Kids Birthday Party Ideas, Decorations & Resources

The birthday cake is the last thing to be enjoyed after a birthday party. Since preschoolers enjoy bright colors and their favorite cartoons, marry the two to create a character cake. Young children also like shapes, so creating a 3-D cake can be as simple as shaping cupcakes into blocks or creating a cut-out elephant from a sheet cake. Below are some links on how to accomplish many of the characters popular with young children.

Make birthday decorations fun, colorful, and in designs that get kids ready to party. Use the child's favorite color, or his or her favorite character. Banners and streamers can be made using items already around the house, or constructed from colorful construction papers from the household craft box.

Start the party right by getting everyone in the party mood...with fun invitations. Use your home computer for finding and printing characters, construction paper and markers for creating pop-ups, or simply blank cards that are stamped or stickered to the hilt. All invitations should have the same things written on or inside them: Date of party, directions or address to the party, and a date for RSVP's for preparing for how many guests will arrive. Be sure to include the event, such as "Annie's 6th Birthday Party", and if there is a theme to the party then included it on the invitation somewhere (if it is a pirate party, decorate with pirates on the invitations).