OT--Any ideas for a 2-year-old's b-day?

[wrldpossibility]

Hi,

I'm trying to think of something unique but still age appropriate for my DS's b-day in Dec. His birthday is a few days before we leave for Disney, so I want something simple, but I'm trying to think of something fun. He didn't have a party last year (at age 1), just family over for dinner, so I am looking forward to doing a little party. There are about 4-5 other 2-year-olds to invite. It will be cold, so nothing outside. Right now I'm thinking of doing it at our local tumbling gym. They do a little toddler program there. Simple, for sure. Any more creative ideas though? We have a Build-a-Bear, but it's too expensive. For my older boys, I usually do parties at home and get creative with the themes, but I can't think of anything age appropriate for a 2-year-old. I don't want anything complicated! Thoughts?

 

[belle&beast]

For my DS's first birthday, we did a construction theme since he really loved his big trucks. I sent and invitation that he "bulldozed through his first year." Decorations were simple- I used construction line tape as streamers and filled his dump trucks with hors d'ouvres and used yellow and black balloons. We celebrated his 2nd birthday in WDW, but when we came home we had a Mickey party with aunts, uncles, and cousins. I just had red yellow and black balloons and Mickey cake plates. I made the cake and cut a Mikey shaped stencil (basically 3 circles) and put it on the cake and sprinkled with colored sugars. It was really cute and simple. We have gone to many 2 yo parties lately- baseball theme with ballpark food, train theme with Thomas decorations, my favorite was the firetruck theme and the firefighter brought the truck! He was the birthday boy's uncle, but boy was it fun for all! Good luck!

 

[foxlore]

We did Thomas for my son's 2nd, 3rd and 4th birthdays. He was all about Thomas until this year (now 5) - Pirates this year! LOL! He chose his theme every one of those years. I just showed him various pictures when he was 2 and let him decide. Thomas was a no brainer for him. I was SO thankful to do something different this year! I don't think I'd worry too much about activities for 2 year olds. They're still so into independent play. I'd think trying to corral them into a focused activity would be frustrating for everyone. We found simply playing and eating cake was the winning combination for everyone. It wasn't until this year that I had his party "out" at game and play facility in town - sort of like a HYPED up Chuck-E-Cheese... Thomas was such a hit with my son at 2 I know make the basic set my standard birthday gift for two-year olds. He learned colors, shapes, numbers etc using Thomas trains and had a blast doing it. At any rate, if you have one of those party catalogs (they seem to ship them to me every year before my son's birthday) you could let him look in those. I also searched online for various cakes and showed them to my son so he could choose. Have fun at WDW and at the party!

 

[LaraK]

My son just clebrated his second birthday in July and we did Superman (luckily it was summer so we just went to the beach). Have you considered doing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? Maybe you could create a "toodles" and set up an adventure in your house that can lead to the cake and ice cream. Each attendee could be assigned a role from the show. 2-year-old birthdays should also be arranged around common nap times...nothing like trying to take a toddler to a party from 1-3 .