Kids birthday party ideas, by theme
Eight themes, each written out properly: the games with ages and how long they run, the food children will actually eat, what to decorate with and what to skip, a cake you can make on a weeknight, and what the whole thing costs in Australian dollars.
Two things worth knowing before you pick one. Themes have a much narrower age range than the shops suggest — a construction party is brilliant at three and embarrassing at eight — so the age band on each card is the most useful number on this page. And the theme is almost never what a party costs. The cost is the venue, the entertainer and the food; the theme is balloons and a colour scheme.
Unicorn
Best for ages 3–8
Unicorn is the most-requested theme for girls turning four to seven, and it is the one most likely to be overspent on, because the shops have an entire aisle of it. Almost none of that aisle is necessary.
The full plan →Dinosaur
Best for ages 3–7
Dinosaurs are the easiest theme to do well outdoors and the hardest to do well in a small lounge room, because the whole thing is built around digging, stomping and roaring.
The full plan →Mermaid
Best for ages 4–9
A mermaid party is really a water party with a colour scheme, and that's the decision to make early: water games or not. With them it's the best party of the year. Without them it's a unicorn party in blue.
The full plan →Space
Best for ages 4–9
Space holds older children better than almost any other theme — an eight-year-old who has decided they're too old for a themed party will still launch a rocket. It also works indoors, in winter, at night, which very few of these do.
The full plan →Superhero
Best for ages 4–8
Superhero is the highest-energy theme on this list, which is a warning as much as a description. It needs space, it needs a structure, and it needs an adult prepared to be the villain.
The full plan →Construction
Best for ages 2–5
This is the best theme for a second or third birthday, because it asks nothing of the children. There's no rule to follow and no competition to lose. There is dirt, and there are diggers.
The full plan →Rainbow
Best for ages 2–10
Rainbow is the theme to choose when the child hasn't chosen one, when siblings have to share a party, or when the budget is genuinely tight. It costs almost nothing because it isn't licensed, it isn't seasonal, and everything for it is already in the shops.
The full plan →Footy
Best for ages 5–11
For older children — seven and up — a footy party solves the problem that a themed party stops working around age eight. Nobody thinks a game of footy is babyish.
The full plan →
Once you’ve picked one
Or describe the party and have the plan written for you
One sentence — whose birthday, how old, how many children, what you want to spend — and you get the theme, timeline, menu, games, shopping list and budget back, all of it editable.
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