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Pre-School and Daycare
3 YR Birthday Party questions at the park
My DD's 3 year old birthday party is in 1 week at a Park with a rented pavilion. For the first time, I have invited daycare school friends and dance class friends this year and as I am fairly new to throwing kid parities for classmates etc, some things have come up that I am not sure how to handle with the schedule/party.
My initial plan was as everyone was arriving, we would have a t ball set and have the kids take turns batting and getting the ball until everyone gets there. Then when I think everyone has arrived, we would eat party food, do birthday cake, and then open presents. And after all of this, we will go to the playground area and play. Right now, there will be about 11 children including my daughter and about 24 or so adults.
First question is what is your opinion on this schedule?
Should the order of things be eat party foods, cake, presents, play?
Should we open gifts there at the park? Or whisk these away to be opened at home?
My only other experience of a kids party of a school mate was at a gymnastics place, where they whisked away the presents to the car, the kids played, then they served cake and drinks to the kids, parents got no cake and only a drink if you went to their cooler and helped yourself.
I want to be a good hostess and make sure everyone has a nice time, especially and most importantly my DD.
I know there are so many ways people do things now days but don't know what is best for this many people in this situation.
What are your thoughts?
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Re: 3 YR Birthday Party questions at the park
I've only been to two kids parties like this and it makes a huge difference to me to make sure the parents feel welcome too, not just the kids. Make sure food and drinks are available to the adults. My BIL even had a keg at his son's first birthday party!
I always think it's weird when kids don't sit and open presents at the party, though I really love watching people open presents, to other people might feel differently about this. Both of the kids parties we went to, we ran out of time to open presents because they were both in play places with two-hour time limits.
I think this all sounds great, except that the t-ball thing seems problematic. Kids might hit each other with bats, kids have to take turns, only one can bat at a time, most 3-year olds don't throw well, etc.
What about having bubbles and a coloring page or something along those lines? Or...hmmm...not sure what else. A simple craft project that they can do with parents?
I think I would let them play first. I think the kids would be excited to play at the park instead of eating.
And in my area we do open presents at the party but I know some areas don't.
I love the idea of having outside toys available for kids to play with - balls, rocket balloons, etc. I think t-ball is a little too organized for that age group. They'd rather run around and do their own thing instead of an activity that is more organized and involves taking turns.
I'm in Orlando and it's rare to go to a party where they open gifts at a young age. I have to agree with the previous poster who mentioned that at this age, the invitees don't really care about what's in the presents since they won't be playing with the toys themselves. Not to mention the social filter issues.
I would not do the T-ball - its going to take a lot of adults to make that work and the kids won't really care. Get some bubbles and coloring stuff and they will all be happy to run around like maniacs for 20 minutes.
I would skip opening presents - it takes a long time and will cause alot of fighting among the kids and just chaos.
Depending on the time of your party, you may want to have them play and then do food and cake. I'd also think of a few other games you could play. I don't know if it's a private playground, but mabye you could organize a game of duck duck goose, pin the tail on the donkey (you can put it up on a tree), organize a nature walk/treasure hunt, etc.
I personally don't think you should open presents, especially since you're not in your home and it will be a huge pain. None of the parties DD1 has been too have had presents, even those in people's homes.
The only change I would make is that I would have a backup activity in case not all kids want to play t-ball. I'd have some other outdoor toys like playground balls and sidewalk chalk available. Also, bubbles. For a 3 y/o party, classmates will range between ages 2 and 3. Some younger kids may not "get" the concept of t-ball.
At 3, it's nice because parents basically supervise their children the whole time, so you don't have to worry too much about keeping them super-duper busy. Their parents will keep them out of trouble, presumably.
I have always liked my kids to open presents at their party, but I understand why some people don't do this. Sometimes, younger guests want to "help" open the presents, and if your child isn't okay with this, it can lead to drama. My suggestion: have a "birthday girl" seat and a "guest" seat, and have just the gift giver come up to the "guest" seat while his/her present is opened. Everyone else can sit "pretzel legs" and watch.