birthday party ideas for the sleep deprived

[mommariffic]

I want to make DD's 3rd birthday SO special. She's a new big sister and has been so patient and loving [with bits of being a total pain, ha!] and I'm going to have a birthday "weekend" for her, with a family party one day and a kids party the other.

For the kids I'm having a local guy come and bring some animals to learn about! Some rescued lizards, a chinchilla, and some rabbits. I guess the "theme" will be animals but I need some inspiration for decor and favors?

I just want to make it SO SPECIAL but I'm running out of steam when it comes to inspiration lately call it new baby syndrome

So any input appreciated!

[mumkimum]

Our old neighbors had a party with an animal guy that dd went to - awesome for that age! Theirs was around halloween so that gave them something to go on for decorations and all - but they had kids decorate some paper bags with stickers before the animal show, and a scavenger hunt afterward (with little bags of toys/candy). There was a game or two of hot potato in there somewhere, too. You don't really need too much with a performer, though.

* Really big roll of paper for drawing a jungle or something, for everyone would be cool - or for tracing the kids on and letting them draw all over 'themselves' to bring home and keep.

* Here, dd loves waterballoons for her parties (they're small & with family who doesn't mind the mess) but that's an idea. You could try supervised water balloon tossing.

[crunchy_mommy]

Puppets - use a paper lunch bag or a paper plate with a popsicle stick as the base -- then the kids can use markers & cut out construction paper to decorate them like their favorite animal.

For DS's animal-themed party I bought a bunch of cheap little toy animals and put them on the top of the cake along with some fake greenery -- those little animal toys are still his favorite to play with now 6mos later!

Animal crackers (we had TJ's cat cookies) and cookies or cakes cut with animal-shaped cookie cutters could be fun refreshments...

Decorations -- you could turn the whole place into a jungle -- see if any of your friends would let you borrow their fake plants for the weekend (once someone at my office took a whole bunch of office plants just for the weekend, no one minded). Then gather all the stuffed animals and hide them in the jungle. Or, you could buy stuffed or toy animals for favors and hide them throughout and have the kids look for their favor/prize.

But I think your best bet is ask DD what she would like at her party!! Maybe she'd like lots of colorful ballons. Maybe she wants all her friends to bring their favorite stuffed animal to have a tea party. Maybe what she really wants is chocolate pudding. Which reminds me, pudding cups with crushed cookies (=dirt) & candyor cookie animals buried in it would be another fun snack.

[sanguine_speed]

Honestly, that sounds like a pretty special birthday party already!
Having been through three three-year birthday parties, I can say with confidence that less is more. There is only so much excitement they can take without the party becoming a chore and meltdown city. Having outside entertainment is a pretty big deal in and of itself. Serve snacks and cake, put up some fun decorations, and call it a fantastic party!