Alphabet Party

Amount of Time 5 -15 hours
Budget: $100 to $250
Number of Guests: 5 kids or less
Age Groups: 1 to 4 years old
Indoors/Outdoors: Indoors is probaly more appropriate, but could also be done outside.
Special Notes: This is a great party theme for a very small child’s party. Many people like this one for a first birthday party. As long as you have some older children attending, up to 4 years of age, these activities will be fun and engaging.

This party can also be put together with very little time and money. A small number of party guests and a limited amount of time ( the party should be 90 minutes or less with this age group) will also help control expenses and planning time.

Invitations:

Cut out the initials of the birthday child and either make the cutout be the invitation and provide all details on the letter, or place the letter onto white card stock and inside provide all of the party details.

Use alphabet stamps to decorate the front of the invitation, perhaps spelling out the birthday child’s name.

If a first birthday party, take a picture of your child playing among alphabet blocks and put this on the front of the inviation.

Ask the kids to wear bold, bright colors to the party.

Decorations:
Pick several primary colors as the color scheme of the party and go to town. Purchase helium balloons in these colors and have them all around the party room. Spell out the name of the birthday child and the party guests on the balloons. If you don’t have enough balloons, you can use initials only. You can give the balloons away to the kids at the end of the party to take home.

Decorate with streamers.

Purchase tableware in your color scheme and set the party table.

For a centerpiece, try and fnd big wooden ABC blocks and attach a few balloons to each of the wooden blocks.

Cut out the letters of the alphabet, as many as you can, and post them all over the party room. Teacher resource stores will also have the alphabet letters already pre-made and you will just have to cut them out.

Spell out alphabet signs to greet the guests when they arrive, i.e. “Elizabeth is Two! Hurray!”

Crafts:
Cut out letters of the alphabet and have the kids decorate them.

Have pre-cut foam in the shape of alphabets and have the kids stamp their names on big sheets of paper.

Provide kids with a white T-shirt with an iron-on alphabet letter for their initial. On the back of the shirt, have the kids make a hand-print with wearable paint. This can be a part of the goodies they take home.

Use wood-block ABCs as stamps, and have the kids make art creations with them. They could also make birthday cards for the birthday child with these same stamps.

Have the kids make ID bracelets using alphabet beads.

Games/Activities:
Hire a facepainter to paint little “ABCs” on the kids’ faces, and/or paint their names.

Make an alphabet pinata using the birthday child’s first name’s initial, and have the kids break it.

Have a book excange. Have each guest bring a favorite book of theirs to give to another party guest. Have the kids sit in a circle, and play music, and let the kids pass their books around the circle. When the music stops, this is the book they get to keep! You could do this several times before stopping.

Read some alphabet books.

Play charades, and have each kid act out a word that starts with a letter of the alphabet. So, if it is “B” — it could be for a bear — and the child can act out a bear and the other kids will have to figure out what he is.

Make little alphabet letters and stick them all over the house on things that begin with that letter. For example, stick a “G” on glass. Have the kids find all of the letters and shout out the letter and what it stands for.

Play Bingo using alphabet letters.

Have the kids make the letters of the alphabet with their bodies. Adults should help lead the game.

Menu:
Serve any type of sandwich you like, and cut them out with alphabet shapes.

Serve Ore Ida ABC Tator Tots … your kids’ favorite and educational too!

Serve alphabet cereal, little goldfish crackers, carrots, and fruit as additional snacks. Try to serve bright bold-colored snacks.

Serve Jell-O Jigglers cut out in alphabet shapes in a variety of flavors.

Bake sugar cookies and cut them out in different alphabet shapes. You can ice them yourself, put them into clear cellophane bags, and tie with a pretty ribbon as a goody item or have the kids decorate the cookies and enjoy eating them right at the party as another activity.

Serve Oreos on a Stick: Place a popsticle stick into an Oreo cookie, and dip the cookie into melted chocolate. Let it dry and then use an icing tube to write different letters on each one. This can also be a take-home goody, just wrap it in cellophane with a ribbon and add to the goody bag.

One of our website visitors suggested Magic letter wands from Kraft Foods.

Cake:
FamilyFun.com has a great Alphabet Cupcake, with cupcakes for each letter of the alphabet.

Make regular cupcakes and frost them. Top them off with the letters of the alphabet. Spell out the birthday kid’s name.

Goody Bags:
Find out each child’s name before the party, and decorate a brown paper bag using their initials. You can do this with markers and stickers. Inside the bag include alphabet stickers, iron-on patches with their initials, Alphabet coloring books with a small box of crayons, magnetic letters, a wooden block with their initials, etc.