Birthday Party Ideas for Toddlers

One is fun and the twos are terrible, but you always love your toddler! Celebrate with these fun birthday party ideas for toddlers.

Circus Party
Your little one is the ringleader of this party! Have a circus bash that will send everyone over the (big) top! Fill the room with bright colored balloons with stars and stripes on them. Use a red tablecloth to design the treat table and use a cake shaped as a circus tent as the centerpiece. Offer elephant cookies, bowls of animal crackers, and cracker jacks. For the backdrop, get light up marquee letters to spell out the birthday boy or girl’s name. Get everyone in on the fun and hand out clown noses for kids and parents to wear! Buy a ringleader hat and striped top for the birthday babe to wear as they dig into their cake. For fun, create a ball pit with bright plastic balls in a kiddie pool!

Twinkle Little Star Party
Your little one is the twinkle of your eye, so make them a star! They’ll shine at this Twinkle Little Star party. Buy white and gold star-shaped balloons and hang them along with gold streamers to look like shooting stars. Create a golden dessert table with a white tablecloth and letters painted with gold glitter to spell out the number of the birthday. Use gold frames to display your favorite photos from the past year. Set out star-shaped sandwiches and watermelon cut into stars with a cookie cutter. Get a tiered cake with glitter star bunting along the top. When everyone is sleepy from the fun, wind down the day with a “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” sing along or a reading of “Goodnight Moon”.

Elephant Party
Everyone will have a stompin’ time at this elephant party! Create a chic tablescape with a light gray tablecloth. Decorate with elephant figurines in white or silver, and use baby blue pedestals to hold elephant-shaped cookies and elephant cake pops with candy ears! Set up a “watering hole” with blue Kool-Aid and fun striped straws. Serve some elephant-friendly snacks like peanut candy or peanuts (as long as no one is allergic)! Create a game of elephant corn hole by painting an elephant on the platform with his mouth as the hole. See how many peanut bean bags everyone can feed him! If you live near a zoo, see if they offer group tours of the elephant exhibit. Send everyone home with their very own elephant ears- cut out felt ears and use a glue gun to attach them to gray headbands.

Bubble Party
What kid doesn’t love bubbles? Blow them away with this bubbly bash. Use bright blue and teal to decorate your space. Tape balloons to the wall from the ground to the ceiling to look just like big bubbles. Set a blue cake covered in sugar bubbles atop a white pedestal and chevron table runner. Serve bright colored “bubble” cake pops and create a bubbly drink – blue raspberry juice mixed with seltzer. Fill a jar with bubble gum balls and have each guest guess how many are inside— the closest guess wins it all! Take the party outside for bubble fun with bubble guns and jumbo bubble wands. Set up a bubble refill station by putting bubble liquid in a drink dispenser for easy refueling. Create a bubble pit by filling a kiddie pool with clear beach balls (check online to buy in bulk). Send everyone home with a bottle of bubbles and fun shaped wands!

Barnyard Party
Everyone will say e-i-e-i-OH for this barnyard bash! Transform your space into a farm with a green tablecloth and burlap runner. Set hay bales on each side of the food table and use strands of burlap as streamers for a backdrop. Get a big red barn cake, and surround it with cupcakes decorated like cows, pigs, and chickens. Let everyone pig out on brownie cow pies, rooster-shaped cake pops, and pigs in a blanket. Take this party to the next level and set up your own barnyard in the back yard! Bring in a cow, sheep, chickens, or any of the birthday boy or girl’s favorite animals. Have the animal handler give the kids a lesson on each animal, and then set up a photo booth with props like bandanas and cowboy hats, so everyone can take a snapshot of their wild day! For favors, create a barnyard of stuffed farm animals using a cardboard white picket fence— let each guest pick their favorite friend to take home.

Kidchella Party
This Kidchella party is totally rad, dude! Give every guest a VIP pass to wear around their neck and a flower crown. Set up the perfect boho hipster space with pastel tones, a burlap tablecloth, and tall sunflowers in vases. Decorate a wall with paper flowers and set up teepees in the corners. Get a tiered cake with sugar flowers, a dreamcatcher, and feathers on top. Serve watermelon on a stick, trail mix, and rainbow snow cones! Set up a flash tattoo station and let everyone pick an awesome tattoo to wear (with their parents’ permission)! Hire a cover band to come play some of the birthday boy or girl’s favorite hits. Set up a concert stage and let all the kiddos rock out in the pit! For favors, send everyone home with a dreamcatcher.

Three Little Pigs Party
Huff and puff and blow the candles out! Everyone will howl for this Three Little Pigs party. Create a backdrop by using cardboard to make three houses— one of straw, one of sticks, and one of brick. Buy pink paper lanterns and glue on paper ears and noses to create hanging pigs! Serve pigs in a blanket and piggies snack mix— just mix potato sticks (straw), pretzel sticks (sticks), and dark chocolate chunks (bricks). Get a tiered cake with sugar houses and 3 pigs on top. Or, go for cupcakes and decorate half with pink frosting and pig faces, and half with chocolate frosting and wolf faces. Get a house-shaped pinata and let everyone take a smack to see who can blow it down. Take this celebration to the next level and create a pig pen in the backyard, literally! Bring in three pigs for all the children to meet and play with. Send each guest home with three pig and one wolf finger puppets.

Curious George Party
Is your kiddo 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.

Airplanes Party
Up, up, and away! This Airplane Party is the perfect takeoff for a new year. Hang model airplanes from the ceiling 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.

Petting Zoo Party
What do kids love more than being party animals? Playing with animals! Rise to the occasion and take the party to the petting zoo! Make sure your brood is a manageable size, and check in with your local petting zoo for a group discount. Before you go, ask the birthday boy or girl which animals they want to see the most. Set up a map to make sure you hit the most important spots! If the petting zoo has party space, bring an animal cake or cupcakes decorated like lambs, llamas or rabbits! Create a treat table with a fun “don’t feed the animals” sign and label the snacks as “sheep treats” or “pony food.” Bring some face paint along and help everyone transform into their favorite animal! Or go really wild and bring the petting zoo to your home. Fence in the backyard and hire a local petting zoo to bring some of their animals to your own space.