Birthday Party Planning for a 2 year old

These are notes I made to help in planning for my 2 year old’s birthday party.  

• -Decisions to make 2-3 weeks before birthday (in orange what we did)
• *If anything needs to be ordered you should plan more in advance*
• Decide on a date
• Weekday/Weekend/Sat/Sun
• Time of day – After Church/After nap/Around a meal time (4pm)
• BBQ or Potluck (Potluck)
•  
• -To Do 1.5-2 weeks before
• Send out invites by text, e-mail, in-person call
•  
• – To Do 1 week before
• Choose and order cake at local grocery bakery (Mickey Mouse)
• Order balloons or other decorations locally (Party craft store)
• Decide on items for take home/goody bags (book, dvd, fruit snacks, apple squeeze,  balloon)
•  
• -Less than a week
• Look at weather
• If it looks like rain – Google “rainy day games for kids”
• Begin cleaning/tidying house, bathrooms, bedrooms, clutter (take boxes out)
• Tidy changing table, Put collectible toys/items out of reach/away (StarWars items)
• Brainstorm food meal/snacks, drinks, pick up items (juice boxes, chicken tenders, tater tots for kids)
•  
• -Day before
• Prepare foods
• Get ice
• Pick up cake, ice cream, balloons
• Assemble goody bags
•  
• -Day of
• Setup outdoor games or indoor games (corn hole, bocce ball, random balls, nets, bubbles)
• Wrap or bag(w/tissue) gifts (or wrap in a blanket)
• 1st hour – play, greet 
• 2nd hour – eat, cake, ice cream, presents, play
• Write down who gave what
•  
• -After
• Clean-up
• Send thank you notes, communications(I am not good about thank you notes, git’er done!)
• Eat leftovers for a few days
• Freeze extra cake
•  
• **I am thankful when we do home parties.  I am more relaxed.  They are less expensive by a lot. 
• Parties at a jump place, swimming pool, arcade place, etc. tend to be $200 to $300 and up.
• Although, the nice thing about having the party at another location for a set time, is you are 
• held to those parameters, oh look, party is over, they need the room 🙂  **