A to Z of Kids Party Ideas And Free Printables

Do you feel the pressure of giving your kiddies the best party ever every year? We did when our boys were little. However, I would like to let you know that you can do just that yearly. Having a good bank of  Kids’ Party Ideas for inspiration would be best. Once you have the initial idea, it’s easy to create the best kids’ birthday parties that not only have a wow factor. But also create many happy memories. 

We have also added links to some great free files and printables, perfect for creating custom party decorations. All you need is a Cricut Machine and a bit of inspiration.

A-Z Of Kids Party Ideas

A – Kids Art Party

Set up various art and craft stations for kids to explore creativity in this themed art party. Such as painting, drawing, and crafting. Some ideas for activities to include kids of all creativity levels are

• Painting by numbers tables
• Creative painting table
• Glitter painting 
• Drawing  table
• Play-Doh table

B – Kids Beach Party

If you have access to a beach or a pool, then a diy beach party is an obvious choice with activities such as sandcastle building, water games, and beach ball activities such as a relay race where kids have to pass a beach ball between their legs or balance it on a spoon. For extra fun, set up a limbo stick and have a friendly limbo competition to test the kids’ flexibility.

Make beach-themed banners and pop beach coloring pages in the party bags. To keep with the beach vibe, get BBQ out a cook delicious burgers and corn. And if you want to push the boat out, arrange a visit from an ice cream van.

C – Children’s Carnival Party

Create a mini carnival kid’s birthday in your garden or backyard, with a grand entrance arch made of balloons to welcome guests. Play games like ring toss, bean bag toss, and face painting. Create a main stage area with a karaoke machine to create festival vibes. Plus also different game booths or stalls around the party area. Use colourful canopies or tablecloths to designate each booth. 

Have a hotdog cart, lemonade stand, popcorn, or cotton candy machine for party snacks and provide a snow cone slush machine or pre-made snow cones in different flavours.

D – Kiddies Dinosaur Party

Print off Dinosaur party invites to send to guests. Transform your child’s birthday celebration space into a prehistoric world with dinosaur decorations; guests can take part in fossil digs. Buy a dinosaur-themed cake or save money on the cake and make your own Dinosaur cake topper to pop in a plain store-bought cake. 

Create a Dinosaur egg hunt: Hide dinosaur eggs (plastic eggs filled with candy or small toys) around the party area for the children to find. Get some dinosaur cookie cutters for dino sandwiches, make dino egg scotch eggs and make some dino flags to pop into green cake toppers with mini dinosaur eggs on top.

E – Kids Explorer Party

Encourage kids’ adventurous spirit by organizing an Explorer Party. Build a safari tent in your garden or backyard to hold the event. Games and activities can include map making a treasure or scavenger hunt with clues leading to hidden treasures from different cultures. 

Make treasure map party invites to match the birthday party theme. And have an around-the-world buffet for the children to try food from different cultures and make cookies or cupcakes decorated with edible maps, compasses, or animal prints.

F – Childrens Fairy Tale Party

Let children come to the party dressed as their favourite fairy tale characters. Decorate with magical elements and themed banners from your favourite fairytales. Have storytime-themed activities such as a royal treasure hunt, apple bobbing and a magical storytime from a visiting character. Plus also craft station where children can decorate their own crowns, magic wands, or fairy wings.

Food can include poison apple’s, and magical fairy cakes topped with popping candy and candy bark.

G – Childrens Garden Party

Host a garden party with nature-inspired crafts, garden gnome making and outdoor games like sack races. Or a nature scavenger hunt here, you create a list of items for kids to find and collect in the garden, such as leaves, flowers, or rocks.

Set up a potting station where children can plant seeds or small plants in pots or cress heads to take home as party favours.

Food could include mini garden salads with ladybirds, and Babybel; seriously check them. Also chocolate dirt cups and mud and worm pie for dessert. 

G. Kids Golf Party

A golf-themed party for kids is a great way to introduce them to the sport and have a fun and active celebration. Set up a mini golf course in your garden or backyard or at a local mini-golf facility. Decorate the area with golf-themed banners, signs, and flags. Use golf-themed balloons in green, white, and yellow colours to create a festive atmosphere. Place small golf flags around the party area to enhance the golf course feel.

Organise a mini-golf tournament with different holes and keep score for each player or team. Also, set up a station where kids can paint their golf balls using non-toxic paints and markers.

Prepare mini sandwiches with fillings like ham, turkey, cheese, and lettuce. Plus golf ball-shaped cake pops dipped in white chocolate. With 19th hole lemonade, flavoured water as refreshing beverages.

H – Kiddies Harry Potter Party

For older kids, a Harry Potter party would be a magical child’s birthday party. Bring the world of Harry Potter to life with broomstick training, sorting hat activities and potion making. A Hogwarts-inspired feast could include a cauldron of wizard worm pasta, and broom cheese straws. 

Create chocolate frogs using a frog-shaped silicone mould. You can use melted chocolate or chocolate candy melts and add different fillings like caramel or marshmallow,  golden snitch chocolates, butterbeer and spider cupcakes. 

I – Ice Cream Party

Have ice cream-themed coloring pages and activities ready, and start with some ice cream crafting. Colouring in your ice creams and add glitter and pom-pom toppings. Create personalised ice cream cards and invitations with our free alphabet. Then move on to the real stuff. For the perfect ice cream party, set up an ice cream station with various flavours, toppings, and cones. 

Kids can create their own sundaes and enjoy delicious frozen treats. Maybe get an ice cream maker and let the kids make ice cream from scratch. Kids love ice cream, so it’s a great, easy activity for a birthday party, especially in the summer. 

J – Jungle Safari Party

Transform your space into a jungle with animal-themed decorations, binoculars for a safari adventure, and animal face painting.  Use green and brown streamers, balloons, and tablecloths to create a lush jungle atmosphere. Hang pictures or cutouts of various animals on the walls. Add potted plants and large leaves to enhance the effect. Consider inflatable animals or animal print tableware for added flair. 

Serve a variety of kid-friendly snacks and refreshments. Consider labelling them with fun jungle-themed names. For example, you can have “Monkey Munch” (trail mix), “Snake Sandwiches” (pinwheel sandwiches), or “Tropical Fruit Skewers.”

K – Karaoke Party

Set up a karaoke machine or use a smartphone app and let kids showcase their singing talent. Provide props for a fun photo booth session. Create karaoke-themed invitations to send out to the guests. Include the date, time, location, and special instructions or requests, such as bringing their favourite karaoke song. 

Add some friendly competition to the party by organising karaoke contests. You can have categories like “Best Solo Performance,” “Best Group Performance,” or “Most Energetic Performance.” Prepare small prizes or certificates for the winners. For food, have a rock-star-style buffet, and decorate cupcakes with music note toppers, edible glitter, or colourful icing in the shape of electric guitars or microphones.

L – Kids Lego Party

Organise a Lego building contest, have Lego-themed decorations, and provide a variety of Legos for kids to create and build with. Hold a Lego building contest: Set up a designated area with various Lego bricks and challenge the kids to build their most imaginative creations. 

Provide categories such as tallest tower, most unique vehicle, or best animal creation, and award small prizes or certificates to the winners. Have a pizza building station for snack time to keep with the building theme. And a Lego-themed cake for dessert.

M – Teen Movie Night Party

Create a cosy movie theatre experience with a projector and bean bags. Let the kids vote on their favourite movie to watch. During the film, have an interval, serve hot dogs, and serve popcorn and ice cream. This could even be an outdoor movie night and slumber party if you are brave enough. 

Before the movie give all the kids a notebook and pen and tell them there will be a movie trivia quiz after and give out prizes.

Create a Popcorn Bar with a variety of popcorn flavours. Also, set up a toppings station with options like chocolate drizzle, cinnamon sugar, or sprinkles. Offer different popcorn containers or bags for kids to fill up their own servings.

Serve bite-sized sliders with options like cheeseburgers, chicken, or pulled pork. And set up a nacho bar with tortilla chips, melted cheese, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.

N – Tweens Neon Party

Transform the party area into a vibrant neon wonderland with blacklights, glow sticks, and neon-coloured decorations. Have a dance party with a neon-themed playlist and encourage kids to wear neon clothing or accessories. Provide glow-in-the-dark face paint and offer a neon face painting station. Serve glow-in-the-dark treats like neon-coloured gelatin cups, glow-in-the-dark cotton candy, and glowing mocktails.

O – Tweens Outdoor Adventure Party

Plan an outdoor adventure with activities like hiking, camping, or a nature trail exploration. Teach kids about the environment and wildlife. Lead the children on a guided hike or nature walk, pointing out interesting plants, animals, or natural features. Make it interactive by sharing fun facts, asking questions, and taking magnifying glasses and disposable cameras to capture nature.

Pack a picnic-style meal with kid-friendly options such as sandwiches, fruit skewers, cheese sticks, veggie cups with dip, and granola bars. Provide plenty of water and refreshing beverages to keep everyone hydrated throughout the activities.

P – Kiddies Princess Party

Transform your party space into a royal palace with princess-themed decorations, and ask party guests to come in prince or princess costumes. Provide plain crowns or tiaras and craft supplies like gem stickers, glitter glue, and feathers for the kids to decorate their regal headpieces.

Adapt the classic “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” game by creating a large poster of a princess and having the kids take turns trying to place a tiara sticker in the correct spot while blindfolded.

 Host a tea party with child-sized tables and chairs. Serve tea or fruit punch in fancy teacups and provide a selection of dainty sandwiches, mini cupcakes, fruit pots and a princess-themed birthday cake.

P. Pirate Party For Kids

Create a pirate-themed birthday party with a treasure hunt.  Create a pirate ship entrance using cardboard or large boxes painted like a ship. Guests can walk through it to enter the party area. And hang pirate flags or banners with skulls and crossbones around the party area. Hide clues around the party area, leading to the final treasure. Provide eye patches and pirate hats for added fun.

Serve fish sticks or fish-shaped chicken nuggets with French fries as a nod to the pirate’s diet, with a pirate punch and a delicious cake with a pirate ship cake topper.  

Q – Quiz Party For Kids

Choose a theme that appeals to the children, such as superheroes, animals, space, or popular movies/cartoons. This will make the quiz more exciting and relatable. Create a set of age-appropriate questions related to the chosen theme.

Include a mix of multiple-choice, true/false, and open-ended questions to keep it interesting. You can also include visual rounds where kids must identify characters, objects, or pictures.

Provide some easy snacks, drinks, and treats, such as finger sandwiches and sausage rolls, to energise the kids throughout the quiz party, with an ice cream station for dessert.

R – Robot Party For Kiddies

Have Robot themed invitations, and set up a station with various craft supplies like cardboard boxes, foil, paper tubes, buttons, and pipe cleaners. Let the kids create robots.

 Play fun, upbeat music, teach the kids a robot dance routine or have a dance-off with robot-inspired moves. Play a memory game where you place different robot-themed objects on a tray, show them to the kids for a few seconds, then cover them and see who can remember the most things.

Decorate cupcakes with metallic-coloured icing and add robot-themed decorations like gears or robot faces made from fondant or edible paper. Robot-shaped Sandwiches: Use a robot-shaped cookie cutter to make sandwiches that resemble robots. Fill them with kid-friendly ingredients like cheese or peanut butter and jelly.

S – Space Party For Kids

Design invitations shaped like rockets, planets, or astronauts with space-themed decorations. Encourage guests to come dressed as astronauts, aliens, or space-themed characters.

Set up stations with information and visuals about different planets in our solar system. Let kids explore and learn exciting facts about each planet. Hide small rocks or paper cutouts shaped like moon rocks around the party area, let the kids search for them, and build or purchase a model rocket kit and launch it outdoors. Ensure adult supervision and follow safety guidelines for rocket launches.

Prepare meatballs and call them “Meteor Meatballs” on the party menu. Create a green or blue punch using a lime or blue raspberry-flavoured drink mix and add a scoop of lime sherbet for a frothy effect.

S. Science Party

Conduct exciting science experiments, and plan a few simple and safe science experiments that the kids can participate in. Examples include making slime, creating a baking soda and vinegar volcano, or growing crystals.

Set up different science stations where kids can engage in hands-on activities like making a tornado in a bottle, creating static electricity with balloons, or building structures with toothpicks and marshmallows. Allow kids to explore the magic milk experiment, where they can add drops of food colouring to a dish of milk and observe the swirling colours as they add a drop of dish soap. Also, perform the classic Mentos and soda geyser experiment, where kids can witness the explosive reaction.

Serve snacks with fun science-themed names like “Pretzel Molecules,” “Test Tube Treats” (gummy worms in clear straws), or “Fruit Skewer DNA.” Offer carbonated drinks or create “mad scientist” mocktails by combining colourful fruit juices with sparkling water.

T – Tea Party

Arrange a fancy afternoon tea party and set up a beautifully decorated table with a lace tablecloth, fancy teacups and saucers, and delicate teapots. Add fresh flowers or small floral arrangements as centrepieces, with miniature sandwiches, cupcakes, and herbal teas. Encourage kids to dress up and use dainty tea sets.

Play traditional party games like “Musical Chairs,” “Pass the Parcel,” or “Teacup Relay Race.”

U – Underwater Kids Party

Transform your party area into an underwater wonderland. Hang a large ocean-themed backdrop, or use blue and green streamers to create a water effect on the walls. Inflate clear balloons and scatter them around the party area to resemble bubbles.

Encourage guests to dress as sea creatures, mermaids, pirates, or underwater explorers.  Set up a treasure hunt where kids can search for hidden treasures or clues around the party area. Use mermaid decorations and pirate-themed maps or riddles to guide them. Provide supplies for kids to create their underwater-themed crafts, such as seashell painting, fish puppets, or jellyfish mobiles.

Use fish-shaped cookie cutters to make sandwiches with various fillings like tuna salad, ham, or cheese. Cut hot dogs into thin strips to resemble octopus tentacles, serve them with buns, and create a blue punch using blue fruit punch or lemon-lime soda with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to resemble frothy waves. 

V – Venice Carnival Themed Party For Tweens

A Venice Carnival-themed party for kids is a wonderful way to bring the magic and elegance of the iconic Venetian celebration to life.  Set up a craft station where kids can decorate their face masks using feathers, sequins, glitter, and other craft supplies. 

Plus, create a photo booth area with props like masks, hats, and feather boas. Provide a Venetian-inspired backdrop for memorable pictures. A face painter would be a great addition to creating beautiful designs on the children’s faces, incorporating elements from Venetian masks and Carnival themes.

Serve various Italian-inspired dishes such as pizza bites, bruschetta, pasta salad, or mini paninis. Plus also a gelato station where kids can choose their favourite flavours and add toppings like sprinkles or fruit.

W – Western Party

Create a wild west experience with cowboy hats, bandanas, and activities like a lasso contest, gold mining, or a western-themed photo booth—design invitations shaped like cowboy boots, sheriff badges, or cacti.

Create a gold rush scavenger hunt where kids search for hidden “gold” (chocolate coins or small trinkets) in a designated area. Plus a craft station where kids can decorate their own cowboy hats or make paper bag vests and sheriff badges. And create a cactus-shaped ring toss game using cardboard cutouts and hula hoops.

Serve classic Western food like BBQ sliders, chilli dogs, corn on the cob, and baked beans. Washed down with lemonade or cream soda ice cream floats.

X – X Box Party for Teens and Tweens

This is an excellent idea for older kids and tweens who like gaming. Set up multiple gaming stations with Xbox consoles, controllers, and TVs or monitors. Ensure you have enough seating and comfortable gaming chairs for all the participants. However, remember to provide extra controllers and batteries for those who may not have brought their own.

Serve finger foods and snacks like mini pizzas, chicken wings, nachos, popcorn, and chips with dips. Plus, a selection of soft drinks and bottled water for hydration. Create Xbox-themed treats like cupcakes or cookies decorated with the Xbox logo or game controllers.

Y – Yoga Party

This is another one for tweens and also teens. Introduce kids to the benefits of yoga with a fun and interactive yoga session.  Create a peaceful and serene ambience with soft lighting, relaxing music, and scented candles or incense (ensure safety precautions are taken). Scatter colourful yoga mats and cushions around the party area for seating and relaxation.

Hire a kids’ yoga instructor or follow a pre-recorded yoga session designed specifically for children. 

Offer a colourful assortment of sliced fruits like watermelon, berries, pineapple and home made frozen yoghurt lollies. Create a yoghurt bar with various toppings such as granola, nuts, and fresh fruit for kids to build their own parfaits.

Z – Zombie Party

A Zombie Apocalypse-themed party for kids can be a thrilling and adventurous way to celebrate.  Encourage guests to come dressed as survivors or zombies. Provide face paints, fake blood, torn clothing, and accessories like bandanas or goggles to help create the look.

Create a Nerf gun battle where kids defend themselves against zombie targets or each other. And have a dance-off where participants showcase their best zombie-inspired dance moves to spooky music. 

Serve snacks like “Zombie Brains” (green Jelly or popcorn balls), “Finger Foods” (carrot or celery sticks resembling severed fingers), Zombie Sausages and “Bloody Punch” (red fruit punch with floating ice hand-shaped made in moulds). Order or make pizza and label them with creative names like “Pepperoni Plague” or “Survivor’s Supreme.”

In Conclusion

Coming up with a kids’ birthday party theme isn’t that difficult,  and once you have your theme ideas the rest is easy. Birthday party games are easier to theme than you think it just takes a little creativity. A golf-themed party for kids is a great way to introduce them to the sport and have a fun and active celebration.