4th Birthday Party Ideas

Don’t let four be a snore! Celebrate with our cool 4th birthday party ideas!

Curious George Party
Is your 4 year old curious? Then throw this Curious George celebration! As each guest arrives give them a monkey ear headband—check at your local party store or create your own with brown bands and brown felt ears. Set up a table with a red tablecloth and hang blue, yellow, and red streamers vertically behind it. Hang a banner along the front with letters that spell out the birthday boy or girl’s name such as “Curious Jake’s.” Get a red and blue tiered cake with a monkey on top. Serve chocolate covered bananas on sticks, monkey cookies, and set up a banana split bar! Play a game of pin the hat on the Man in the Yellow hat and set up a cornhole game with Curious George on the platform. Use yellow bean bags to see how many bananas everyone can feed him! Send everyone home with a copy of a Curious George book.

Roar for 4 Party
Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my! Your little one will roar for this wild party. Create a dessert table with a neutral tablecloth and a paper banner with lions, tigers, bears, or anything that roars! For a classy look, get plastic animals and spray paint them gold or silver to decorate the table. Make animal print sugar cookies or cake pops with bear ears! Get a cake with metallic accents and wild animals on top. Make a playlist of animal songs like “Eye of the Tiger” or “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and let everyone bust a move! Or see the animals in action and take the group to the zoo! Make a list of the birthday boy or girl’s favorite animals and make sure you visit them all.

Sports Party
This party is a score for four! If your child has a favorite sport, make that the goal. But if they love them all, go for the gold! Have everyone wear their favorite sports jersey. Decorate with colors of the VIP’s favorite sports team or set up a goal post on the wall. Bake a basketball, baseball, or football cake, and set up a treat table with concession stand favorites like hot dogs, soft pretzels, and nachos! Take the party outside and set up a football throwing contest or a batting booth where they can hit water balloon pitches with a wiffle ball bat (don’t forget the towels)! Create a goodies tray with treats to go like Cracker Jacks, chewing gum, and sunflower seeds. This party will be a winner “four sure!”

Fireman Party
Does the birthday boy want to grow up to be a fireman? Throw him a blazing fireman birthday bash! Make sure the guest of honor has a fire chief hat to wear. Set up a dessert table with paper flames and fire trucks. Serve red velvet cupcakes with flaming yellow and orange frosting. Set up containers of flaming cheese balls, Twizzler fire hoses, and pretzels with one end dipped in red frosting to look like matchsticks! Give everyone a chance to see how they are with a hose! Set up red and orange plastic cups on a table outside, and see how many each guest can knock off the table with the hose in 30 seconds. If your local firehouse does tours, take the group to see a real live truck and fireman pole! Give away fire hydrant shaped sugar cookies. Everyone will stop, drop, and roll for this party!

Magic Party
Abracadabra! Liven up the birthday celebration with a little magic! When each mini magician arrives, hand out top hats and magic wands (plastic versions can be found at most party stores). Get a rabbit in a hat birthday cake and set up a treat table with chocolate dipped pretzel wands or even Trix cereal! Hire a magician to come put on a show for the kids. Set up a stage in an area where everyone can fit, and use a black sheet to set a stage backdrop. After the show, play a tricky game of rabbit toss. Buy 4 bean bag rabbits, and set up upside down top hats to throw them into. A deck of cards in a baggie with magic dust (some fine confetti) makes the perfect party favor!

Baking Party
Does your kid have a knack for whipping up something sweet? Bake up some fun with a baking party! Give everyone an apron to wear that they can keep when they leave (check online or a craft store for children’s sizes). Create a dessert table with a homemade “bakery” sign above it using the birthday girl’s name, something like “Welcome to Sam’s Bakery!” Set up pedestals with a cake and other bakery favorites. Make sure to leave one empty for the delicious treats you make with the group! Have everyone set up around the kitchen counter as you make a batch of cookies. Let everyone help with the ingredients. As they bake, have a cupcake race! Split the group into 2 teams and give each team a spatula and a cupcake. Each team member has to run down to one end of the yard and back without dropping the cupcake. First team to finish wins! When the cookies are done, set up a decorating station with frostings, sprinkles, or even candy and salty treats like pretzels. Let everyone create their own concoction. Send everyone off with their cookies and a cookie recipe card so they can make them again at home.

Los Angeles Party
Does your little one love LA style? Take a trip to LaLa land with this cosmopolitan celebration. Decorate with paper cutouts of the skyline, the Hollywood sign, and palm trees. Create a treat table with a glitter tablecloth and serve LA food like tacos, fish sticks, and green smoothies. Get a tiered cake decorated with the Hollywood hills, or opt for cupcakes with Hollywood stars on the top. Set up a Los Angeles photo booth with the city in the background. Use props like big sunglasses, boas, and pearl necklaces. Send everyone home with their own Hollywood star! Pre-cut stars out of pink construction paper. Use gold finger paint and help every guest dip their hands in and print them on their star. Use gold markers to write their name on top!

Airplanes Party
Up, up, and away! This Airplane Party is the perfect takeoff for your child’s fourth year. Hang model airplanes from the ceilings and create a runway treat table with a light blue tablecloth surrounded by white cloud balloons. Hang airplane pennants along the front and serve in-flight snacks in mini suitcases like peanuts, pretzels, and crackers. Get a cake shaped like a propeller plane and accompany it with airplane-shaped cookies and marshmallow pops dipped in white chocolate. Serve jet fuel kool aid in a large drink dispenser and bring this party to 30,000 feet with a cotton candy cloud machine! Buy colored construction paper and decorations like glitter, ribbons, and pom-poms and have everyone make their own paper airplane. Take the fun outside and see whose plane flies the farthest! Send everyone to their next destination with a toy airplane.

Construction Party
A 4 year old might cause some demolition, but have some fun with this construction bash! Set up big orange construction zone signs outside your front door and give everyone a hard hat as they arrive. For the table use a black tablecloth and decorate it with yellow caution tape and toy construction vehicles like bulldozers and backhoes. Create a big yellow “PARTY ZONE” sign for behind the table. Get a big chocolate cake with fluffy chocolate frosting to look like dirt, and put miniature construction vehicles and work zone signs on top. Have a “build your own burger” station alongside nuts and bolts trail mix and dirt dessert pudding cups. Outside, get 4 big orange kiddie pools and fill them with dirt as a “dig site.” Put all kinds of trucks, toys, and plastic tools inside and see what everyone can build! Send everyone home with a shovel and Reese’s pieces in a baggie. Everyone will dig this party!

Supergirl Party
Unleash your 4 year old’s girl power with this supergirl fete! Have everyone dress up as their favorite superhero, or even their favorite super villian! Set the mood with a super cityscape cutout like Gotham or Metropolis. Set up a treat table with a bright pink tablecloth and use white pedestals to display a tiered cake with the supergirl “S” on the front. Or serve blue velvet cupcakes with pink frosting! Don’t forget kryptonite rock candy and green goblin cookies. Get everyone off their feet with a game of pin the mask on the hero, or have a supergirl competition outside if the weather is nice. See who can jump, run, or throw things the farthest! Everyone is sure to say Bam! Zap! and KaWOW! for this bash!