Have fun party planning with these fun and creative Preschool Birthday Party Ideas!
Preschool Birthday Party Ideas
Got a preschooler… or know someone that does? I received the following question from frugal friend Jessica in Ohio…
“I was wondering if you had any good ideas for fun and thrifty birthday parties? My daughter’s 3rd birthday is at the end of March, and we are trying to come up with something that doesn’t cost too much money… but that is still fun and entertaining for the children. Thank you for any tips you may have!”
Do you have any thrifty or creative Preschool Birthday Party Ideas for little ones?
Or any fun party games, decoration ideas, or ways to save $$ on the food?
Leave a comment & share!
Have fun checking out these 46 Creative Preschool Birthday Party Ideas in the comments below…
More Creative Party Ideas
Then, score even more ideas for your next birthday party…
Fun Frugal Birthday Party Ideas
Planning a party?? Check out this BIG List of Fun Frugal Birthday Party Ideas for some creative inspiration for all ages!! You’ll find everything you need for Creative Party Games, Decorations, Fun Party Food and Punch, and more!
Frugal Gift Ideas for Everyone on your List!
Score frugal gift ideas for the Kiddos, Teens, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Co Workers and more!
If you are near chuckie Cheese they allow “walk in parties” so grab the CEC token coupons out of the paper to buy tokens for the kiddos and bring a cake/plates/cups/favors for your guests and it turns out to be a really inexpensive party. Walk in parties are not limited to kids. We had 50 kids on a Monday afternoon and had the place almost to ourselves!! Ended up paying about $120 for all the tokens (with coupons), cake, drinks, plates, favors and whatever else we may have had. Now, just think…if you didn’t have to entertain 50 kids…this could be SUPER inexpensive.
My oldest daughter’s birthday is in February. For her 3rd bd party I had an indoor beach party & as our guests were leaving a blizzard was just beginning outside (not in the plan). It was very cheap! A bag of sandbox sand under the kitchen table, a wading pool full of warm water, beach balls, and hot dogs & cake on beach towels in the living room. The kids all wore their swim suits & I had the thermostat set higher so nobody got chilled. We had a lot of good cheap fun.
I agree with Maggie and Erika above- at 3, the big party is for the adults rather than the kids. 3 year olds don’t care about how much you spend and whether there is a character theme or any theme at all. Celebrate the birthday, but don’t feel guilty about not spending a lot of money on something he/she will never remember. All they really want to do is play, and would be thrilled to play with the family for two hours even more than they would be to see superman or cinderella.
My daughter’s 3rd birthday is this summer and I’m already planning in my head! She loves all things tea and princess, so I’m doing an Alice in Wonderland theme party and inviting just a couple of her little friends to keep it small and not overwhelming. My plan is to do large tissue paper flowers for decorations (google Martha Stewart tissue paper flowers for directions) and add simple little sandwiches cut tiny, some fruit, mini cupcakes, and juice “tea.” I’m finding things now for the party, like Easter gloves in the dollar bin at Target that can easily serve as favors. I don’t plan to spend more than about $20 which is very doable, throw in some pedestals, tablecloths, and dishes that I already have and we should have a very cute party for a very tiny price!
So the idea of a pinata is always enticing, but in practice it never seems to turn out how you would like. It’s either completely anti-climactic because it never really breaks open like it’s supposed to (especially with the pull string kind) or it’s total mayhem. Plus, all a pinata is is glorified trash, right? So I just take whatever I would stuff one with and then sprinkle it all over my yard. Then I send the kids out to hunt for the treats. Sort of like an egg hunt without the plastic eggs. 🙂
Also, I’ve found the little ones definitely don’t care about games/activities. They’re just excited to be playing with someone else’s toys. lol Usually our “activity” at our boys’ parties is blowing bubbles or playing with pinwheels outside after cake and presents – can’t seem to go wrong with that!
We just celebrated our daughters 4th birthday with a Hello Kitty theme. Instead of buying invites and thank yous I found some H.K. coloring pages online for free and printed them off and had her color them. We aslo printed off extras to use as decorations around the house and cut out Hello kitty’s face to put on the favor bags. (which where white lunch sack bags, hello kitty face and ribbon pink bow of course) Instead of a store bought dessert, I ordered some h.k. cupcake rings online and made cupcakes complete with the pink sprinkles. Dessert and a few games made it a very inexpensive, fun party under $50.00 One of my secrets is to use some of the same things over and over such as a pink table cloth and pink paper lanterns…..that way you only buy once or twice and use year after year. Hope this helps 🙂
Instead of cake, a friend decided to make sugar cookies for her daughter’s second birthday. At the party, all the kids got to decorate their own cookie with icing and sprinkles. It was fun and she saved on having to buy the cake.
Whenever I baked sugar cookies with my little niece I always bought white frosting and let her go crazy with the neon food coloring. I would put enough to frost two cookies into a solo cup or the small clear disposable cups so she could make several different colors
Both of my sons have birthdays within 7 days of each other in the same month. We chose one year to have an “Oho State” party since we live in Columbus and are huge fans. We used Brutus the Buckeye plush and other themed Ohio State items we had around the house. We found cheap paper items at the Dollar Tree to match the colors and had our guests dress in their OSU gear or scarlett and gray. It was awesome. We always have a party every game and it worked to where there was a game that day and watched it afterwards and ate tailgate food!
When my son tuned 3 last year we had the party at home. And the big expense was we bought a bouncy house at Toys R Us on sale. It was less than $150 and thats what the kids played on. And NOW, we have it all the time for parties and whenever. I also went to Walmart and searched the craft section for clearance items. Turns out they had some foam door hangers and all the items needed to make them on clearance. And then instead of party favor bags, they took home the craft they they made. We had so much leftover craft stuff, that my son uses it from time to time to make more stuff…
Best parties ever for our 3yr olds were inflatable swimming pools INDOORS with a Little Tykes slide placed over the side so the kids climbed the slide outside and slid into the pool. The pool was filled with balloons (not helium obviously). The kids LOVED it and the parents indulged in a shrimp ring and mimosas or coffee for a Saturday morning brunch-style buffet. The slide and pool were the big gifts and we had homemade cupcakes and individual ice cream cups for all. We tacked up beach towels for decorations and sent home dollar store sand pail/shovel sets as the favor. Six years later and they still talk about it. The slide was a handmedown originally purchased at a garage sale so our overall party cost was under $50.