Last night I was thinking about how bittersweet it is that C will be turning two in only 2.5 weeks, when it suddenly occurred to me that I’d better hop to it and start planning a birthday party for the child. Last year we had a big bash, with custom cupcakes from a yummy bakery we love, and she wore a gorgeous, special birthday dress and hat from our sweet friend Georgia.
This year, I think we will do something considerably more low-key. And now that she actually plays with other toddlers, it will be more about that than it will be about dressing her up and parading her around for the entertainment of assorted grandparents and aunts and uncles. For this year’s birthday party, I am thinking homemade cupcakes, ice cream sandwiches and maybe kids playing in the hose and baby pool out in the yard. But what time of day should we do it? Since C’s next youngest sibling is 11, it’s been quite a while since I planned a toddler/preschooler birthday party, factoring in naps and lunch and that sort of thing. I am thinking 3pm on a Saturday, but are some toddlers still napping at 3pm? Would before lunch be better? Logistics…logistics…
As for a birthday gift, I think we are going to splurge a little and get her something she’ll love: a play kitchen. This poor child hardly has any toys. She really doesn’t. She plays with things like tupperware bowls and old cleaning rags. Because she’s so much younger than her older brothers and sister, there were almost no hand-me-town toys left in our household for her to inherit, and – true confession here – Jon and I have been really bad about buying her ANY toys of her own. Really, the only toys she has are the ones she got for her first birthday and for Christmas last year. And those are mostly baby toys. Now she’s enjoying real toys when she plays at her cousins’ houses, and I know it’s time to start getting her some playthings she’ll really enjoy for our house. So yep, I think we’re going to go with a play kitchen, and maybe ask her grandparents to get her some play pots and pans, and some wooden play food.
My older kids really enjoyed their play kitchen, long since given away, but I can’t recall what kind it was. It was very heavy plastic, I know that. Ten years ago, the only wooden play kitchens (which I would have preferred) that were available were the incredibly pricey ones from Pottery Barn. Now there seem to be all kinds of really cool wooden ones at fairly reasonable prices. The three I am considering are these:
The Battat play kitchen (which Babble gave the highest rating)
This cool, vintage-looking KidKraft one.
Or one of these Waldorf-y Nova Natural play kitchens.
I welcome feedback from anyone who has bought any of these, particularly on how difficult they were to assemble, and how sturdy they were. I have to decide soon so that I can order the thing and have it arrive by her birthday.
Maybe planning the birthday party will distract me from the slight sadness I’m feeling over the fact that my baby, likely to be my last baby, is not going to be an actual baby anymore after July 31. How did that happen so fast? I swear, the past two years went waaaaay faster with this child than with my others.
Newborn C
One Year Old C
Look! I’m almost two!
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We got the Battat one from Target for my daughter’s second birthday after reading the Babble review! It was kind of hard to put together. It took, maybe, 3 hours. That said, it is fabulous! Our house is on the small size, so I like the scale of the kitchen. It’s pretty small, but has a good number of bells and whistles. (E.g., knobs that make a satisfying clicking noise when turned, lots of shelves, a spinning disc in the microwave. It’s sturdy, considering the relatively low price. I also like that it’s all straight lines and whatnot, so it’s not too prissy or precious. It doesn’t come with any play food, so you have to buy that separately.
Our friends have the red KidKraft and my daughter loves playing with it at their house. I’m not sure if it was user error or an issue with the kitchen itself, but when put together, one of the cabinet doors doesn’t align properly and our friends didn’t bother to return it. Other than that, pretty sturdy, lots of features.
That said, I’d put in a plug for one other option, also KidKraft…
http://www.amazon.com/KidKraft-Silver-Retro-Kitchen/dp/B001KVCAFQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1247244250&sr=8-5
We bought it for our daughter when she turned two. We were looking for one that wasn’t as tall as the others out there as we wanted to put it under a relatively low window. It’s wooden, very sturdy, simple design (can’t say much about how hard it was to put together as my husband did it when we were out of the house — he’s pretty handy and I think it took him awhile), and our daughter loves playing with it. There are fewer components than the red KidKraft, so if you are looking for more features, you’d be better off with that one, but she happily washes her dishes, cooks soup, makes cakes, etc.
Hope C’s birthday is a lot of fun! She is adorable in the pictures!
Funny, I had this feeling when my son was maybe 14 months and walked and talked more, at two I felt he hadn’t been a baby in a long, long while! But he hated being a baby, never really looked like one, and graduated from this “hateful” (I’m sure that’s what he would say later if he could remember) phase very early.
I also had that sort of things in mind when it came to his 2nd b-day party… Wanted something that kids of different ages could enjoy, that would be short and not too formal, that didn’t interfere too much with naps or meals, and that left them time to play together. What I came up with was a small party at the train museum: a 30-minute guided tour targeted for the kids, then (homemade) cake and juice (and play). I scheduled it at 2:30 and it was roughly a half-hour ride from the city, so I thought it would leave time for an early nap or alternatively, a short one in the car, and would be over in time for people to go back home for dinner. Good luck!
On timing of the party: we have been invited to many 2 yr and 3 yr parties that are in the late morning (10 a.m. range). I think the theory is give them a good breakfast, let them go crazy at the party, lunch, then nap (hopefully a nice long one after the excitement of the morning). This plan includes birthday cake before noon, which I suppose some parents might object to. But you avoid the nap timing issue by having it in the morning.
I have the Battat one from Target, although the one we have is an older version from the one you posted! I like the newer version with the shelves much better. It was a gift and they’d already assembled it so I don’t know how hard it was to put together, but it is sturdy and has held up to several years of regular play.
If I had it to do over I’d probably splurge on the Nova Natural/Waldorf style play kitchen, because the aesthetic appeals to me more than the Battat. It seems like more of an “heirloom” toy. But the Battat has been fine and is quite a bit cheaper!
I’ve also seen this one: http://www.magiccabin.com/magiccabin/product.do?section_id=1&bc=1004&pgc=890&sv=333352&cmvalue=MCD|1 in person and it is super cute and doesn’t take up much space.
I did 10:00am Birthday parties.
I served bagels, and birthday cake.
By noon the party was over or stay unitl the kids had a melt down.
Both my son and daughter loved their play kitchens. I don’t have any opinion on the options you listed – my daughter’s came from a yard sale and my son’s was a discard someone had left at the curb.
I’ve seen daycare kids love this kitchen and I like it because it’s sturdy and the colours won’t overpower your space either. Lots of storage and shelves too. Bonus is that it’s roomy for C and her friends to use together! http://www.amazon.com/KidKraft-53101-Large-Kitchen/dp/B0002V84X2?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1195974417&sr=8-1
Or you could go with:
http://www.melissaanddoug.com/dyn_prod.php?p=2607
I love this one to pieces as it’s sturdy, comes with lots of little homey touches like notes on the fridge, clock on microwave and oven and the blue is cheery. You can get tons of awesome food and dishes from Melissa and Doug too. They make my favourite kids toys by far from their puzzles to their ice cream store props!
I’ve seen daycare kids love this kitchen and I like it because it’s sturdy and the colours won’t overpower your space either. Lots of storage and shelves too. Bonus is that it’s roomy for C and her friends to use together! http://www.amazon.com/KidKraft-53101-Large-Kitchen/dp/B0002V84X2?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1195974417&sr=8-1
Or you could go with:
http://www.melissaanddoug.com/dyn_prod.php?p=2607
I love this one to pieces as it’s sturdy, comes with lots of little homey touches like notes on the fridge, clock on microwave and oven and the blue is cheery. You can get tons of awesome food and dishes from Melissa and Doug too. They make my favourite kids toys by far from their puzzles to their ice cream store props!
Might be too late to do this, but I really love the look of it (and it’s inexpensive).
http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/how-to/how-to-build-a-play-kitchen-from-ikea-components-066719
As far as the time goes – I’ve never given a birthday party for a toddler, but it seems like the few my kids attended were around 11 a.m.
I have the Melissa and Doug, and my 2-yr-old twins love it. It’s a nice size for two kids, so it’s good for playdates.
My daughter’s 6th bday is next week and she officially told me dresses and all things princess, were for babies. What am I getting for a little girl who is way beyond her years?
PS.. she hasn’t looked at her play kitchen in years
Bradi
MyWorkButterfly.com
We had great fun with my son’s toddler party last weekend… I have posted the three activities which really worked out well. Some I tried were a real flop