Ryan is going to be four in January (just a little more than a month away!) Since he is “winter” baby, I have always struggled with what to do for his birthday.
Sometimes we have nice weather in January, but sometimes we don’t. That makes it very hard to plan something outside, because it could be 60 degrees and sunny, or it could be 20 degrees and snowing. Currently our house doesn’t have enough space to have an indoor party, so that doesn’t leave us with very many options.
To make it a bit harder, there really aren’t too many places in our town for kids Ryan’s age to have a birthday party indoors at. There are lots of places about 50 miles away- in the big city- but I don’t expect his friends’ parents (all of whom have young children as well- oy!) to make a trip that far away for a two hour, at the most party.
When Ryan turned one, we had our family and a few friends over for pizza and cake. It was nice-crowded-but nice, and none of our friends had babies with them, so that made a little more room in our house.
When Ryan turned two, we had a swimming party in the afternoon at the rec center. We had a room for an hour, where the kids had snacks and cake, and then they got to go swimming. It was OK, but at that age, Ryan didn’t really care who was there, or what the activities were. It was nice for ME though, to visit with my friends while our kiddos were just a few arms lengths away, playing in the shallow water.
Last year, Ryan was insistent that he didn’t want a birthday party, so we took him to a neighboring town, about 20 minutes away, and let him play at one of those bouncy inside places. It was really crowded though, then we went and got lunch.
Ryan is getting excited about his birthday, and since it is so close to Christmas, I always find myself two weeks away from his birthday, trying to plan something. I am hoping to get a jump on it this year, but I am really at a loss at what to do. Ryan says he doesn’t want a party, but he wants to go see trucks and big rigs. Where are you supposed to do that at? There *is* a truck stop off the highway from us, but we aren’t about to go ask a strange truck driver if we can see his truck.
Part of me really wants to have a fourth birthday party for Ryan with his friends, games, silly hats, and cake, because I think Ryan would like a party, once all the action started. The other part of me is leaning towards just doing something like we did last year. Part of the big problem is I don’t know where to have it indoors, and our house really is too small to have a party like that here.
So, does anyone have any great ideas for me? If you live in a colder area, and have a child who has a winter birthday, what do you do? I appreciate any and all suggestions. 🙂
7 replies on “Winter Birthday Party Ideas”
we have entered the birthday party with school friends phase! So far S has been invited to parties at the bowling alley, Chuck E. Cheese and Jump Town in Broomfield.
I’m at a loss too. I don’t really *want* to have the big destination party with 12 4 and 5 year olds but S really wants it and there’s a lot of pressure to do so. I have to think about it more!
Last year we rented a room in the Rec Ctr and just hung out. It was fun.
DH had a fire station bday party once as a kid. I wonder if local fire stations still do that?
I’ll be lurking to see if get any suggestions I can co-opt 🙂
How about an indoor beach party – turn up the heat, have the kids come in shorts and sunglasses and do everything “summer” with beach music, etc.
I did a bday party once where the theme was “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”…the mom set up the dining room to sort of look like the inside of a plane (row of 3 and two with tv trays) and then made a box lunch for all the guests.
I have a lot of “at home” theme ideas on the blog too – dinosaurs, fiesta, indoor zoo, etc.
Hope that helps and hope you have FUN!
I LOVE the beach party idea and I do know for a fact that some fire stations will host a bday party for you…try making some phone calls. Maybe a police station too??
The zoo has a bunch of party rooms: if it’s nice, everyone can go look at animals and if it’s yucky, you can still look at animals until you can’t take it any more and then hang out in the party room.
There is an INDOOR amusement park in the “big city” if some of Ryan’s friends would be able to make the trip, it’s FANTASTIC for little ones. It has a mini ferris wheel, mini merry go round, all sorts of stuff. I’ve personally been to 3 bday parties there and they’re really fun. Email me if you want the name of the place.
Good luck!
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At 4 I know my boys just wanted to be around family – we just went bowling or out to eat and they loved it. When they got older and in school then they wanted to party with friends. So don’t feel pressured to make the birthday party a big production …. you still have a year or two! 🙂
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I was thinking of having my 4yr old birthday party at Bounce U