4-Yr-old Birthday Ideas

Here are a couple ideas...

Kids love to decorate cookies. Make sugar cookies ahead of time and have them frost and decorate with sprinkles or other things. You can wrap them up and have them take them home as part of their favor. Another thought is having cupcakes instead of a cake and have them decorate a cupcake.

If you're planning to have a party bag with favors, have a paper bag that they can decorate themselves with stickers, crayons, markers, etc...

I second the arts/crafts suggestion. My 3.5 yo and a bunch of her friends were happy as clams (and self sufficient!) with glue, feathers, stickers, glitter pens etc. I imagine older kids with better coordination will love making bracelets and such. Happy bday!

Bean bag toss - you can use empty flower pots for targets, or make a target with a large piece of heavy cardboard. An easy way to make bean bags if you have some mismatched kids socks is to add dried beans and tie a knot in the end - last year we had a "cat" theme party for my girls and I drew eyes on the bean bags with a sharpie marker so they looked like fish: http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x232/chanjung4/craft%2... and then drew a cat face with a hole for an open mouth that the kids had to aim for.

Pin the ____ on the _____ - pick something your daughter enjoys and customize it - could be "pin the tag on the puppy", "pin the flower on the flowerpot" etc.

Bingo - you can make your own cards (google "free bingo card maker" and you'll find sites that let you make your own bingo cards)

bubbles and sidewalk chalk are other can't-miss fun activities for this age group too IMO.

We have had great results with simple treasure hunts, where the kids find hidden clues that lead to the next clue, until the final site (e.g., microwave, dishwasher, oven or dryer) holds the "treasure" - maybe the party bags if you plan to distribute those. For treasure hunters who are pre-readers, you draw pictures for the clues.

What about a take home craft of some sort? You could get those foam picture frames & stickers & have them decorate one. Then you could take a picture of each girl or a group picture & give them to them to put in the frame.

I would have them bring swimsuits and play in the water. Sprinkler or kiddie pool and Water baloons

My kids always loved Musical Chairs at their brithday parties. At their age, I would say any arts and crafts idea would be fun. Check out www.Oriental Trading online for great pre-packaged craft kits.

We just had a four year old birthday party... we made bracelets with plastic beads and pipe cleaners - a big hit! I was glad we planned a sit down activity because the first 1/2 hour of the party involved a lot of running around. We also did a treasure hunt outside - I hid all sorts of weird little things (plastic dinosaur skeletons, plastic eggs with stickers inside, etc.). The girls loved hunting for treasures.

At four, kids still love the old favorites like pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, drop the clothes pin in a bottle. have a great time and happy birthday to your little one!

red light, green light (LOVE doing this with my kids)
Sack Races
simon says
pin the tail on the donkey
Prize fishing (they drop the line that has a clothes pin on it over the balcony of deck and someone puts a prize on the end and tugs)
Pinatas are really big here - but I have two boys . . . so may just be a "guy" thing - whacking a stick at a piece of paper - LOL!