I need your thoughts...For the first time, I'm hosting my soon-to-be 3 yo son's b-day party at a train museum and it starts at 1:30 pm (only time available). Typically, I host his parties around 11 am/12 pm when it is easy to figure out the best time to serve lunch. With a 1:30 pm start time, when do you suggest I serve the pizza & cake. I was thinking around 2 pm so the kids have 30 mins to gather & play before eating but what if the kids arrive hungry? Should I serve lunch immediately or at 1:45 pm? The party is from 1:30 - 3:00 pm and we have to vacate the party room at exactly 3:00 pm so we can take our train ride. I'd love to hear your suggestions!
Also, if you have any party game ideas for 3 yo's, I'd welcome that too. Thanks a million!
I think it might be a good idea to have the pizza out and ready to grab as people arrive, that way they can just eat if they arrive hungry, and cool pizza is still tasty. Then serve the cake around 2 cause everyone'll be there. That way, you can head off the hungry but still make a big deal about the cake :)
We recently went to a similar party and the schedule was no big schedule. The parents put out some play tunnels and other things that multiple kids could play in, and they also gave each child a bandana and an engineer's hat (oriental trading!)
I would serve the pizza earlier and cake at the end. Serving pizza at around 1:45 will allow for stragglers to get there. I would serve cake by 2:30 to allow for cake, clean up and train. I think since they are only 3 and you don't have a ton of time, I wouldn't try to do a bunch of games.
I would skip lunch completely. It's an odd hour to serve a "meal" and they will have all eaten lunch before coming.
Put out "snacks" and cake! You could do cheese and crackers, fruit tray, chips, etc but you'll be wasting $$ on the pizzas. Definitely a cute cake and juice before the train ride!
Great party idea! I wish we had one here!
hmm can it possibly just a buffy style. Meaning after that party starts wait a half our and then leave it out for the parents to serve themselves. Some parents will have already fed there kids for a 130 party, I know I would have so they are not to cranky but some kids will be just ready for nap and then snack. This way they can pick and choose as they want.
I'd skip lunch and just have cake and maybe some snacks (chips, pretzels, drinks).
A fun idea would be to have the schedule printed for each guest when they arrive so that it looks like a train schedule. Something like :
- DESTINATION- and -DEPARTURE TIME- written at the top and things like "Cake eating" and 2:00 written in the first row, "Train car Mixup game" and 2:30 written in the second row, "Conductor Opens Presents" and 3:00 written in the third row. Maybe make a spot on the card where they will get their ticket punched when they get on the train and just bring your hole puncher.
Games? Eh I came up with the name "train car mixup" b/c at age 3, possibly you could have train cards and the kids have to put them in order 1, 2, 3 or each kid has to find all their blue cars, a different kid has to find all the red cars, etc. Hide them or hang them on the wall or on the floor.......
Well I would hate to eat cold pizza.Have it ready for when your guest arrive meet & greet them offer them lunch then,do a game if time allows or go straight into the Happy birthday with cake.Do you plan on opening presents with this time allowed before 3?If so then there is no time for a game your dealing with toddlers it will take more time to set them up with a game have them listen long enough for instructions & finally play the game before frustration begins.Plus if they are allowed play time they rather do that than play a game at a train museum.
Serving lunch for 3 y/os at 1:30 is too late I think. Did you put on the invite that you're serving lunch? If not then I would skip it as others suggested. Just do cake, I wouldn't even do snacks. You could add ice cream if you want to take up more time.
As far as games you could do a classic pin the tail on the donkey but do a pin the caboose on the train type thing. It would be easy to make out of poster board and construction paper. I would also search Oriental Trading Co or Michael's for some fun and easy crafts. I'm sure they having something train related! You could even get paper conductor hats (I'm betting the museum might have some) and the kids could decorate them with stickers. You may be able to buy fabric ones and the kids could use fabric markers on them. Doing a craft would take up a bit of time and be a fun take home. I also know that OTC has train whistles for cheap that would be a fun party favor.
I would think 30 mins for crafts, 10-20 minutes for presents depending on how many guests, 10-15 minutes for cake and ice cream...you're left with about 20-30 minutes you can do a game or explore the store. Things usually take longer than you expect anyway, so by the time kids trickle in and you clean everything up, you're pretty close to time. You could also take a couple of your son's favorite Thomas or other train stories and use those as back-up. You could also blow up one of the picture pages from a book (go to Kinko's) and play an I-Spy type game with them. You could hang it on the wall and kids could circle the item you ask them to look for.
Have fun! I love theme parties!!!!
