My baby toddler recently had a birthday, and I can hardly come to terms with him already being two! How did my helpless little baby turn into this independent, brilliant, hilarious little boy? I opted to invite all his little buddies and their parents to our home for a dinosaur-themed birthday bash. Along the way I learned so, so many things. Some things I will never do again, and some things I will definitely repeat in the future. Here are 3 things I learned from throwing a 2-year-old’s birthday party at my house.
1. Have activities for the kids… but not too many!
Did you even think that there could possibly be too many activities at a kid’s party? I didn’t. I had so many activities going on that no one could keep up. I started making activities for his party months in advance. I got a little overzealous in the beginning. There were only two activities that got any love. And because of that, my magic number for the future is two. Two activities max! The kids didn’t even notice three of the activities I put way too much time and effort into.
2. Put away any and all toys you don’t want pulled out
Because of Ben’s room being upstairs, all of his toys are in a play area down on the main floor of my house. In preparation for the party I moved out a lot of his smaller toys, blocks, play kitchen food, etc. that I didn’t want spread all over my house. What I didn’t know is that 2 year old’s seek out toys like a heat-seeking missile, and nothing is off limits. So with that being said, remove all the toys!!!
3. Have snacks
This is a no brainer. But if you’re like me and you don’t know how much food to get, get more than you need! I had a measly little tray of chicken nuggets that I thought would be plenty, and they were gone within seconds. I had other food, but the nuggets were a hot commodity, and I will NEVER underestimate that again in my life. I had a really good time with the food. I made cupcakes for the first time ever and really used the food, punch, and dessert as focal points for my décor.
I didn’t fully recover from my son’s party for at least a month. I told my family, my husband, my friends and everyone I ran into on the street that I would never throw a party again at my house. But something tells me next year I’ll be getting ready to re-read this post and get advice from my past self about throwing a party in my home. If I would have written this any sooner, the title might have been Never Throw a Child’s Birthday Party at Your House. The list of things we do for our kids is endless, and I had a great time planning Ben’s party and having our amazing family and friends over to celebrate. So to anyone who stuck through my first attempt at entertaining at my house, you’re the real MVP’s.
