By the time we were planning her fourth birthday party, Kayla had strong opinions about everything. Since her forthcoming birthday requests started as soon as one party was over, I had to institute the Two Month Rule: no birthday party talk until two months before a the next birthday.
Four Year Old Birthday Party – Ariel’s Caribbean Luau
As of this party, Kayla selected the themes, but she still let me plan activities. Since I was no longer a free agent – baby Alex was a permanent barnacle – I had to cut out some of the time-consuming creative elements.
Older and wiser, I knew that little kids don’t eat cake, and they are perfectly happy with a colorful Price Chopper cake.
Also, bags and small toys from Oriental Trading Company make popular (and easy) party favors. Occasionally, I’ve also picked up party supplies at the Dollar store and the party supply store, but Oriental Trading is usually the easiest, and cheapest, resource.
The activities were kept to a minimum so that the kids could have lots of time to just run around. Mostly, they enjoyed playing with the pretend toys, and the ever-popular puppet theatre. We also filled a large bucket with sand and hidden treasures – gold coins and costume jewelry. They had each received a small sand bucket and shovel as a party favor that they used for digging out treasures.
After lots of free play, the party closed with the piñata.
Over the years, we’ve developed our piñata rules: kids line up by height, each child gets two whacks, everyone has to make sure that all kids get some of the loot. I’ve also found that it’s just easier if I fill it with candy. I used to try to reduce the sugar-intake by putting in small toys, but they don’t fill in well and often break.
The piñata is now the one party element that the kids count on. As Kayla’s friend Abby observed, “It isn’t a birthday party if there isn’t a piñata.
More Birthday Party Articles:
Learn more about our party traditions on Birthday Celebrations.
Baby Parties: Baby To Preschool.
4th Birthday: Ariel’s Caribbean Luau and our Piñata Tradition.
5th Birthday: A Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
6th Birthday: The Art Party.
7th Birthday: A Pokémon Party.
8th Birthday: A Harry Potter Party.
9th Birthday: Tween Spa Party.
10th Birthday: Chocolate Dreams Slumber Party.
11th Birthday: The Last Dance Tween Disco Party.
12th Birthday: A Girl-Led Tween Roller Skating Party.
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