How entertain toddlers at a BD party?

[gorgorita]

We are having a little birthday party for DD. She'll be 2. I only invited moms and their kiddos for some tea and cake. Nothing big or festive this year.
I need ideas on how to entertain the attending toddlers. The party will only last for 4 hours and most of the time it'll be free playtime. But we have a small house and not too many toys.
I think we might get to the point when the kids will be bored and then I need few ideas how to redirect them or do a craft with them.

There will be 4 toddlers age 18 mo - 2. So, very young and not much crafts to do. Many still put playdoh or anything else of that kind into their mouths.
Any ideas? I want everyone to have fun and avoid clinginess if possible. A busy kiddo is a happy kiddo, kwim?

[just_lily]

My main thought is that four hours is a LONG time for that age group.

A good craft for toddlers is pudding finger painting. That way if they eat it, its ok too!

[nelson]

I think you'll be surprised at how much kids play at that age especially when they are at a new house with toys that are not their own, even if there aren't very many of them. I host a playgroup at my small house every couple of weeks, with kiddos about that age, and the only thing that we have "set up" for them to do is snack time. The kids usually play, eat, wonder around, nurse, sit on Mom's laps, play... Maybe if things got rough, you could have another set of toys that were hidden before, make an appearance. Or like another poster said, make the hours just a wee bit shorter, maybe like 2 or 3, as to avoid meltdowns from kids who need sleep or who get bored. Have fun!

[ps4624]

I have pictures of my 2nd birthday - my mom hung butcher paper on the garage walls, put us in old aprons and handed us some non-toxic paint. You have never seen such a bunch of happy, messy kids!

[sapphire_chan]

I'd start off with the actual "birthday" activities as soon as everyone's there so that people can take their LOs home as needed without feeling they're letting you down in anyway or having their kids miss out.

How about movement songs? Even little toddlers can get into things like "if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands". They may or may not do the clapping, but have fun rocking out to the music and seeing the parents dancing.

[Girlprof]

I agree that
1. Four hours is a long time
2. You don't need a lot of activities.

Some balloons will probably keep them busy a long time. We had a small party for my daughter and it was much more of an issue that we gave the older siblings something to do. The little ones were fine. My son had a much bigger party for his 2nd and the kids played with the presents after he opened them.

If you really want some activities in your back pocket, I vote for things like:

ring around the rosey
Itsy Bitsy Spider
5 little monkeys
Story time
"dance party" - just turn on your favorite music and let them go

[maddycakes]

For our DD's 2 yr birthday party we only had two main "activities" for DD and her 3 friends. After about an hour of just free play, but before the cake, we did a scavenger hunt outside (it gave me time to get the kids outside to get the table ready w/cake). They had to look (with their parents' help) for 4 crayons (red, yellow, green and blue) and then they got a small prize (more crayons). After cake, we put out a cardboard playhouse that we had gotten DD for her birthday and gave the kids stickers/markers/crayons to help decorate it. It was a slight flop in that the kids only wanted to go in and out of the doors and not decorate it, but I suppose that was what was fun to them so that's all that mattered in the end. I suppose you could do something similar with butcher paper on the floor instead. Our party was only 2.5 hours and it was exactly the right amount of time before anyone got cranky. We had a couple activities reserved like a story or doing the hokey pokey, but they weren't needed because really the kids just ended up entertaining themselves.

One thing I will caution that I did not expect -- this age group (or at least my DD and a couple of her friends) is not always good at sharing (especially when fired up with sugary cake), so when DD opened some of the toy gifts she received, DD was reluctant to let anyone else touch them and the friends were understandably miffed. It almost ended in some tears. I'm not sure if I would have opened the gifts in front of the other kids again, although I do understand that sometimes the gift giver wants to see the reaction. Tough call.

[gorgorita]

Thanks all for wonderful suggestions.
We don't have family nearby but a bunch of very good friends whom we invited. Many will be driving an hour just to get here therefore the party will probably last 3-4 hours.
I will keep in mind to do the cake and presents in the first two hours.
I really want to keep the party low profile with little decoration and we expect art supplies as presents so there won't really be a big deal of opening the presents.

[gorgorita]

I actually thought that the older kids would help us do the spy bottles that they then take home. I think I would prepare the bottles with craft sand and let the kids put little objects in (i'd throw some miscellaneous items in a bowl for them to choose from) . Then, glue the caps on and voila! The kids will get to treasure a self made toy!
What do you think?

[AmyKT]

Your ideas sound great, as do the others mentioned.

I've never tried to entertain a group of toddlers. I just make sure there are plenty of toys out for everyone, but one group activity sounds fun. Just keep in mind that some won't be interested in participating. They'll be too happy to have all the new, different toys to themselves for a few minutes.