By the time your child's third birthday is coming around they'll probably have been going to a nursery or attending a play group for a while. They'll have begun to develop their own little social scene and have a small circle of friends they like to spend time with. That's great as it makes knowing who to invite to your child's third birthday party a whole lot easier.
But, and this is quite a big but, before you go all out on a third birthday party theme that's caught your eye, send out matching invites, purchase all the decorations and start icing the cake, stop. After going to a few of their buddies' birthday bashes, your three year old is going to be pretty savvy about the toddler birthday party scene. At three they also know how to voice their opinion and make their likes and dislikes known. Get the party theme wrong and at best you could end up with a child who sulks their way through the party or at worst one who throws a proper wobbler to show their dissatisfaction.
Choosing a theme for a 3rd birthday
While you may not want to spoil the surprise entirely by asking your three year old what theme they'd like for their party, you can do it subtly. Try asking what they thought of a friend's party theme, leave pictures, books or dvds laying around and see which catches their interest most. If they fix on one in particular and they say they love it, job done. If you have twins and they choose something completely different, good luck with that as you'll need to be a parental diplomat to come to a decision on that one.
Best 3rd Birthday Party Themes
To give you some ideas as to just what might catch your little one's attention, here at Fly By Fun we've put together what we know from experience are winning themes for a third birthday party. After you've had a look through them, start dropping hints and see what happens. We know, whichever you choose it'll be a fun packed third birthday party from start to finish.
The Big Three Theme
When you're about to turn three it’s almost the same as being grown up. You're entering into the realm of the big kids and you want the world to know it. Well, that's what being three feels like to a prospective three year old so making a big play on the number three always goes down a treat.
Sticking to the three theme can help keep the party costs low too so that's a massive bonus if you have to watch your budget. All you really need is one big three-shaped helium balloon, a cute t-shirt stating made in 2019 or a wall banner with the same message if you prefer. There are some great variations on the three theme available so you can go for threenager or wild and three if they suit your little one’s personality.
Costume Party
Sometimes to make a three year old's birthday party a success you have to leave them to do what they do best and that is play at being grown up. Gather together as many teenage or adult-sized outfits and hats as you can then heap them in a pile and let the kiddies dive in to choose what they want to wear.
If you don't have enough, ask the guest's parents or your relatives to lend you their cast offs or raid the local charity shop for cheap items. You can always re-donate them once the party is over. This party idea works well if you can manage to theme the clothing. There's nothing cuter than three year old kids dressed as gangsters and molls.
My Little Pony
You can add some real sparkle to a little girl's third birthday by hosting a My Little Pony party. The character of Rainbow Dash is a great choice as you can use rainbow colours to decorate the room. If you've got enough time and spare breath, you can create a fantastic rainbow wall decoration with balloons that will really impress.
Serve the food or snacks buffet-style on a table covered with blue cloths and you'll be well in keeping with the theme. Make sure the table doesn't take up too much room though so the kiddies have room to prance around pretending to be ponies.
Make A My Little Pony Party Extra Special
You can make a My Little Pony party even more fun by making a hobby horse for each of the guests to ride. Print off some A4 size pictures of a horse's head, you'll need two for each hobby horse, cut them to size then stick the two pictures together and attach them to one end of a short wooden broomstick. After the party is over, keep the broomsticks and you'll be half ready for a witch-themed party or even Halloween.
Fly By Fun have been adding extra sparkle to My Little Pony parties for years. It's one of our favourite themes for little girls. Our Rainbow Dash entertainer is an absolute treasure who's an expert at face painting and party games so that takes all the pressure off you. She's amazing, but if you want to make your three year old's birthday totally unforgettable, forget the hobby horses and we'll bring you real ponies with rainbow coloured manes that the little ones can pet and ride.
Cowboy Party
Cowboys and cowgirls never go out of fashion and are still trending in 2022. It's a super theme for an outdoor party and a great excuse to get out the barbecue. What kid doesn't love grilled sausages, burgers and beans?
If you can get your hands on a few bales of straw for seating it really helps to create the right look, but it's not the end of the world if you can't. Red and white checked table cloths or cowhide print throws work well too. Cowboy hats and Western themed banners are simple and effective wall decorations.
Ask the guest's parents to dress their little one in jeans and either a plain white t-shirt or a cowboy-style checked shirt and you'll have a proper posse arrive. One thing all the invitees will be only too happy to receive as a take home gift is a wanted poster with their face on it.
NB: Fly By Fun’s pony rides make this party theme an even bigger hit.
Arts and Crafts Party
At three years of age toddlers are starting to discover their inner creative streak so an arts and craft party theme is always a guaranteed success. Yes, it can turn out to be quite a messy event, but that's all part and parcel of the fun so long as you're prepared for it.
There's a lot of different activities you can get the party guests involved in. If you're hosting the party indoors it's better if you stick to giving the kids products like plasticine clay as there'll be no spillages for you to deal with. Plasticine comes in an amazing array of colours so the kids can let their imaginations run riot. If you're artsy yourself you can show them how to make simple things like a teddy bear, snail or caterpillar.
When you have an outdoor space to hold the party in you can get more adventurous and get the paint pots out. Whether you set the young ones to daubing on canvas or putting their stamp on a plant pot, they'll be in their element.
If you're not creative yourself and just the thought of trying to do arts and crafts leaves you trembling at the knees, don't worry. Fly By Fun can do all the work for you with our amazing arts and crafts workshop.
Butterfly Party
Surprisingly, a butterfly themed birthday party can work just as well for boys as it does for girls and can turn out to be great fun when you have mini guests of both genders attending. It's especially good if you hold the party in the garden so long as you don't mind lots of little feet stampeding over your lawn.
Running around trying to catch butterflies is something we've all done at sometime, but for this third birthday party theme you can leave the real ones to flutter about their business as you'll be using fake butterflies. You'll need quite a few, in fact, the more you have the better. You can make them yourself out of card or buy packs of decorative ones. Either way is pretty cost effective so don't feel guilty if you go for purchasing rather than creating.
Place the butterflies on plants, bushes, fencing or anywhere within relatively easy reach of a three year old. Give each kiddy a little mesh bag, line them up, tell them a certain colour then let them race off to find a butterfly of that shade. Butterfly nets are not advisable at this age as someone's likely to get bopped on the head in the rush.
You can ramp up the theme more by getting the little ones safari hats so they really look the part. Make the food butterfly themed too. Serve the kids a simple dish of farfalle pasta followed by butterfly-shaped jelly and they’ll devour it
Emoji Party
Emojis are a party theme all three year olds adore. They're colourful and put a smile on everyone's face. Emoji party supplies are super easy to get hold of too so there's not a great deal of work involved in making this party idea for a three year old absolutely perfect.
The best emojis to use for this age group are the smiley face with sunglasses, the smiley face with hearts for eyes and the wink with a kiss. When it's reproduced in a large size, the tooth-baring grinning emoji can be quite scary for little ones so best to avoid that one if you can.
If the party budget will stretch to it, have an emoji t-shirt and a pair of dark glasses for each of the guests. They'll love being an emoji for a couple of hours especially when they get to tuck into emoji decorated cupcakes. Can anything make an emoji party better than that? Probably only a lifesize smiling emoji entertainer.
Mickey and Minnie Mouse Party
Mickey and Minnie Mouse are classic character party themes that are perfect for three year olds and not a bad substitute if you're saving that birthday treat trip to Disneyland until your little one is older.
Mickey doesn't necessarily have to be the theme for a boy's party only. Little girls connect to his character too. Most of the time where Mickey and Minnie are concerned though, your toddler will let you know which out of the two is their favourite. If you're not sure, choose both and you won't go wrong.
Black and red are good base colours for this party theme that are easily complimented with toning tableware and balloons. Have a set of Mickey and Minnie ears for all the guests and a dvd on hand to keep them suitably entertained before you sit them down to a feast of cheesy delights fit for famous mice.
Here at Fly By Fun we hope you found the perfect party theme for your three year old's birthday among these ideas. They're all so much fun it's a shame you can only pick one. At Fly By Fun we count ourselves lucky because we get to experience lots of three year old birthday celebrations so many in fact, we're Australia's leading experts in children's parties and entertainment.
If you're still not sure what party theme is the right one for your child, we're more than happy to advise or answer any questions you might have. If you like the idea of miniature cowboys riding ponies at your party or want help with arts and crafts, all you have to do is get in touch. We'll be happy to hear from you.
