28 Kid Birthday Party Themes

Looking for a creative party theme for a child? This comprehensive list of 28 unique kid birthday party themes will inspire you to get the party started! The birthday party themes are divided into categories to make planning a child’s birthday party as easy as possible. Whether the child loves art or building, dogs or science, this list has you covered!

1st Birthday Party Ideas

The first 7 kid birthday party theme ideas are great for first birthdays, but they work for any age!

1. Party animal themed birthday

Party animal theme is perfect for any age or gender. I also love the simple decorations that go so well with a party animal birthday. For table centerpieces, consider spray painting plastic animals bold colors and make them tiny party hats. For party favors at my son’s 1st birthday, I handed out rubber ducks with party hats.

2. Carnival Theme Birthday Party

A carnival theme sets the stage for all kinds of fun games and activities for kids of all ages. Think: Ring toss, face painting, knock the cans over, a simple bowling game, dance party, or a photo booth. Renting a cotton candy machine would be a fun extra to a carnival themed birthday party.

3. Pancake Party theme

If you’re looking for simple and inexpensive birthday idea, consider a breakfast birthday party. What kid doesn’t love pancakes, donuts and juice for breakfast? Best part? Have the party at a local breakfast joint that has a playground for a built in activity plus leave the mess at the restaurant.

4. Puppy Party

Most little ones love dogs, so why not throw a “Puppy Paw-ty”! The dog loving birthday boy also had a “Bark-ery, DIY dog ears, and a handmade cardboard dog house. Adorable!

5. Bubbles, Bouncing & Balloons Birthday Party

I also added breakfast to this “B” themed kid birthday party. We bought this bubble machine from Amazon and rented a bounce house for the ultimate backyard double birthday party. I used balloons to make a chandelier inside. And bought helium balloons to tie to everything outside and double has party favors. It was fun, easy, and the kids were exhausted afterwards!

How to Make a Balloon Chandelier

6. Rainbow Birthday Party

A rainbow birthday makes for easy and adorable decorations! This adorable rainbow party also had a rainbow piñata and a pot painting craft, but you could easily set up a coloring/ painting table for little ones or a sensory bin with rainbow party would be so much fun. Ashlee Marie has a great tutorial for an easy, inexpensive ruffled rainbow table cloth. See all of the details at Ashlee Marie.

7. Paris themed birthday party

Destiny put together the most adorable Paris themed birthday for her daughter. She even gave out black tutu’s as party favors! I love this idea for a 1st birthday party because you could listen to french music, color the Eiffel Tower, macaroons, and it doesn’t get much cuter than toddlers in tutu’s. See more Paris themed birthday ideas at Just Destiny.

Kids Cooking Birthday Party Ideas

8. Pizza Party

Pizza is always a party pleaser, why not make it the party theme! Have kids make their own mini pizzas for lunch and wear chef hats! Check out all of the pizza party details at Kojo Designs.

9. Cooking Themed Party

Let kids make pizzas from pre made dough and salads on a stick while wearing chef hats and then decorate cupcakes for dessert! See more cooking party birthday details at My Many Colored Days.

10. Cupcake Decorating Party

Give each child a cupcake and let them go wild with decorating. Katie went the extra mile and made box lunches complete with pizza muffins and pit together a cupcake craft for the kids to complete. Check out the cupcake decorating party details at Sweet Rose Studio.

Book And Movie Themed Birthday Party Ideas

11. Frozen Themed Party

If you’re kiddo can’t stop singing “Let it Go”, this party by my friend, Megan, will blow you away! All Frozen themed birthday party must end in dance party with Frozen as the final performance. For all of the Frozen birthday party details, check out Balancing Life.

12. Mermaid birthday party

The Little Mermaid came out of in 1989, but Ariel is still delighting kids with her catchy songs 3 decades later. There are so many fun food ideas for a mermaid themed birthday party. Here are a few ideas:

Grapes on a stick is seaweed
Rock candy is coral
Vanilla Wafers turned into clams (Here’s a good recipe for that.)
Google eyes on toothpicks stuck into chicken croissant sandwiches make adorable crabs

The best part of this birthday party was that my friend rented an inflatable water slide for the mermaids to practice using their flippers!

13. Wild Thing Birthday Party

Every detail of this Wild Thing Birthday Party is adorable! See more at Hostess with the Mostess.

14. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

I love that the pull apart caterpillar cake is doable even for the novice baker.

15. Rock Star Party

For a more generic movie themed birthday party, why not make it all about rock stars? Red carpets, a private screening, and of course, pop corn! See more rock star birthday party idea from My Colored Days.

Art Party Theme Ideas

16. Tye Dye Party

ensures adorable decorations, a great party activity, and the perfect party favor. Make sure you’ve got back up for this party because as you might guess, it gets messy! See all of the details at the Pleated Poppy.

17. Outdoor Art Party

Paint, crafts, and rainbows oh my! This art birthday party is right up my alley. I love this collaborative art project the mom set up below with a $1 plastic table cloth stapled to a large board that she let kids paint. Genius! See more outdoor art birthday party ideas at Ramblings From the Sunshine State.

Birthday Party Ideas for Boys

18. Transportation Birthday Party

I’m not talking about traffic cones and plastic choos and choos kind of party. (Although my friend, Chelsea, did throw an adorable legit transportation themed birthday party for her 3 year old son.) I’m talking about bring your own vehicle kind of party. We brought scooters, bikes, and cars to the top of a parking garage and ran around like crazy people. This was also the easiest birthday party I’ve ever thrown.

19. Bike Birthday

For my son’s 7th birthday, we utilized our local BMX dirt track and has his friends bring their bikes and helmets. I bought a set of black and white checkered flags a Happy Birthday sign and a handful of balloons. The kids rode bikes, ate donuts, and broke a number 7 rainbow piñata!

20. Mad Scientist Birthday Party

My friend, Donna, threw her son a mad scientist party that was so much fun. Activities included making slime, science experiments, and periodic table twister. She also bought dry ice for the smoking sensation and the kids loved it. Of course the kids needed mad scientist googles for protection! (Here’s a set of 6 on Amazon.)

21. Pirate Themed Birthday Party

Treasure hunts and pirate tattoos were the highlight of this pirate themed birthday. There was also a ship in a bottle craft and the kids even got pirate names! See all of the pirate themed birthday details at Notable Nest.

22. Construction Party

My favorite part of a construction themed party is that you can use your kid’s toys as decorations. Dump trucks hold pretzels and other party treats and construction cones become balloon anchors. If you have any large area of dirt or sand, add as many trucks as you can find and let kids dig! See more construction themed party ideas from My Tasty Bits.

23. Army Party

Think camo, basic training, missions, and push ups! An army party theme has so many built in activities to keep kids active and engaged. See all of Stephanie’s Army Party birthday ideas on Somewhat Simple.

Kid Birthday Party Themes

24. Sleep Over Birthday Party

Sleepovers provide endless amounts of fun and it’s so simple. Pizza, popcorn, movies, dance party and you’ve got a rockin’ party! This sleep over birthday cake made with Twinkies and marshmallows would be the perfect addition. For details on this adorable sleepover cake check out ‘A Casarella.

25. LEGO party

Again, this party has a built in activity most kids already love- building with LEGO. Randi even built simple DUPLO boxes to hold chips and used a mold to make chocolate LEGO toppers for cupcakes. See all of the LEGO party details at Dukes and Duchesses.

The LEGO theme gets an extra spot on this list because these LEGO snack containers are adorable and so simple to make. Check out the details at Moore Minutes.

26. Rodeo birthday

Grab your cowboy hats, bandanas, boots, and stick horses to celebrate a birthday in the wild, wild west! My friend, Rachelle, added all the extra touches to her daughters cowgirl birthday party with real pony rides, bouncy horse races, and a line dancing play list to boot! (Photography by Laura Morsman)

27. Beach Birthday Party

Have it at a pool or if you’re lucky, the beach! A backyard inflatable water slide would also be a fun alternative. As a side activity, I love the idea of having a make your own flip flop bar set up for the kids to craft! See more beach party details at Milam Space.

28. Bunny birthday

My daughter loves bunny rabbits, so we used her stuffed animals and Halloween costume as part of her spring time birthday party. We had bunny snacks, made bunny art, and even has a real life bunny visit! I bought the balloons from this Etsy shop.

Bunny birthday party

Have you hosted any kid birthday parties lately? Do you have a favorite party theme? I’d love to hear…

If you are looking for more easy birthday party ideas, don’t miss these posts:

Comments

Jenna Hunter says
April 30, 2018 at 3:28 pm
I love your list of themes for kids birthday parties. My daughter would love the carnival theme. I will have to figure out where in my area offers party supplies or is an event company that could take care of it for me.
Sarah Rose says
May 29, 2013 at 8:45 pm
These are great! I would love to give many of these a try!
I did a Green Eggs and Ham party when my son turned one year old:
http://sarahrosessupposes.blogspot.com/2013/03/dr-suess-celebration.html
For his most recent party we did a puppy party. We had puppy chow and bone shaped gingerbread cookies as well as a “who can drink the water out of the dog dish like a puppy the fastest” contest! A picture of the puppy cake I made is on this page:
http://sarahrosessupposes.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
Angela - My Personal Accent says
April 2, 2013 at 11:20 pm
Great inexpensive but really fun and creative ideas! I have to share these!
Sarah @ Alderberry Hill says
April 1, 2013 at 8:09 pm
Awesome ideas, I need to Pin these!
Capturing Joy with Kristen Duke says
March 31, 2013 at 5:24 pm
that sleepover cake is pretty cute!
- Janet says
  July 15, 2019 at 7:46 am
  I know right
Randi - Dukes and Duchesses says
March 27, 2013 at 10:11 pm
Aw, thanks for sharing my Lego party!! I’ve been doing themed parties for my kids for the last 15 years and we’ve covered almost every one of the themes you listed! 🙂 Love the inspiration!
- Jamie Dorobek says
  March 28, 2013 at 6:25 pm
  You’re welcome, Randi! Thanks for sharing all of your AWESOME ideas on your blog!