Birthday Celebration for 3 year old ..ideas please

[bodsmum]

I will be 7 months pregnant for my daughter's 3rd birthday and originally imagined that at a still tender age a big bash would be out..however she is often invited to parties for the 4 year olds through being at preschool and to be honest seems to really love a celebration,being pretty outgoing..what is my best bet for a 3/4 year old set..hire a hall and entertainment or try softplayhell or a local playgroup that hires out the centre so kids have plenty of toys to play with for a variety of ages including younger siblings..or should i just do something for the family or a couple of friends using the pregnancy as a handy excuse!also what's a manageable/appropriate no. of kids for a full on party?Sorry,the pregnancy is making my usual inability to make a decision even worse!

We did softplay (as it meant I could chat to people and not make food etc), but have just been to a really nice party at a village hall where the playgroup hired out the toys so the children just zoomed round for most of it and played a few simple games before tea (the mum had lots of family to help with making it though)

I think we had 20 children in total to Ds's 3rd

Don't feel pressurized into a big bash if you don't want to do it. I have been to a load of these in village halls etc... Seems like a lot of hassle etc for what? And then you have to do it again next year. What about picking a theme e.g. princess or dora the explorer and going to tesco and buying everything of that theme and having a few kids in the house. EG princess plates, tablecloth, hats, cups etc... Dress up as a princess. Watch a princess film on a dvd and then have a princess themed tea e.g. pink cakes etc.
If your dd is 3, she will be thrilled with that and tbh, I recently went to a friends 8 year old dd's party, which was very similar to this and they really enjoyed it. Playing games, dancing and watching a dvd.

BTW, I think 4 or 5 would be plenty. And if you feel it's unfair to the other kids in preschool why not take a cake in for all kids to share together at preschool, that's what we did.

I'm very much liking your party idea HN..DD v much at age of adoring princesses/fairies etc..also only really keen on playing with other girls so could easily work..only thing is I appear to be the only mum at DDs rather middleclass preschool who ever puts her child in front of a tv so dont know how the whole dvd thing would go down!

We had parties at home at that age. We have done a teddy bears picnic theme (maybe better suited to the summer) with each child bringing a bear and had teddy partyware and also fairy princess theme similar to Humptynumpty.
Decorated the room easily with lots of pink balloons and made some bunting with pink paper. At that age I think the children just played with toys and managed a pass the parcel. Craft always seems to go down well too. We made teddy finger puppets and decorated small cardboard treasure chests with jewel stickers at the princess party. These then go into the party bags to take home so saves a bit on cost there. (Yellow moon are good for craft stuff) and 5/6 friends is plenty.

You've got many years to go for big bashes in the future if you're feeling its a bit much this time.