will be plenty of families that will not give their kids’ birthday parties for various reasons. 

If you want to know what to do instead of having a birthday party, then I have some ideas for you. From museum scavenger hunts to outdoor movie nights, there’s something for everyone.

Check out these fun and unique birthday party alternatives for kids!

Is It Okay To Not Have A Birthday Party?

There are many factors as to why birthday parties are not the right choice for some children. And many of those kids would also be happy not to have a party either. Before discussing birthday party alternatives, let’s look into some of those reasons! 

Emotional And Physical Stress

Planning for birthday parties is entirely stressful. First, you have to gather up birthday invitations and send them out whether they are sent online or through snail mail. 

Then you have to wait for the invitees to RVSP, which many of them do not. Then you have to follow up with the invitees who haven’t responded after a specific timeframe.  

There’s no guarantee that they would respond to you either way. Now you have to take your chances on how many supplies and how much food to get. 

Once the party starts you have other kids and possibly their families to stress over. That is if it this is your child’s first or second birthday. At least with the parents being present during the birthday party, they will be taking care of their kids.

However, if your child is in kindergarten or is older and wants their friends to come without the parents being present, you have all of these other kids to face. And what happens if one of them gets sick or gets hurt? The responsibility is on you. Is it worth the stress? 

Birthday Parties Can Be Expensive And Time-Consuming

It does not matter if you plan to host the birthday party for your child at your home or an indoor kids’ entertainment center. Birthday parties are expensive, and the cost of supplies, food, cake, and rent if the party isn’t hosted at home adds up.  

Speaking from experience I easily spent almost 1,000 dollars on my baby’s first home birthday party! It was a shock to me because I naively budgeted about 500 dollars for the house party. After it was all said and done between food, decorations, gifts and entertainment I was wayyy over budget.

And money is not the only thing that adds up. It is time. There is so much time consumed when it comes to planning a birthday party.

Sure, you can easily host an “inexpensive” party at home that consists of cheap snacks, paper products and a movie that kids can watch. 

However, even if cost isn’t the issue, go back to the point above this one. A cheap birthday party does not mean it will be less stressful and less time-consuming. 

Too Many Gifts That Never Get Used

What happens when plenty of kids or adults are invited to your child’s birthday party? They bring gifts (well they should anyway since you were kind enough to ask them). But what happens to all of those gifts? 

Your child might only play with a few and for a short amount of time. The rest of the gifts end up collecting dust as they take up space. 

Your Child That Does Not Have Any Or Many Friends

Toddlers that have birthday parties will not have friends except for their classmates they know from preschool. You will be stuck with having to invite the parents of those kids that you don’t even know. That can be awkward. 

Or, how about if your child does not have many or any friends at school? In that case, your child may not even want a birthday party at all. 

What is the solution in this case?  The best thing to do is to think outside of the box and come up with birthday party alternatives. 

What Can I Do Instead Of A Birthday Party?

The great news is that you can celebrate your child’s birthday without being pressured to throw a party. In fact, in any way you celebrate your child’s special day, it can be as memorable for your little one as any birthday party. 

Even if your child is not old enough to remember their birthday celebration, you can still make memories to share with them later! Now let’s look at some birthday party alternatives for kids.

How To Make A Birthday Special At Home

1. Celebrate With The Close Family

That is not an unusual birthday party alternative. However, this is one that parents often forget about being a great option to celebrate their child’s birthday.

You can always get party favors such as banners, balloons, birthday cutlery, and party hats. You can get a cake, and only have close family members coming by to join the fun. 

That may even be more enjoyable than having a birthday party with other kids and their parents who you barely even know. Besides, your child can be excited about the idea that their favorite aunt or uncle will be coming to their intimate birthday celebration with the family.

2. Finger Painting Birthday Celebration

This birthday alternative is perfect for the toddler. This is an ideal method on how how to celebrate the first birthday without a party. 

Grab some washable finger paints like these, lots and lots of paper, and plenty of rags and cloths. Your toddler can have plenty of fun finger painting during their first, second, or third birthday. 

And why not get some extra paints for you and your partner so you can all join in on the fun? Who needs to worry about a birthday party when everyone is having fun making their masterpiece with finger paints!

3. Decorate The House

Even if you are not planning to invite your family over for a quiet celebration for your child, you can still decorate the house. And go overboard with it!

Grab some streamers as well as plenty of banners and balloons. Grab other birthday wall decorations. There are even themed kits that make it easy to go all out. This way, your child will feel special since it is decorated just for them on their extraordinary day. 

And don’t forget to take plenty of pictures of the decorated rooms. You’ll regret that otherwise, after you take down those decorations. You can even decorate the outside of the house.  

Go and put streamers on the porch and a birthday sign on the lawn. Make it known to the whole neighborhood that the birthday star of that day is in that house. 

4. A Giant Helium Age Number Balloon

You know another thing that kids are guaranteed to love? A giant helium age number balloon! You can have your child stand next to the number balloon while holding it and taking plenty of pictures.

Don’t forget to share them on social media if you want! Your social media friends and family can celebrate your child’s birthday with you. 

5. Serve Your Child A Birthday Breakfast

Why not start your birthday boy or girl’s day just ideally by surprising them with a birthday breakfast? It can be waffles, pancakes, or your child’s favorite cereal.

And to add some fun to it, why not create a ‘design your pancake or waffle’ area. That area will consist of sprinkles, syrup, fruit, whipped cream, or chocolate chips. Serve it on some fun birthday cutlery as well. 

6. Birthday Scavenger Hunt

Why not have your child go on a small adventure to look for their birthday present?

The idea is, to begin with, the birthday breakfast, and during that time, you give your child the first clue about where their birthday present may be. 

Ask your child to solve a few riddles or answer a few questions so they can have an idea of the location of their gift. 

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7. Go Over Birth Story Memories

While the house is decorated in birthday art, you can dedicate this day to your child by focusing on the story of their birth and their memories as babies. Kids are always fascinated by those stories.

Put on a video of them as newborns in the hospital or at the home after they were born. Bring out the personalized keepsake box of the first items they had as babies. This birthday party alternative is ideal for kids that are past the kindergarten stage.  

8. Outdoor Movie Night

An outdoor movie night is a great alternative birthday party for kids! Choose a movie that is appropriate for the age group of your child. You don’t want to choose a movie that is too scary or too violent for younger kids.

Make sure you have enough outdoor space and choose comfortable seating options.

Make sure you have plenty of snacks and drinks! Popcorn and candy are always popular choices, but you could also get creative with themed snacks that match the movie you’re watching.

Where To Take Kids For Their Birthday

If you have decided to have a special outing instead of a birthday party, the good news is that there are tons of kid friendly places to take your child on their special day. These birthday celebration ideas won’t make you or your kid feel like they missed out anything by skipping the party!

Some suggestions include:

Bowling alley

Movie theater

Indoor play area- We have one of these locally called Play Street Museum. My one year old loves it there! Perfect option if you are celebrating a first birthday or birthday for a younger child.

Build A Bear

Lego Land

Aquarium or Zoo

Indoor trampoline park

Skating rink

Amusement park

Water park

Visit a farm with kids activities 

Picnic in the park

Pumpkin patch- this is a cute idea for birthdays in the fall! 

Kids museum 

Art studio

Local lake or beach

Go Kart/Mini Golf 

Recreational nature center

Horseback riding outing

Knott’s Berry Farm

Lunch at a special restaurant like Rainforest Cafe

The Crayola Experience

There are many creative ways to celebrate your child’s birthday without a party. The way you celebrate can also depend on the age, as well as the development of your child. Either way, you know that you do not need a party to have a fun birthday celebration for your child! 

Birthday for two. How to pack up and not fight

• Ideas
• Birthday

January 13, 2017

Do you and your acquaintance, friend, colleague, relative have birthdays one after another? Or even in one day? Decided to combine the holidays? Recall a few simple rules for a double party.

Anastasia Makarova

editor

Cover photo revel.guide

It can really be more fun and interesting to celebrate together, and is more budgetary than . And the loft can be rented for two. But such an excellent solution has many pitfalls. So that a joint holiday does not end in a quarrel, everything must be foreseen in advance.

Invite mutual friends

Since you decided to start a joint celebration with someone, most likely you are quite familiar and you definitely have several mutual friends. Try to have more of them at the party, then the rest of the guests, those who are not part of the general party, will rather join the society. Otherwise, there is a risk that the holiday will be divided into two independent parties, which for some reason ended up in the same place.

Organize a joint birthday if

• you are old friends
• work together
• sisters or brothers
• people similar in age
• husband and wife

Check each other’s guest list

In order not to be excruciatingly painful, study each other’s guest list. If you have known each other for a long time, then there was everything in your life, and maybe even something that you did not know. It is possible that one of your guests will be unpleasant to your partner in celebration, or vice versa. And mutual viewing of the lists will eliminate the need to get to know everyone right at the party. Age difference.

Some issues are better discussed in advance

Agree in advance who is responsible for what

So that there are no overlaps and subsequent insults, immediately decide who is responsible for which part of the holiday. Perhaps it will be convenient for you that one person will plan and organize everything, and the second will simply invest financially, perhaps you will share powers or will confer on each issue and choose everything together, down to balls and napkins. It is important that the areas of responsibility are divided immediately, and no one let anyone down.

Organizers of this holiday know how to agree, so they have been successfully celebrating a birthday for two for five years in a row.

Solve the issue with gifts

Immediately decide and warn the guests whether they need to give two gifts, or whether everyone gives a gift to the one they want. Or maybe you decide to do without presents at all, or agree that you will receive them at another time. Let none of the birthday people be offended by the fact that he received fewer surprises than the second.

Cooking together brings people together

Organize a uniting action

It doesn’t really matter what it will be – an intellectual game, a collective dance, a team quest or a joint barbecue. The main thing is to have something that will unite your guests. Turn on your fantasy, don’t let them bunch up according to the principle of belonging to the birthday man

Do not sit at the table

The banquet format is not the best option for a double birthday. It will be difficult for guests to get to know each other. Consider spending your birthday in a loft. This is an open space without unnecessary furniture. Guests in it can move freely and communicate with each other without barriers.

See how the birthday lofts look in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Divide the costs equally, or discuss who pays for what

If you are mean, it is better to immediately abandon the idea of ​​a joint party. It is unlikely that it will be possible to calculate to a penny how much, who and for how many guests should allocate money. A holiday is always an unforeseen expense. Guests can be added and vice versa. The best thing is if you manage to agree to share all the expenses equally, regardless of whose friends will come and whose friends may be absent. After all, it’s a public holiday.

Make sure your tastes match

This applies primarily to musical tastes, as well as some fundamental issues – smoking hookah and cigarettes, attitudes towards alcohol. A staunch vegetarian and meat lover should not get together, even if they are good friends. If you have any discrepancies, but you still decide to unite, discuss everything in advance and figure out how to get around the problematic points.

Happy birthday! Ideas for a successful children’s party

The birthday of a beloved child is approaching, and parents are puzzled, trying to find answers to questions that concern many adults. What to give the baby, whom to invite, where and how to celebrate? And most importantly – how to create a child the feeling of a real unforgettable holiday, full of vivid impressions?

Regardless of where and how you plan to celebrate your child’s birthday, there are things to consider and plan in advance:

• Guest list. When inviting someone to a holiday, consider the opinion of the birthday person himself. It may happen that a child that mother likes is not at all a welcome guest for the hero of the occasion himself.
• Age and number of participants. If ten guests have recently turned three years old, and one is eight years old, there is a high probability that the eldest will be bored at the children’s party. As for the number of guests, here it is worth being guided by the principle “less is better”. The most correct thing is when the number of friends is equal to the age of the hero of the occasion (plus or minus one person).
• Seat reservation. Tables in a cafe, a holiday in a children’s center, bowling alleys and tickets to the theater are best booked in advance. If the selected cafe has two floors, it is better to choose the first one for a children’s holiday, in order to avoid accidental falls and unnecessary running of guests up the stairs.
• Menu and refreshments. Unlike adults, who understand the celebration as a “meeting” at a richly laid table, children are not inclined to indulge in gluttony. Therefore, gastronomic delights are unlikely to be appreciated. It is wiser to get by with a small number of dishes, while choosing those that will cause the least damage to the kids’ outfits: for example, juice in bags with straws, muffins in individual packages, pre-cut pitted fruits. Be sure to first find out from the parents of the invitees if someone is allergic to certain products, and make a menu based on this information.
• Gifts for guests. When thinking about a birthday present, don’t forget about gifts for guests. Kids love to return from the holiday not empty-handed. It’s good when handicraft workshops are planned during the celebration – the results of children’s creativity can become excellent gifts in themselves.
• Entertainment and games. The most important moment of a children’s holiday is entertainment. If an animator deals with this issue, great. However, moms and dads themselves can easily organize entertainment for their children. The main thing is to follow a simple rule: alternate active games like catching up and hide and seek with quiet ones – drawing or face painting.

Celebration options :

Birthday at home
Many parents prefer to celebrate their child’s birthday at home, but there are some nuances here.

It is very important to keep away all kinds of objects with which children can accidentally injure themselves. From overly curious kids in the apartment, you should close the sockets with plugs, remove the plants. This will help protect both the health of the little guests and your favorite flowers in pots.

It should be remembered that kids are not able to concentrate on one subject for a long time, so it is better to come up with a margin of various contests and surprises. It is very important that all children take an active part in the celebration, so all tasks must be appropriate for the age of those invited. If possible, it is better to avoid competitive moments: not everyone knows how to lose, and the triumph can be overshadowed by tears. Therefore, even in competitions, it is worth paying attention not to who completed the task first, but to how exactly each participant did it.

For “dessert” it is worth stocking up on a disk with a cartoon – this will help the kids calm down and relax faster after outdoor games. If there are no objections from the parents, during the viewing, you can treat everyone with ice cream or another piece of holiday cake.

Birthday in a cafe

The most popular option for celebrating a birthday after a holiday at home is a birthday in a cafe. An undoubted plus of such a celebration is that parents are freed from the need to come up with a menu, stand at the stove for days and wash dishes. In the presence of animators and a children’s room, the issue of entertainment for birthdays and guests is also removed. In city cafes today there are a lot of options for children’s birthdays, where they play games with kids, arrange contests, make gifts, show cartoons and much, much more. The downside is that such an event can be expensive for the parents’ wallet.

Birthday at the amusement park

Such a holiday will be an excellent alternative for a child to a traditional feast with cake and pizza. Nevertheless, the issue of treats is still worth considering. Children, having rolled on the swings to their heart’s content, ran through the mazes and played enough table football, will sooner or later get hungry. This is where parents should take care of a small snack. Sandwiches, juices, sweets – the standard option. If there is a cafe at the amusement park, you can continue the celebration there by pre-booking a table. Sometimes such establishments offer an entertainment program for children as a separate service.

Birthday at the Museum

Many museums offer this service today. At the Museum of Animation, children will be told about the history of cartoons, shown how they are made, and they will be given a disk with their own edited animation masterpiece as a keepsake. In the Museum of Fine Arts, children will go on a journey through cities and countries, getting acquainted with the masterpieces of the classics along the way. In the planetarium, a birthday will move from the surface of the Earth into outer space, and in the Museum of Entertaining Science it will turn into a series of exciting experiments.

Birthday at the ice rink

The indoor skating rink in the entertainment center is a great way to have a fun and useful holiday, regardless of the weather conditions outside. Suitable for both beginners and experienced skaters. You just need to stock up on a change of clothes and socks and insure the kids from unplanned falls. And also think about what to treat yourself to at the end of active entertainment.

Outdoor birthday

A picnic can be organized in any nearby park or forest area. There is plenty of space for active games, as a treat you can cook the same sandwiches and juice, and, according to foreign traditions, bake halves of marshmallows on a fire (bred in the right place). But still, this option is suitable for those born in the warm season, in order to avoid the risk of getting sick, freezing and getting dirty in the mud.

Themed birthday

Regardless of the chosen place of action, you can organize a themed birthday party, depending on what your child is interested in at a given period of time. Plots and ideas for games will be prompted by the heroes of books and cartoons – for this you just need to re-read them and review them in advance.

1. For the little ones

If butterflies delight a one-year-old crumbs, you can decorate guest chairs and balloons with them, make a butterfly-shaped diet cake and compete to see who sticks more magnets with butterflies on the refrigerator. However, instead of a butterfly, there can be cars, trains, and bears – the hobbies of the smallest are quite obvious.

2. Craft party

Fans of handmade in its various manifestations can organize master classes for children on the occasion of their birthday on their own. The holiday begins with the fact that the mother makes invitations to it with her child with her own hands. And at the celebration with mom and birthday, each guest will learn how to make woolen beads, sculpt flowers from polymer clay or weave bracelets from laces.

3. Pajama party

Remember how, as a child, you dreamed of staying overnight at your beloved girlfriend’s house? If you plan to invite a small number of guests, and for all of you there are sleeping places, you can safely organize a pajama party. The dress code for such a holiday is obvious – pajamas. Entertainment options range from pillow fights to eating sandwiches or cakes in bed.

4. Party for fashionistas

Does your daughter love trying on her mother’s shoes? Dig into cosmetics and jewelry? Excellent! Gather all the little buddies whose hobbies revolve around the world of fashion and beauty to a festive party, and let them finally enjoy everything that used to be only a dream for them.