Fun ideas for a Puppy Dog themed birthday party.

We’ve just added a new theme to our long list of birthday party theme ideas – Puppy Dog Party.

The Puppy Dog party theme has lots of fun ideas to help plan your next puppy dog party. You’ll find free ideas on invitations, decorations, games, activities, food, party favors, goody bags and more.

Stop by the Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids website for lots of great ideas on birthdays. We have pages of games, activities, icebreakers, themes and ideas just for kids parties.

Dora The Explorer Birthday Party Theme

We’ve gathered all the best ideas we could find to help you plan a fun Dora the Explorer birthday party.   Fun and free ideas for Dora the Explorer games, activities, favors, food, invitations, decorations and much more!

Drop by the website and you’ll find great ideas to help plan the party.   If you have any great Dora the Explorer ideas that we’ve missed please share them here with others parents. 

Birthday Party Ideas for Kids also has pages full of birthday party games, activities, free scavenger hunt lists and a great sleepover guide.  We’ve gathered all the best ideas from friends and family – the ones that kids really enjoy – and put them all together in a simple format so you don’t have to search through pages and pages of ideas to find the best ones for kids parties.

Horton Hears a Who

We’ve just added Horton Hears a Who to our long list of birthday party themes. If you are searching for fun ideas for your next Horton Hears a Who party look no further!

We’ve brought together all of our favorite free ideas for these catagories:

Invitations
Decorations
Activities
Games
Food
Party Favors
Goody / Loot bags

all in the Horton Hears a Who theme.   Fun an unique ideas – we’ve done all the searching for you!

You’ll also find pages of fun birthday party games, activities and more on our site – Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids.  We are always looking for great ideas for add to the Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids website.  If you have some ideas that you’ve tested at a Horton hears a Who party let us know and we will include them on the website.

Birthday Thanking Tips (for kids and their parents)

Being grateful and classy can also be . . . fun!

Okay, there’s a kid’s birthday in your house. It’s a special and exciting time for both you and your little ones. You’ve got a lot of celebrating planned, and a lot of fun is on the horizon. Sometimes, though, when we think about the good times involved with a birthday, we overlook the thanking afterwards. Why can’t expressing gratitude be part of the fun? Why can’t showing good manners be a positive experience for everybody in the family?

Well, at TodayIsFun.com, we think thanking can be fun, along with all the other kids’ activities surrounding birthdays.  It can also help kids feel good about themselves.  And thanking people is a good habit to get started at a young age, of course.

Below are some of our fun and fitting birthday-time thank you tips:

The Thank You Speech at the Birthday Party
As an adult, there are occasionally parties thrown in your honor: weddings, for instance, engagement parties, baby showers, and yes, even the occasional birthday party.  What do you always do at any party that is thrown in your honor?  You thank everybody for coming, right? You never are required to make a long speech (unless you’re a victorious politician), but you do really need to say a few words of thanks.  Why not start this with your kids? Why not prep them for a future of being polite and gracious?

For both kids and adults, saying thank you shouldn’t be too scary or in any way a big deal.  The guests all came to the party because they like you (or in this case, your child), right?

Have your child stand up and say thanks to the assembled party-goers.  Right before the cake would be a good time for this, since everyone will be gathered around (and awaiting the delicious food finale).  Right after the cake is served would work fine, too. All your child needs to say is, “Thank you everybody for coming to my party!”

Talk to your kid beforehand, so you’re on the same page as to what will happen and why! Maybe you guys can brainstorm some special, fun, or funny words to be said.

This mini-speech will make quite a positive impression on the other parents, we promise!  And who knows, you might even start a politeness movement on your local birthday party circuit.

And at the risk of over-doing the thank yous
Birthdays are a very special time for kids, of course, and they should be.  Birthdays are also a time when people make an extra effort for the honoree.  So, especially if your child is older, a thank-you for Mom and/or Dad is in order.  Nobody needs to be a martyr (“I was up all night folding Sponge Bob Square Pants napkins for your party!”) and nobody needs to need a thank you.  But it is a good habit to start — even for kids — to express some gratitude to the supporting cast and crew!  So, encourage your kid to thank Mom and Dad. Tell your little ones to thank, your spouse.

Thank You Notes
As kids get older, they become subject to the time-honored obligation of thank you notes.  Did anyone reading this, as a kid, think that writing thank you was a fun use of their time?  But writing thank you notes is indeed classy, polite, and the “right” thing to do.  How can you make them a bit less painful for your child?  Here are some thoughts:

Have your kid use a different, positive adjective for each thank you letter.  Instead of “thank you for the great toy monster set,” what about the “spectacular” toy monster set?  The “superb” toy monster set?  There are plenty of positive words that could be used: magnificent, marvelous, splendid, stunning, unrivaled, and so forth.  What other words can you guys come up with?  Have your child be sincere, but use some interesting, new vocabulary words.

If your child is too young to write, they could draw a little picture for each thank you card. This still counts as a nice way of expressing gratitude. And if your child is old enough to write, they could still draw a picture, if they’re artistically inclined.  Such drawings add a nice, personal, and unique-to-your-child touch.

A lot of thank you notes written by kids are a bit “standard.”  That is, they all sound pretty similar, only the names and item in question change.  That’s not a problem, but it does make writing them monotonous.  In addition to the two thank-you-note writing suggestions above, your kid could also add variety and interesting details to the back of the envelope.  While a parent should write the address on the front of the envelope, the kid could write “thanks!” on the back, or draw a little happy face.

Tasty Thank Yous
Assuming that your guests live reasonably nearby, you guys can cook up some thank you treats.  Bake some cookies (or other delicious goody), have your kid write a quick note, and drop them off in friends’ mailboxes.  Baking can be a fun activity for kids, and making stuff for others can be fun, too.  This version of thank you’s is sure to be appreciated and remembered.

Birthdays should be fun and special, from start to finish.  That includes the thanking.  Turn thank yous into an educational and engaging activity for parents and kids alike.

—

Steve W. is one of the two Dads who contribute fun ideas at the parenting website TodayIsFun.com. Visit TodayIsFun.com for many, many more polite and entertaining activities and for a wide number of situations and different children.  Today Is Fun!

Double Trouble!

Fun ideas for a twins birthday party – Double Trouble.

Just added to the Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids website in our Twins Birthday Themes – Double Trouble.

Fun and free ideas for a Double Trouble birthday party theme.

Birthday Party Ideas include:
Invitations
Decorations
Games
Activities
Food
Party Favors
Goody / Loog Bags
… and much more!

Stop by the website for the Twins Double Trouble theme and take a look at all of our other birthday party themes for twins.

Twins Birthday Party Themes

New on the Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids website – Birthday Party Themes for Twins.

Double the fun for your twins birthday with these fun birthday party theme ideas.  All of the fun twin themes include ideas for:

Invitations
Decorations
Fun Ideas
Activities
Games
Food
Party Favors
Goody / Loot Bags

Stop by and find some fun ideas for your next birthday party.

We are always looking for great new ideas to share with other parents. If you have a great idea for a twin theme stop by the site and leave us a message – or comment here on the blog.

Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids also has great ideas for sleepovers, icebreakers, truth or dare, and free lists for scavenger hunts!

Famplosion is a great new website that was created to be the ultimate Family Resource on the web for families who want to “Do Stuff Together!”   We asked Famplosion to tell our readers more about their great idea and how it came to be.     Famplosion is perfect for birthday party venue ideas!

First of all, a big thank you to everyone at Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids for the incredible opportunity to share with your readers what “Famplosion” is and how it is constantly at work for you!

Famplosion was birthed in 2007 and yes it came in the form of a vision; a dream if you will. Not bad pizza, just a desire to create a website for parents that is extremely user friendly and enables them to find fun things to do as a family within their community with just a few key strokes. The name “Famplosion” appeared through a divine means within that initial dream and thus an Internet based family resource was born; exploding with exciting and educational opportunities for families to play and serve together.

As you journey through http://www.famplosion.com you will find icons located in the upper right hand corner that will point you exponentially in the direction of summer camps, birthday parties, museums or zoos. We also feature “Spotlights” which include our hot picks for the week. These spotlights will include dates of the events, prices, pictures, descriptions and the ability to “share” the event with your friends or family. Another great tool within the site are the filters we have in place which allow the parent the ability to sort through events based on price, ages of their children and venue type. Now finding fun stuff to do together as never been easier and in today’s economy finding the right event at the right price (free) is of great benefit to families all over the United States. And speaking of the United States, Famplosion is currently serving the areas surrounding San Francisco, Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, New York City, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Thousand Oaks, Brooklyn and Seattle and is constantly seeking ways to add more and more regions to this list.

We are so grateful for the support we currently have for this endeavor and for what’s to come! We are very grateful to those who have or plan to utilize the site and spread the word because our success depends on you, the parent for not only letting other parents know of its value but also contributing to the site. By keeping us informed on what is happening in your area we can all share in the joy of creating the ultimate Family Resource on the web for families who want to “Do Stuff Together!”

Thing 1 and Thing 2 Birthday Party Theme

Thing 1 and Thing 2   from the Dr. Suess classics are a great ideas to build a birthday party around. The Thing 1 and Thing 2 theme works great for kids of all ages and especially well for twins or siblings.

We’ve just listed our favorite ideas on the website for Thing 1 and Thing 2 birthday party themes.

Lots of fun ideas for you to look through and pick which ones fit your budget and your childrens taste.

Ideas for Thing 1 and Thing 2:
Decorations
Invitations
Activities
Party Games
Food Ideas
Party Favors
Goody / Loot Bags

We’ve just started to develop a long list of great party theme ideas for twins and siblings. Stop by and see what’s new.

You’ll always find great birthday party ideas, party games for all ages, sleepover ideas, scavenger hunt guides and free lists to print out.

Make your next party extra special by visiting Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids first.

Dinosaur theme birthday party ideas for your next Dinosaur birthday party.

The Birthday Part Ideas 4 Kids website has just listed a full page of fun ideas for a dinosaur themed birthday party.

Uncover lots of fun ideas for:
Dinosaur invitations
Dinosaur decorations
Dinosaur party games
Dinosaur themed activities
Dinosaur food and menu ideas
Dinosaur ideas for party favors and goody / loot bags.

Fun and easy to do birthday party ideas for all ages!
You don’t need to spend alot to have a fun birthday party – use these inexpensive ideas to throw a great party that everyone will enjoy!

Just added to the already popular Sponge Bob theme - new games and activities. See our website for the newest additions to the Sponge Bob theme.

These new games have been added to the games list:
Find the stolen formula (treasure / scavenger hunt)
Jelly Fish Tag
Mystery Fishing 

There are also lots of great birthday party ideas for Sponge Bob  invitations, decorations, food, party favors and goody / loot bags.

Swim on over to find fun and unique ways to throw a Sponge Bob birthday party.

Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids