to ask for help with 3 year old’s party ideas?

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Posting here for traffic really.

Several children in my daughter’s nursery class have held three-year old parties. Many have been at soft play or farms or similar. I’m not really of a mind to spend £10-£15 per child on a party (this would be upwards of £250 for two hours for three year olds that won’t remember it a week later and I don’t want to keep up with the Joneses for the sake of it).

So...here’s my question...

What can I do for a child who’s birthday is in mid December? I’m thinking of an outdoor treasure hunt but that could easily be rained off so I need wet-weather ideas that will hold their attention for an hour and ideally won’t trash my house.

Option two is not to bother and just have some cake with her grandparents.

Any help gratefully received.

For a third birthday, 3 friends around to your house, grandparents, pass the parcel, dancing games to music, treasure hunt in the house. They all have fun, and so do you !

It depends on the size of your house as parents tend to stay at that age. You could definitely organise some sit down activities like craft, cake decorating etc that wouldn't cost much. Musical statues etc only works if you've got the space. Does your dd have a "best friend" who you could maybe take out for a treat with her mum? Could be out for milkshakes, local panto or a play centre.

Thanks. I like the idea of doing a small thing with a friend or two. She does have a couple that she plays with more than others.

Our house is pretty big, so plenty of room for parents/games inside. But any crafting etc would have to be done on the floor - don’t have tables and chairs for 20+!

I was thinking

Plan A: mid morning treasure hunt in local wood, birthday and Christmas themed. Then back for hot chocolate and birthday cake.

Plan B: either: treasure hunt around the house (this would be doable) or a few Christmas themed crafts so they have something to take home. Then cake.

But it’s the crafting ideas I’m struggling with.

Family party. 100%

"this would be upwards of £250 for two hours for three year olds that won’t remember it a week later and I don’t want to keep up with the Joneses for the sake of it)."

My nearly four year old GD still remembers what she's done over the year and last Christmas.

She is having a soft play party for around 15, because she'd like it and we can easily afford it. Certainly not to keep up with anyone.

Do a house party, that's a novelty, everyone being in yours.

They still like all the old games at this age.

Craft wise, simple farm animals, then an old macdonald song?

Think about the sort of thing they do in the library classes. Keep Christmas out of it. So she has a proper Birthday.

Go to one of those paint your own pottery animals places. We have one called funky pots. They let you go in have a little paint and party for small or large groups?

Don't invite 20+ children. Invite about 10, that's plenty at this age, especially if they all come with parents and a couple of younger siblings (we had seven kids at DS's third birthday and four baby siblings). Tbh, they'll probably just run about the place playing with her toys and opening her new presents, that's what's happened at the last couple of parties DS's been to. Halfway through stop for food and birthday cake. A treasure hunt and maybe pass the parcel if you're feeling keen.

Honestly at 3 just do a family thing

Having 2 kids I've been to loads of parties. And even at 5 6 7 8 etc is still very normal for the birthday child and often the guests too to end up over excited, overwhelmed , in tears, etc

Its alot to handle and tbh a three yr old is very likely to spend the entire time hanging onto the parent for dear life.

Save your money. Go small and with family

For both DDs we had a little party at home for third birthday, perhaps 4 friends. No craft; let them loose in the playroom/sitting room for a bit, then do musical statues and pin the tail on the donkey.

Then make pizzas. Have all the dough ready and divided into balls. Let them roll it out and add toppings, then quickly bake. Party tea done simultaneously.

For both of my kids when they were three I went to a local Brewers Fayre which had a small soft play in and they did a party with food, cake, party bags etc for £10 or so per kid. I just had to turn up! Much cheaper than a big soft play and ideal size for 3 year olds. Otherwise - like others say, I’d just do a party at home. Plenty of time for parties from 4 onwards.

We hired a village hall with a bouncy castle and let them run around for 2 hours.

I fact looking on the Brewers Fayre website looks like it’s only £8.99 per kid. Bargain!

We just had a 3rd birthday party at our home. We kept it small with just close friends so 6 toddlers total, plus parents.

Started at 10am, hired an entertainer to sing and engage them for 45 mins from 10.30, then a quick picnic on the floor with cake and home for naps. It was perfect, nobody lost their shit and it cost me £115 for the entertainer (London) and a small amount on food.

we did an in-the-house treasure hunt for DD's third or fourth birthday (also a winter baby. Actually, it's her b.day next week! She's a lot older now)

Actually, we did two. (in actual fact, we did 3 because we did a treasure hunt in the woods for her 12th)

The first time we got balls and wool and ran them all round the house and made the kids follow the thread to find the prize.

The second time we stuck different colour stars up round the house and split them into teams and told them to find the stars.

In all cases, it took us hours of prep and they were done in minutes (especially the follow the wool thread one. I think they'd finished inside a minute!).

For crafting, could they make/decorate a christmas decoration? You could get them to do an orange (with cloves and cinnamon and bits of coloured plastic). They smell lovely!

Honestly at 3 I'd save your money and do a family gathering. So long as there is party food, balloons and presents birthday girl will be thrilled.

Avoid pass the parcel etc unless you can do an 'everyone's a winner' type version - too many tears witnessed over these games, 2/3 year olds find the waiting hard and neeeed to win something I find.

Then at age 4 or 5, parties are more about playing with friends and the expectations grow- ie bouncy castle or face painter....and then you spend hundreds and it's kinda worth it!

I'm not bothering with party this year for my 3 year old, want to delay the stress of organising one for as long as possible. Thinking of going to Legoland this year.

Lots of good ideas here, thanks all. Will have a think about it.

My friend had a good idea, it was soft play but we went on a week day morning when they had toddler morning so was cheaper. She paid the entry and brought a cake in, it worked out a lot cheaper.

AT 3 mine were both very happy with adults and 1-3 kids for some cake, and a few games (we've done some combination of pass the parcel, pinata, bubble popping, giant bubble making in the garden (which then becomes giant bubble popping, little craft table, cupcake decorating ). The games have to be optional at that age as some kids just won't want to join in and that's fine. I would definitely have a selection of activities and see what the kids go for - sometimes the longer more organised activities don't work for little kids.

We invited 6 friends for ds’s 3rd party. We bought a few bits of pirate stuff and hid the coins for a treasure hunt. We also set up a few different activities- decorating binoculars (toilet rolls), pin the hook on the pirate, pass the parcel. We also did make your own pizza by setting up a table with mini bases and a selection of toppings as one of the activities which worked well.

We’ve done all parties at home so far. This year (4th birthday) we made a load of fairy cakes and set out bowls of icing and decorations. In the garden so easier for us but it was a huge hit. They also got butterfly cut outs and glitter glue and paper. They loved it. Also keep it small. 10 is plenty of kids. X

DD turned 3 last month. We hired a hall (our house is small) and just set out some toys around the room - think we had blocks, a small slide, a sand table, a pop-up tent with teddies inside, some cars and some musical instruments. We had some food and then just let them play. We did do musical bumps at one point but other than that they just played. They had a great time and it was low stress for us because we weren't trying to wrangle them into taking part in organised activities. I would really suggest steering clear of crafts etc at this age!

We had a paw patrol party at the local village hall for DD's 3rd birthday. Borrowed a small bouncy castle from a toddler group. Craft- make your own pup badges (spent an evening cutting the shapes out of card), paw print potato printing and some colouring sheets. Brought loads of toys from mine and grandparents' houses (Duplo, happyland etc). First 45 mins was craft and play (pretty much like a toddler group). Simple party food and then dancing and party games with balloons and glow sticks. Had 20 kids happily entertained for less than £5 per child and DD still talks about it over a year later (mainly about eating cake!) I find having a theme for a party really helps me, as it focuses my Google searches for ideas! Was hard work though- managed it as I was on mat leave and had a bit more time to prepare. This year I had more money and less time so paid for an entertainer