What’s the best way to reduce the stress of baking for your kid’s birthday? Getting everybody involved! Set up baking stations for every member of the family with pre-weighed ingredients, you can even go to the effort of hand-writing recipe cards for each of you to follow. Choose from easy chocolate-dipped marshmallows and cake pops or easiest-ever biscuits and thumbprint cookies. Throw in some healthy options, too, like watermelon pops or cherry smoothies. Divide the goodies into homemade boxes so everyone gets one of each.
Find more simple bakes to enjoy with the little ones in our kids’ baking recipes, kids’ party recipes and kids’ chocolate recipes.
2. Board game cafe
Stack the table with age-appropriate games like dominos, cards, Trivial Pursuit or Monopoly. This idea can run over a few hours so choose food that’s mostly at room temperature, like hummus and crudités. The birthday boy or girl will have their hands full of dice or playing cards, so stick to a grazing platter loaded with nibbles that are easy to pick up and eat – no cutlery required. A pre-prepared dessert buffet works well because everyone in the family can help themselves to a bite to eat between rounds: lay out some popcorn, three-ingredient peanut butter cookies or chocolate bark.
3. Spa day
For this kids birthday party idea, you all need to arrive in your dressing gown or onesie. The host sets up stations with fluffy towels and foot-rests and each family member gets to book in for a pamper, such as a pedicure, new hair do or painted nails. You can make up goodie bags filled with lip balm, hair gel or face packs. Fill lidded jam jar glasses with watermelon lemonade for mid-treatment refreshments and prepare finger food for afterwards, such as chicken satay or falafel. You can decorate this chocolate traybake with a candy message that reads ‘relax’ ‘or ‘spa’.
4. Afternoon tea
For an extra-special birthday idea for kids at home, try an upscale afternoon tea. Hang up some bunting and assemble a selection of mismatched pretty tea cups and vintage crockery. Make a variety of kid-friendly sandwiches or lay out a spread on a platter or stand. Watch this video to help you perfect scones and choose a traditional bake like a classic Victoria sponge or coffee cake. In good weather, you can lay out a picnic rug and take the party to the garden with tealights and blankets to keep everyone cosy.
For more tips and tricks on hosting the perfect afternoon tea, take a look at our guides on how to throw an afternoon tea party and afternoon tea for kids.
5. Family film night
With a little bit of extra effort, your standard family movie night can be elevated to a kids’ birthday party from home to remember. Start by printing posters to display around the house and ‘admit one’ tickets for tonight’s screening. Invest in stripey popcorn bags and boxes for nachos. Prepare fruit slushies and serve in little glass smoothie bottles. Try sugary cinnamon popcorn or five ways to take it in other flavour directions. If you have a projector, you can pile up blankets and garden cushions and set up your very own outdoor movie theatre, complete with campfire cupcakes or s’mores dip, our take on the American campfire treat.
Discover more tasty snack ideas, perfect for curling up on the sofa, in our ultimate family film night guide.
6. Outdoor scavenger hunt
Collect together your little one’s favourite toys – army soldiers, zoo animals, mini dinosaurs or wooden figures work best as they are easily cleaned. Tie luggage labels around them with clues that lead from one to another in a trail, then hide them in the garden. Give the party boy or girl a bucket and lead them on the scavenger hunt. At the end of the trail they’ll find the real treasure in little cellophane or paper bags: homemade honeycomb, next-level chocolate chip cookies or rocky road clusters. For older children, you can switch the toys for trickier clues to code-break in a trail of coloured envelopes.
7. Gingerbread city
Gingerbread houses aren’t just for Christmas – for an edible birthday party idea, try making a whole town. Bake biscuit components ahead of time and lay out with icing and sweeties waiting to be constructed. Choose from mini houses so you can all decorate your own, gingerbread trees to make a forest backdrop (use green icing so your trees look less festive) and any shape you fancy to populate your village, from penguins to people. Chopping boards covered in foil make good bases and royal icing is best for sticking together the biscuit foundations. Two-dimensional designs laid flat on tin foil bases can speed up construction and best suit younger birthday builders.
8. Pizza party plus
You’ve heard of pizza parties, where everyone in the family gets to make their own masterpiece, spreading homemade passata on shop-bought or homemade bases, before covering with grated cheese and their chosen toppings. But if your teen fancies something different, what about build-your-own bruschetta instead? Make the bases ahead of time, using a nicely charred crusty bread, drizzled in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Lay out a selection of toppings and let everyone construct their own. You can pick-and-mix and there’s no additional cooking time, leaving the family more time to focus on opening pressies and cards.
For more inspiration on toppings, alternative bases for dietary needs, and different cooking methods, check out our pizza party ideas.
9. Rainbow party
For a kids birthday idea in bold technicolour, try throwing a rainbow party. Fill the room with rainbow bunting and balloons and lay out art materials in all the colours of the arc. Tailor your creative activity to the age of your children (factoring in mess, damage limitation and tidying up!). Try fingerprinting or painting pebbles on newspaper, making a giant rainbow on paper masking-taped to a wall, chalk drawings on the outdoor pavement, rainbow sock puppets or colourful cross-stitch designs. Set up a multicoloured juice and smoothie bar with berry red, orange juice, yellow sunshine smoothies, kiwi fruit green and purple-pink cherry. Make rainbow rice paper rolls and rainbow fruit skewers, plus rainbow rippled meringues or a funfetti rainbow cake.
10. Crazy science
Get out the white coats and googles and turn your kitchen into a science lab for an experimental kids’ birthday party idea that goes off with a bang. Make slime, bubble mix, bath bombs or, best of all, magical instant ice cream, part recipe, part weird science which turns milk into ice cream before your eyes. Also on the menu are moon cycle cupcakes or, as a centrepiece, an anti-gravity cake or galaxy cake.
11. Milkshake station
What could be more fun than a milkshake bar for kids (and big kids, too)? Perfect for parties or celebrations, let guests choose their own toppings for a truly interactive treat. Vanilla milkshake is always a safe bet, but classics like our chocolate milkshake and strawberry milkshake are impossible to resist. Discover more milkshake recipes, from classics to more unconventional choices like our Eton mess freakshake.
For a twist, try adding unconventional toppings and sauces to the bar. Our soy caramel milkshake might sound unusual, but the umami from the soy perfectly balances the caramel’s sweetness – a surprising hit for adventurous taste buds!
12. Pancake party
Who says pancakes are just for Pancake Day? Easy to make and endlessly customisable, they’re perfect for a year-round treat – and a brilliant idea for a kids’ birthday at home. Get the little ones involved in making crêpes or fluffy American pancakes, then lay out a table of toppings so they can get creative.
Sweet options could include compotes, jams, caramel sauce and more, while savoury choices like cheese sauce, salami and plenty of veggies cater to all tastes.
To keep the fun going, turn leftover egg boxes into a crafting game – see who can make the best creation once the pancakes are done. For more tips and inspiration, check out our guide on how to throw a pancake party.
13. Garden camping
If the weather’s on your side, why not take the party outdoors? Recreate a family camping trip by pitching a tent and enjoying all your meals al fresco – or as close to the great outdoors as your garden allows. For meal inspiration, explore our easy family camping recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Fire up the barbecue and cook crowd-pleasers like chicken & halloumi burgers, next-level BBQ chicken and pineapple & pork skewers. For even more ideas, check out our barbecue recipes perfect for your garden spread. The best part? You’re still just steps away from your fridge!
14. Unicorn themed
Make your child’s birthday truly magical with our unicorn-themed recipes. Deck the house out in glitter and sparkles, then serve treats like white chocolate unicorn bark, unicorn biscuits and unicorn cupcakes to complete the whimsical vibe.
For extra giggles, let the kids decorate our unicorn poo meringues with fondant icing, creating their own quirky expressions. The star of the spread, our unicorn cake, will stop everyone in their tracks – a light sponge layered with caramel buttercream that’s pure magic for the taste buds.
Finish the celebration with a pink unicorn hot chocolate, perfect for winding down while watching a unicorn- or magic-themed film.
15. Sports day
For competitive little ones, why not throw a sports day-themed birthday party? Let kids take part in a mix of activities, from classic egg-and-spoon races to friendly football matches – a fun way to encourage activity, friendly competition… and tire them out a little!
Keep energy levels high with our snack stadium spread, packed with treats the kids can help themselves to between games. For the showstopper, try our football pitch party cake or surprise piñata football cake – perfect for football fans.
For more inspiration, explore our summer of sport recipes and ultimate sports night menu, ideal for both playing and watching the action.
Enjoyed these ideas? Check out our other birthday ideas for kids
Best fairy cake recipes for kids
Kids’ party games
Kids’ party recipes
Unicorn party ideas
