Birthday Nostalgia: 17 Home Party Ideas for Kids

With fancy sandwiches, tea pots, and fun serving trays, we had 24 kindergarteners in our home for a birthday tea party. This was her first year in school, with real friends to invite. I needed to keep it simple, because she had a hard time narrowing down the guest list.

The next year, she wanted a sleepover. I vetoed that idea fast, but we came up with a compromise. We threw a pajama party, with all the fun of a sleepover in just 2 hours. Hair, makeup, nails, pizza delivery — the girls had a blast, but I had them home before bedtime!

To date, this is one of my favorite birthday parties. The invitation was written as a recipe card, and each girl got to take home an apron and a decorated craft box full of the cookies we baked together.

This was my middle daughter's first "friends" party. She wanted a Christmas party for her December birthday, and she was super into princesses. Thus, the Royal Holiday Festival was born. She wore a princess gown, we frosted the castle, and the house was decorated for Christmas.

This party was all about her desire to reuse her Halloween costume. We had a Magic Carpet Ride (aka musical chairs), fortunes, and an Arabian castle cake.

This was just a family deal, but I was so pleased with the simple cake that I had to share it. She loved her Thomas birthday train. We also sent tickets to our guests, with the boarding date and time for our party.

Another kindergarten birthday, another tea party — this time with a Charlie & Lola theme. We called it a Pink Milk Party, and the kids had a blast with strawberry milk instead of tea.

Inspired by her dad's LAN parties and the very popular Webkinz toys, we gathered her friends and several computers for a fun afternoon of video games and stuffed animals.

The youngest was obsessed with all things that go for her first few years. The construction party was a favorite because we already had so much on hand — orange cones from soccer weighted down the balloon bouquets, a dump truck held the cupcakes, a Tonka toolbox held the napkins and silverware. It was simple and fun for the kids.

Dressed as divas and rock stars, our guests spent the afternoon playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero, complete with a guitar cake for the birthday girl.

This one started because the oldest wanted to tie-dye with her friends but didn't like the 60s-style tie-dye party themes. We landed on a fashion party where we made our own lipsticks and tie-dye.

Um, I can't take the credit for this one. My then-3-year-old announced she was having a Marshmallow Party. Not knowing what that even meant, I started with the food. Marshmallows for the chocolate fountain, rice krispy treats, colorful mini-marshmallows. Then I added marshmallows to a pink crown and let her wear the pink tutu from Halloween. She was a Marshmallow Princess, and it was her "best party EVER!"

My little fashionista loved this one, but we came at it from a much different direction that her older sister's fashion party. The girls did makeup, hair, and nails, then walked a red carpet to pose in front of our backdrop (which was leftover from the previous year's school play).

By 12, her friends had been narrowed down and officially selected. It was time to finally let her have a real sleepover, with as many girls as we could hold. It's what she has done ever since, as well. She'll be having her 4th birthday slumber party in just a couple months. Her sister has followed her lead, too. By 9, she was down to a handful of good friends and planning for years of slumber parties.

Ah, yes, the year of Halloween. We checked out spooky movies for months, planned our costume for an entire year, and talked of nothing but Halloween for as long as I can remember. She asked for a Halloween birthday, and I was more than happy to oblige. With clearance prices just in time for her birthday, this was the least expensive party I've ever thrown.

This was our 2nd baking party, but as the birthday girl had requested another Christmas theme, it was completely different. We focused on holiday treats and gingerbread, with the girls taking home a box of treats in lieu of a goody bag.

Apparently, I only do tea parties for kindergarten, but we once again added a twist that was uniquely her. She reprises her Fancy Nancy costume for a very fancy tea party. The kids dressed up, then blinged out a little more when they arrived, with feather boas and beaded jewelry. We had fancy sandwiches, cookies, and a lot of other foods that appear in a Fancy Nancy tea party book. She was very specific about the menu!