Theme parties - which work well for 4 year olds?

[scoobysnax]

I'm trying to pick a theme for a 4 year old's party, and just wondered if anyone had been to any theme parties for this age group which worked well?

Boy or girl? My dd had a princesses/knights/dragons theme for her 4th, which worked well for both.

Pirates - come dressed up and recieve a free - eyepatch.. Good for boys and girls

For our ds 's 5th bday party he chose Pirates, so we invited Pirates and Mermaids (girls can be v girlie at this age) and we got some themed games from the Internet plus adapted some traditional ones(treasure hunt, Port/Starboard....) and decorated with Skull and Crossbones banners and balloons. Others he has been to in the last couple of years have been Prince and Princess based or in MacDonalds.

For his 3rd party we went for Thunderbirds - themed cake plus blue and yellow accessories - which he still talks about.

Other suggestions : Bob, Tweenies, Barbie etc,

hth

Have you tried Partypieces.com ?

They are great - give you help with themes as all the party bags and plates and cups can be bought to suit.

If your little angels like cooking try splat.com ( or is it .co.uk - can't remember ) But you are provided with a pack - including a laminated recipe card and chefs hat etc ... for each of the kids.
HTH

My three and five year olds threw a Harry Potter party this year and it was amazing!

We had owl balloons on the roof and welcomed each of the 25 'students' to Hogwarts with a wand.

They were sorted by sorting hat into the four houses and went to different classes - potions (where they mixed up cocktail drinks for the feast, with bits of jelly snakes and spiders), transfiguration (charades), chaser practice (basketball), beater practice (dodge ball) and seeker practice (catching golden snitch on a boucy castle).

After the feast, Dumbledore announced the winner of the house cup and they all got magical prizes. And the thank-you notes were mock school reports from Hogwarts.

nerd girl that sounds great did you buy all the stuff from somewhere or did you make it all

We had a football party for my son.Cakes with footballs on,flags,football games they all had to dress in football kits and we had football theme's while we played pass the pacel.All the children got a football to take home with there party bags.Only the 75p balls they all had good fun and a football kit is what most boys have already.

I got some of the decorations and party table supplies from Birthday Express.

But we made a lot of stuff too - we drew owls on balloons for the roof and made signs like 'Platform 9' and 'Platform 10' signs for our front gate etc.

We bought a sorting hat and a golden snitch from the Warner Bros. shop.

nerdgirl, your party sounds fantastic and really imaginative.

After that, my suggestion is a bit lame, but how about a treasure hunt? or a bring your teddy party, or a masks or fancy hat party? you can even get the children making their own hats or masks at the beginning of the party.

I've just had a pirate party for my three year old and it was a huge success with both boys and girls. We decorated the house with pictures from Peter Pan and with pirate bunting. The birthday cake was a treasure chest from Sainsburys and we served fishy dippers and chicken stars from Asda for the tea along with starfish jellies. We had a plank leading to the back garden and everybody had to walk the plank. We had a treasure hunt which led to a box of chocolate coins. All the children came in pirate costumes which were pretty much three quarter length trousers and a bandana. Everyone got a treasure chest filled with goodies to take away. Try partypieces.co.uk for some great ideas.

message withdrawn

What about a magic theme - for my ds, age 5 we hired a childrens entertainer - very reasonable, the best £50 I've ever spent. He was really good and kept the children entertained with magic for well over an hour. I was able to relax, for a while. We also hired a hall, which I would thoroughly recommend, far less stressful than having it in your house.

Some of the best parties ds has been to have been in a hall, with just a bouncy castle to play on.

It was an amazing day. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan myself. The only problem is, I will never beat that party so basically I peaked when my kids were 5 and 3! Doh!!

Boys or Girls may like 08700118700, The Golden Hinde, which is a pirate's ship and real pirates read stories and entertain children on board this unique ship. PartyPieces.com do Pirate themed tablewear and favours to compliment the show. Hope this helps.

We had pirates too. Mascara makes great whiskers, he had a shower curtain hook as an earrig. Stripey t-shirt and old trousers that we cut up raggy.

I bought a normal cake and then cut a 'lid' out of it and wedged it up and filled it with gold chocolate coins and those sweetie bead necklaces. Our very own treasure chest!

Dd had a Princess & Pirate party for her 5th Birthday - girls love to dress up and many have got Disney type princess dresses or a pretty dress and tiara is really simple. I got most of the stuff from Party Pieces - they had a great time. Dd has been to a pirate party but she had to be a 'Pink Pirate' - where did I get her from

Just saw photos of a party my niece went to a few months ago - 4 and 5 year olds. The theme was Princesses and Heros - all the girls were dressed in different Princess outfits and ALL the boys were spiderman!