Need birthday party ideas for kids ages 2-4

[onyonryngs]

I need to figure out something entertaining for kids ages 2-4.  My oldest is going to be turning 4 soon and he's the oldest in the group of kids.  I plan to invite the local cousins and a couple of the neighbor's kids.  Other than the 1st bdays, we haven't made a big deal of birthdays so this is my first that I have to plan some sort of kids activity.  I'd rather not have it at home as the thought of having to clean up after 8 children and their parents after a party is not something I want to do.  Any ideas?  Even better if you're in the Atlanta area & can think of something OTP on the northwest side of town.

[TurtleDove]

My daughter had a bowling party for her 4th birthday and it may have been the best day of her life so far! It worked out to be I think $15 per child, plus whatever we ordered for the adults.  It was a blast! Some of my DD's friends had their 4th birthday parties at a Children's Museum, at Chuck E Cheese (not my favorite), at a Creative Kids Stuff place, at a place that has jumpy things, at an indoor giant park, etc. 

[Jones]

I love the museum idea! Why have I never thought about that before?
In my area, city parks can be rented, the kiddie indoor pool, the theater will show your DVD in a special screening for your party. Oh and I think special storytelling/reading times with a craft can occur at the library too.

[onyonryngs]

Chuck E Cheese isn't my favorite either.  I like the museum idea.  I just looked up Imagine It & it's $250 for up to 23 people, which would cover parents & kids - that's not bad...  I didn't really want to go downtown, but I guess it's not so bad.

[Sharnita]

Chuck E. Cheese around here tends to be in the news a lot for fights - bad enough the police have use pepper spray and arrest people.  At least a few times a year somebody leaves a local Chuck E. CHeese with injuries severe enough to send them to the hospital and/or charges that send them to jail.

[JonGirl]

Big party or BBQ with lots of food, a cake and we had a jumping castle.
The kids always like a jumping castle...

[bopper]

4 years old = Chuck E Cheese bday party around here.

[LadyR]

Chuck E. Cheese around here tends to be in the news a lot for fights - bad enough the police have use pepper spray and arrest people.  At least a few times a year somebody leaves a local Chuck E. CHeese with injuries severe enough to send them to the hospital and/or charges that send them to jail.

Really? Itz been a while since I've been to one (6 or 7 years), but I remember it being loud and annoying, not anything that would involve police.

[twiggy]

DS had a superhero party when he turned 4 last fall. I did it at a park, and I had a lot of fun getting into the theme.

Food: radioactive lemonade (a pitcher with glow sticks in it)
   Also a pitcher of water with a picture of Aquaman taped on. I called it something like "Aquaman's Super Secret Tonic"
cubes of cheese stuck together with toothpicks to make a dumbbell for Superhero strength training
X-ray vision carrot sticks with krypton sauce (ranch with green food coloring) or blue cheese dressing, don't remember what I called that.
I also had fruits, but I don't remember what I called them. Everything had a superhero attribute or nickname.
I ordered a bunch of pizzas and cut out bat-shapes to make them "bat-slices" and made some ?-shaped breadsticks to tie in the Riddler.

Games: First I gave everyone superhero masks to decorate with markers/stickers. (I made them from pieces of craft foam and elastic)
  We had an obstacle course "superhero bootcamp"
  I printed off a bunch of coloring pages I found online.
  A three legged race with heroes and sidekicks
  We did a scavenger hunt for the cake/ice cream. The villains had stolen them, so I led the kids off, following clues until we returned to the table where DH had set everything up.

[jpcher]

Very creative, Twiggy!

Do you have a local park district? I know mine offers birthday packages with age-appropriate activities.

Maybe your library might offer a story-time themed bday party package.

Or the local YMCA for a swim party?

[TwinMama]

Friends of mine love this place: http://www.catchairparty.com/main/main.php

I don't think they've had any parties there yet, but their kids love to meet up and play there.

[gorplady]

Is there a local community center you can rent?

We just did a space alien party for my five year-old.

We played pin the alien on the space ship (I constructed it out of tag board)

And for a craft & snack, we did Jello Jigglers with alien cookie cutters.

For the "goodie" bag, Target had some funky light-up alien-looking balls in their $1 section and they had a container of 15 glow bracelets for $1.

[mmswm]

Wills Park in Alpharetta is fantastic.  They have a fabulous playground and tons of open space and covered picnic tables where you could have a picnic party.  Kids that age don't really need a dog and pony show.  Some good food, a couple balloons, some balls (soccer, baseball, etc) and maybe a tricycle or two is the perfect recipe for a fantastically good time.

Edited to add that I misread the original post.  You said the west side, not east.  Drats.

[Sharnita]

Chuck E. Cheese around here tends to be in the news a lot for fights - bad enough the police have use pepper spray and arrest people.  At least a few times a year somebody leaves a local Chuck E. CHeese with injuries severe enough to send them to the hospital and/or charges that send them to jail.

Really? Itz been a while since I've been to one (6 or 7 years), but I remember it being loud and annoying, not anything that would involve police.

I kind of wondered if it was just around here so I just did a search "Chuck E Cheese police" and it looks like, no, it isn't isolated to local restaurants.

[Piratelvr1121]

There's a CEC in our town and I've so far managed to avoid it like the plague.  I can't even remember the last time I set foot in one, but I do remember going to a party with my parents and little brother at a CEC and from that time, well it was a tie as to who were the bigger snowflakes, the kids or the parents.

I was walking around with my brother (I think he was 4 at the time, which meant I was 12) trying to find a ride without a line that he'd like and there was a space ship sort of ride that you could put tokens in.  There was no one in it, no line, so I let go of brother's hand and started to put coins in when a woman jumped off the bench and said "Hey, we were in line!" 

Um, there was no one IN it.  At all.  Thus no need for a line.  That kind of broke my brain and since I didn't have much of a backbone at the time I didn't put up much of a fight other than to say "Um, there was no line" but she pushed her kid into the rocket thing.  Brother took it well and we just kind of shrugged at each other and found something else to do.