Coming up with a theme for your toddler's birthday party can help add fun and interest. Toddler themes should be age and developmentally appropriate, as well as enticing to children.
Animal Theme
Toddlers love to pretend, and most of them love animals, so, why not invite your child's friends to an animal birthday party? Types of animal themes could include:
- Farm animals
- Zoo animals
- Safari animals
- Circus animals
- Pets
- Reptiles
- Birds
- Creepy crawlies (snakes, spiders, and bugs)
- Noah's Ark
- Stuffed animals
- Under the sea
- Rainforest
Invitations
You can purchase animal-themed invitations or create invitations from printables. If you need help downloading the printables, check out these helpful tips.
Dress-Up
Make the party special by inviting guests to dress up.
- Have guests come dressed as their favorite animals, and have an animal parade
- Offer face painting
- Have children bring their favorite stuffed animal, and have a teddy bear tea party
Arts and Crafts
Short, simple animal arts and crafts are sure to be a hit.
- Provide animal stickers and allow each child to decorate his paper cup and/or plate.
- Make animal masks.
- Allow children to color animal printables.
Music
Engage children in musical activities about animals.
- Play animal songs
- Sing popular animal songs
Other Activities
You can engage in other animal-themed games such as:
- Read an animal story such as One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
- Play with an animal piñata
- Do animal puzzles
Food
You can serve all kinds of toddler friendly animal-themed foods such as:
- Animal crackers
- Teddy bear cookies
- Monkey cake
- Puppy cake pops
Rainbow Theme
Toddlers are beginning to learn their colors, so a rainbow-themed party is the perfect theme to tie into this interest.
Decorations
You can find an array of rainbow decorations for parties. For a toddler party, consider:
- Streamers
- Tablecloth
- Paper plates and cups
Party Favors
Simple rainbow-themed party favors give children something to take home after the party.
- Place chocolate gold coins in paper cups and place the pots at the end of a rainbow
- Give children rainbow stickers
Food
What party is complete without rainbow-themed food?
- Bake a rainbow layer cake
- Make rainbow gelatin
- Offer rainbow punch
Invite your toddler's guests to come dressed in the colors of the rainbow. Let them eat rainbow cake with rainbow sherbet. Help them make their own rainbows to take home. Purchase some chocolate gold coins and place them in cups or little plastic pots, then help each child find his or her own pot at the end of the rainbow!
Cowboy/Cowgirl Party
Invite your little cowpokes to the cowboy/cowgirl rodeo party.
Favors
Young cowboys and cowgirls will love western-themed favors like these:
- Purchase inexpensive western hats for each child
- Wrap favors such as stickers or crayons in a bandanna
Arts and Crafts
Cowpoke fun abounds with these western-themed arts and crafts:
- Let children decorate a sheriff's badge. Affix the badge with double-sided tape
- Make horseshoe prints
Activities
These active-play suggestions will help your cowboys and cowgirls enjoy a real hoedown.
- Pull out some miniature brooms, and let the children gallop around the yard.
- If you're really feeling creative, make horses out of swimming noodles.
- Play some fun western music for the children to dance to.
- Take a whack at a cowboy boot piñata.
- Play pin the tail on the horse
Food
Cowboys and cowgirls work up a powerful appetite on the range. Try these fun western-themed party foods.
- Make sheriff's badge sugar cookies by cutting sugar cookie dough into a star and writing 'sheriff' on them in icing
- Top cupcakes with cowboy hats and boots
- Serve food the way cowboys ate it - on metal pie plates
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Party
This party will focus on modes of transportation, which are endlessly fascinating to young children. You can focus on all aspects, or break it down into a single mode of transportation such as:
- Trains
- Airplanes
- Fire trucks
- Race cars
- Construction equipment
Favors
For toddler-friendly, transportation-themed decor, you can
- Purchase inexpensive vehicles for party favors
- Give children wooden train whistles
Food
Enjoy these cute transportation-themed party foods:
- Use transportation shaped cookie cutters with sugar cookies or gingerbread
- Bake a construction site cake
- Make cupcakes and decorate each with a toy car
Activities
Simple transportation-themed craft projects and games will keep little hands busy.
- Have children color transportation printables
- Have children decorate and glue together paper cars and have a transportation parade as kids march them around the party space making the sound of their favorite mode of transportation
- Play red light, green light
Fun and Games
These are just a few of the many themes you can choose for your toddler's birthday. By picking an engaging theme and pursing age-appropriate party games and activities your toddler's party is sure to be a hit.
