We’ve had a lot of fun planning kids’ birthday parties with offbeat themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo). After our last party post in 2014 — the “Pink & Gold Everything Party” — we took a year-long break from blogging. During that hiatus we wondered whether our enthusiasm for doing themed parties would fade without an active blog to document it. “All out” is relative: we weren’t throwing extravagant affairs, but we did enjoy decorating, making cupcake toppers, assembling favors, and leaning into a theme.
In practice the answer was both yes and no. When the kids asked for a joint party in 2015 (their birthdays are four weeks apart), we treated it as a test. We took the pressure off — worrying less about staging perfect photos — but still had fun running with a quirky theme.
Since it was our first joint party, we searched for common ground between the kids’ interests. Our daughter was deep into a fairy phase while our son always liked bears, so the theme became a Woodland/Forest mash-up — toadstool and bear cupcakes, faux butterflies perched around the table, and a few cheeky treats we’ll describe below.
The format stayed familiar: a low-key outdoor hangout with family and friends. We ordered pizza, put out sprinklers, and even used a piñata. The woodland vibe mostly showed up in the food and simple details, displayed on colorful, washable floral tablecloths we picked up years ago.
To keep things easy, we relabeled everyday snacks with woodsy names: chips became “fairy wings,” pretzels were “twigs,” and so on. We wrote the names on folded card stock just before guests arrived. It may have been a stretch, but it made the kids smile and eliminated last-minute meltdowns.
Preschoolers especially love silly labels — anything called “poop” (in our case Skittles or brownie bites) is an instant hit. Simple jokes and playful names go a long way with little guests.
I had the most fun with the cupcakes. I made two kinds: fairy toadstools and bear faces. My go-to trick is to “hack” store-bought items rather than bake from scratch. Both sets began with plain grocery-store vanilla cupcakes. For the bears I used mini cookies for ears and chocolate chips for eyes — a five-minute project the kids loved.
The fairy toadstools were dipped top-first into red sugar sprinkles, then dotted with little white candies for spots. A wood-slice “plate,” a few fake butterflies, and a tiny plastic fairy added to the woodland presentation.
By 2016 we wanted to simplify further. The kids still wanted a joint celebration, so we booked a few tables under the canopy at one of their favorite playgrounds. It cost less than many party venues and felt relaxed. With Finding Dory on the horizon, the kids were into an ocean phase, so the party became “Under the Sea.” The décor was simple — blue tablecloths and fish balloons — and once again the theme appeared primarily through the food.
We held a morning party with breakfast-like fare: fruit, bagels, croissants, donuts, and coffee for the adults. I created a few easy sea-inspired snacks the kids enjoyed playing with and eating. Simple touches made these feel special without much effort.
My daughter still remembers the croissant crabs and banana dolphins. The crabs were just croissants fitted with toothpick eyes and paper pupils, and the dolphins were bananas sliced on top with a grape inserted as a mouth and tiny pen dots for eyes. They felt like little magic tricks to the kids, even though they were incredibly simple to assemble.
The goodie bags were equally straightforward: blue jelly beans with a few Goldfish crackers “swimming” on top. Clear party bags and string made them easy to assemble and they were a hit at pickup time.
For the cake moment we chose donuts instead of cupcakes since it was a morning party. We stacked plates of Krispy Kreme donuts and topped them with a few plastic sharks for a playful “under siege” display. The kids responded to the silliness and dove right in.
This year we pared things down even more. We didn’t photograph much, just some candid snaps of kids spinning on the tire swing. Over the past few years the parties have gradually required less time, effort, and money to deliver the same feeling of celebration. Our kids — now older — still enjoy a quirky snack or a simple theme (this year’s was “Bugs”), but what matters most to them is being with friends, getting sung to, and eating cake.
So this year we sent an Evite for a neighborhood playground meet-up (no reservation required), brought pizzas, drinks, cupcakes, gummy worms, and balloons. The weather was perfect, the kids wore themselves out playing, and the adults enjoyed a relaxed afternoon without worrying about staging photos or fussing over details.
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