Is 3 years too young for a kiddies party?

[MrsOs]

Our ds is 2.5 and goes to nursery pretty much fulltime. We dont have much family so his parties to date have been pretty tame. We were thinking of throwing him a party at a soft play place for his 3rd birthday and inviting some of the kids from nursery. I dont know any of the parents though as i never drop him off or pick him up. Is 3 too young for a party like this do you think?

Not at all! DS had lots of soft play parties that all started around 3rd birthday time. The kids all had a ball.

No, it will be lovely. Soft play is perfect, because you don't have to do anything, much, and most places feed them, too. You might just have to bring the cake, candles and napkins, and party bags/favours.

(A tip for the cake. Buy two, and cut one up, and wrap it in napkins, ready to give out. Saves faffing at the end of the party.)

If you want the social aspect / meeting other parents etc., then go for it. A 'just turning 3 yr old' won't benefit from it though (and presuming most of others in the room he's been in will be 2?).
Not sure how many of the other parents will want to be doing that at the weekend though. Time was precious when dc were little and both out at work.

I guess if they dont want to come they wont. He has just gone into pre school so the kids could be same age potentially a tiny bit older but i would only invite the ones he plays with most.

A 'just turning 3 yr old' won't benefit from it though (and presuming most of others in the room he's been in will be 2?).

Really? DS still talks about his 3rd birthday party (his 4th is next week) and the other parties he went to around that time.

And the parents seemed to enjoy them as a social occasion - a chance to actually get to know other nursery parents.

Now we're on 4th birthdays we seem to be fully booked for MONTHS.

We are in the middle of 3rd birthday party season. DS definitely knows what a party is, and gets excited about going to one. He also knows what party bags are (though so far doesn't expect one at the end of every party, thank goodness!) and is thrilled when he gets one.

3 yr olds definitely "get" parties.

Cool ok, defo do the party then.. Thanks. Just need to decide where to have it. We scouted out a place yesterday but it was so crammed and busy and the party would be in the middle of all that so we decided against that place. The leisure centre have a place that you can have exclusively but they dont give you a party planner and you have to sort most of it out yourself which im not against but it would be nice not to have to entertain a bunch of kids myself being a novice and all that. I think they do food packages though and i could just do a few party games like musical statues and pass the parcel. Just a shame my ds birthday isnt in summer we could have done it in the garden but january is a cold wet miserable month usually. Maybe we could get a face painter too?

3 is a great age to start parties. They initially don't have a clue what is going on but after going to a few at age 3 they have a lot more clue by the time the 4th birthdays come around. Much better to start early though - you wouldn't avoid celebrating Christmas in the traditional manner just because your child didn't get it would you?