I got a wild hair at (six months pregnant) to throw a pajama party for some of Grady’s toddler friends. The party would be simple: Come play. Make an ornament. Decorate a Christmas cookie. Get pumped on sugar. Go home. The party ended up being two hours of total fun!
I decided to make my formal dining room the area of disaster. My table seats 10 and I knew I would have around 13ish toddlers over for a day of indoor adventure. I already had a roll of butcher paper because, ya know, and used that for a table cloth. I used a regular old Crayola marker and drew some Christmas objects all over it. A few bowls of crayons in the middle of the table and you have yourself a gigantic coloring page!
Party Supplies:
Everything purchased from the Dollar Tree!
- pom poms (8 bags for $1) = $8
- plastic ornaments (2 for $1 and I bought 7) = $7
- popsicle sticks = $1
- bowls (7 for $1 and I bought 2) = $2
- plates (7 for $1 and I bought 2) = $2
- napkins = $1
Sprinkles came from HomeGoods and were about $6 and I already had the ingredients for the cookies in my pantry.
Total Cost of Party = $27
The night before I organized all the ornament supplies. I wanted to make sure the craft was easy enough for ALL the kids to participate. I had taken Grady to a few ornament making gatherings and they were just too difficult for him to do by himself. I wanted an ornament that:
- All the kids could do
- Had very little mess involved
- Was mostly hands-off for the parents
I settled for clear plastic ornaments and Christmas colored pom-poms. All the kids had to do was stuff them in the tops. I pulled all the caps off and put them in a bowl so the mom’s could grab one when their child was finished.
I also used my Silhouette machine to make some little tags to tie on as a memento of their day! All the tags were placed in a separate bowl right next to the caps.
When the kids came in, obviously they went right to playing. While they were busy, I placed a prepared bowl at each place setting. Slowly, they made their way to the table to work.
This little guy is a fairly new one year old, and even HE was able to participate with a little bit of mommy’s assistance.
Perfect little token to add to the tree! And it was easy and mess free!
We all know that toddlers can’t sit still for long. Once the ornaments were done, they were off to playing again. This gave me some time to set up the cookie decorating. I made the cookies the night before using this recipe. Super easy, no chilling, no crazy ingredients. And EVERYONE got the same shape cookie. In my experience teaching Kindergarten/first grade for 13 years, they get something, but decide they want what their neighbor/best friend has. Or they change their minds. Or they don’t like what they get. Or they can’t decide. I decided EVERYONE would get a Christmas tree.
I plopped a cookie on a festive plate, placed a dollop of green frosting on the side and a popsicle stick to spread the frosting. Bowls of beautiful sprinkles were at every inch of the table. Just like with the ornaments, I placed a plate at every setting while they were playing and they slowly made their way to decorate.
The biggest mess that this activity made was that I had to vacuum up some sprinkles. The butcher paper was rolled up and thrown away. I didn’t have to wash anything because it was all throw away from Dollar Tree.
The kids had a blast, the party didn’t cost much, the moms got to chit chat, and we all got to make memories. It was one of the easier parties I’ve ever thrown and it turned out so cute! The kids were so darling in their little jammies and were actually so well behaved. They didn’t pull any of my Christmas decorations and they were all well mannered. It was a great group of kids and an even better group of moms. Maybe this will give you some inspiration for your next toddler party!
~Ashley