4yr birthday... have a party or no?

CantWait2Be

dd will be 4 in June, 6 days before I'm due with ds.  She talks about her birthday all the time and who she wants to come although we haven't brought anything up with her about having a party so I'm not sure where she got the idea about having one.  If we have a few of her friends over for her birthday, how many and what do we do with them?  What kinds of games would you recommend?  Would you open gifts if any are brought or do this later?  I'm not sure about the attention span/tolerance of 4yr olds during something like this.  How long would you have the get together for?  So far exept for her 1yr b-day we've just got together with family and had a joint party at her cousin's house who is a day older (her cousin had a few friends who were friends of the parents and had kids of the same age).  Do you have a party for your 4yr old or what age do b-day parties really start?  I'm not really looking to do anything big given I'll be due any day but also want dd to have a special day.

zigby

DS's 4 yr birthday was awesome...he totally got into it and loved every minute of it. 

You could always just have a tea party and invite a couple of friends over for "tea" and cake...they can dress up like princesses and if there are boys they can dress like princes (my friend went to a party like this and said it was fun).  You could also do it a couple of weeks early...I def wouldn't go crazy and keep it simple.  Do you have anyone that can help you? I remember as a kid my grandma and aunts hosted my party b/c my little brother was in the hospital having surgery.

Opening presents seems to be a personal preference...here it's 50/50. We always end up doing it b/c the kids are soooo excited for DS to see what they brought and vice versa.  It's actually refreshing to see them excited about someone elses gifts.

You could have a couple games - the classic games still seem to be fun. 

DevonPow

For DS's 4th birthday party we are just having it at a local park/playground. Favors are sand buckets filled with shovels, bubbles, chalk, and beach balls. No need for entertainment since they will just be running around playing. Cake, a spread of bagels and toppings and some fruit salad, etc. Maybe a pi?ata. Pretty simple (oh, we are inviting 28 kids but that is because we are insane. Last year he had about 14 at his party, and hat was a good number)

shopgirl78

DD had her 4th birthday at a Princess party place.   Her birthday is in the summer so I only invited our friends.  They did dress up and had a "tea."  Make your own cupcakes and make your own soap.   I don't like home birthdays because they cause me too much work but they are doable.  Do you have backyard toys?   Just get a couple of kids together (her class? friends?) and let them play.  There doesn't have to be structured activities.  Then do pizza, cake and open presents.   If you want a theme, take your DD to the party store and let her pick one out. We've had parties since they were 1, every year.  

ETA:  I was 20 weeks pg with #3 on DD 4th birthday (not full term!)

DevonPow

Oh, and we don't open gifts during the party. We have been to 30+ parties in the past few years and only one of those opened gifts during (and it was chaos)

Halo79RN

only real bday party has been the 1st.  we live away from family and I'm not willing to spend over $1K on a bday.  we do a day out...  for her 4th, we went to the Brooklyn Children's museum, had lunch out, then we do cake and ice cream for dinner.  for her 5th, we went to American Girl for brunch and to let her pick out a doll, then the lego store, just spent the day in Manhattan (which she loves even without the gifts)... again, cake and ice cream dinner at home.   for ds' 3rd, we went to a zoo in NJ, picnic lunch out, cake and ice cream for dinner.  

with you being due soon, I'd keep it small and stick to family or just invite a couple of friends.    I'd say a max of 4 friends...  really, if it were me, I wouldn't plan anything big... what if you go into labor? you don't want to have to call 30 people to cancel.  you could do a princess theme and have them decorate tiaras/crowns and wands, do pin the tiara on the princess, make it a tea party/princess theme with tea sandwiches and fruit and pink lemonade.  have individual princess cupcakes (you can get the cake molds and the dolls at michaels). 

4Speedy

Myson was born 4 days after my DD turned 3yo.  We did not have a party for friends that year--I couldn't imagine hosting a party for kids at that point in my PG.  We actually had our families over for brunch and presents.  It was super easy because I made everything the night before, after DD was in bed, and just popped it in the oven.  We had a baked egg casserole, baked oatmeal with fresh fruit, baked french toast with carmel and bananas, sausage/bacon, juice, coffee tea and mimosas.  It was super cheap, it was easy and best of all, everyone was gone by 1pm so I got to spend the rest of the day on the couch, "recovering."  It worked out so well and everyone loved it so much, we repeated it the next year for DD's 4th and DS's 1st burthday (joint, not two different brunches)

DD had her first party with friends this year, a 5yo party at Chuck E Cheese's for 14 kids and 14 adults.  It was nice because I didn't do a darn thing, other than show up and pay for it.  It was expensive, though.

patty78

We just had a bday party for DD, she turned 4.  It was the first one we had, and she had 3 parties to go to in March, so it seems 4 might be the magic number to start parties:)  We had it at a gymnastics place, there were about 7 kids and she did open gifts while everyone was there.  I think the other kids liked watching Abby open the gifts they brought.

joy143dh

Yes, have a party.  Especially with baby on its' way, she should get the chance to have a party for her, as it may be the last time it is all about her.   4 yr olds are easy!  We had 10 kids at the house and they mostly played with DS's toys and ran around while the parents hung out.  The whole thing was 3 hours: craft, play, lunch, presents, pinata, cake, leave.   Maybe it sounds like alot to put on a party with kids, but it honestly took me 3 hours to plan and buy the stuff (online: oriental trading, partycity, and a local dollar store) and 1 hour to clean up with DH's help.  Let her pick a theme and just purchase a few things that go with it.  Noone that goes to the party is really going to care about the theme, what you serve, what kind of cake, if you opened presents, or what is in the goodie bag - - so don't stress about it.  Really - those things are way overplayed on this board.

jlw2505

Last year a friend of mine was due a few weeks after her DS's 4th birthday and she had his party a month early so something you could thing about.  I would do a small party either at your house or honestly, someplace other than your house to make it easier on yourself.  We did my DD's 4th birthday at the place where she was taking soccer classes but you go to any of the gym places or a bounce house place and its pretty easy.  If you do it at home, I would stick to a small handful of kids.  At age 4, the parents will stay.  Keep it simple, at most house parties, the kids just love playing.  Have an art craft ready and maybe a game or two and some cake and call it a day.  At the parties we have been to, gifts have been opened at about half.  At my older DD's we have never opened gifts but may this year (age 5).  At younger DD's 3rd birthday, we did open the gifts but we did it while the kids were finishing lunch and waiting for cake and they had coloring projects to work on so it kept them busy as most could have cared less about the gift opening.