My daughter recently turned two. I’m a huge admirer of themed party planning. Although I certainly can’t pull it off like many creative party planners.
Having said that, I also think it’s extremely important for children to have input into their own parties. ‘Songs and Rhymes’ was chosen as the theme for my daughter’s birthday because singing and dancing are what my daughter enjoys most at the moment.
Life is all about nursery rhymes for us at the moment. We listen to nursery rhymes in the car, we act them out at playgroup, we dance to them while watching playschool and she takes control of her own mini CD player in her bedroom.
As it turns out, a ‘Song and Rhyme’ Party is perfect for a toddler’s party. Most toddlers love to sing and dance, or at the very least make lots of noise with instruments.
Here’s a little overview of our party:
The invitations
We had already decided on the theme when I came across these invitations by Petite Marguerite. They were perfect. I used the matching thank you cards for food labels and favours.
The songs
Over breakfast one morning I asked my daughter what songs she’d like to dance to at her party. This was the playlist she dictated. Dingle Dangle Scarecrow topped the list. She knows these songs from our weekly playgroup sessions and from our Playschool and PSST CDs.
- Dingle Dangle Scarecrow
- If You’re Happy and You Know It
- Row, Row, row your boat
- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
- Twinkle Twinkle
- Der Galumph went the little green frog
- Hokey Pokey
- Happy Birthday (of course)
The list was given to my husband whose job it was to learn to play them on the guitar for the party. He was the official music man on the day. The kids loved to help make the music too!
The food
I tried to match each food item with the songs we were singing at the party
- Scarecrow birthday cake (Dingle Dangle Scarecrow)
- Star fruit skewers (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
- Frog in a pond (Der Galumph)
- Milk Shake/ Milo and Milk (Hokey Pokey)
- Piano Sandwiches
- Mini Quiches (Row, Row, Row your Boat)
The party favours
Most of the kids at the party were under 2, so lollies weren’t really an option. I wanted the favours to match the theme but to also be something practical for the kids.
I decided to make musical instruments for the kids to take home. The maracas also served another purpose. Instead of simply adding rice to the bottles, I also added 10 small objects to create I Spy Maracas.
Some of the objects related to parties and the songs. For example, balloon, candle, happy face, star.
