If you are planning a birthday party for a toddler, it’s always fun to come up with a cute theme. In this post, I’ll list 15 great toddler birthday party theme ideas.
Depending on whether your toddler is a girl or a boy, will often make a difference for what theme you choose, but lots of toddler birthday party theme ideas are also gender neutral too.
One year olds and even two years olds might not be showing much of a preference for anything in particular yet, so you can choose the theme yourself, or forgo a theme altogether. But, as your toddler gets a little older, you will definitely start to see that they have preferences for certain things and then you can use their preferences as a guide to the birthday party theme you choose.
In this post, we’ll be discussing 15 great toddler birthday party theme ideas that we know are generally big hits at any baby or toddler or even young child birthday party. There are loads more than these too, but we had to stop somewhere! Five of the themes are gender neutral, five are more suited to girls, and five are more suited to boys. Although, you can make any of these themes work for either gender if you are a bit creative.
Gender neutral birthday party theme ideas are always a great choice. That way, you can invite lots of kids from both genders to the party and everyone has lots of fun. Here’s our top 5 gender neutral toddlers birthday party theme ideas.
Our top 5 gender neutral toddler birthday party theme ideas
Under the Sea Toddler Birthday Party Theme
Fish, crabs, octopuses, dolphins… you can’t go wrong with an under the sea toddler birthday party theme. You can choose bright and cheerful designs or designs in pastel baby colors for your invitations and decorations. You can make this one more specific too, with a Finding Nemo theme. Add a variety of different sea critters and sealife to your birthday party decor, such as to your paper plates, cups, and napkins.
You can even find super simple Birthday in a Box all in one kit Ocean Party supplies. Just get the ultimate kit (which contains streamers, wall decorations, table runner, and more) and then add on any additional plates, napkins, cutlery, and cups that you need.
Birthday in a Box actually has quite a few under the sea themes to choose from too. Another great site for party supplies is called The Party Works and they have this fun pink whale under the sea party supply kit.
Encourage kids to come in sea critter costumes and you can serve cookies and other snacks in sealife shapes. You can definitely adds lots of ocean animals on the birthday cake or it can be shaped as one of your child’s favorite sea critters. You can also find wall stickers that you can easily add to your walls for some simple party decorations.
Animal Toddler Birthday Party Theme
Choosing your toddler’s favorite animal or insect is always a great choice for a birthday party theme. Often at this time in their lives they have definitely chosen a favorite, whether that be rabbits, monkeys, dogs, frogs, or butterflies. And, it’s usually super easy to find decorations for the party… unless their favorite is rather unique, like say slugs would be.
Another variation on this theme is to choose animal print as the party theme. Animal print is becoming popular in decor for young children. Popular animal print choices are cow, zebra, and leopard prints.
Whatever you choose, this is a pretty easy party to plan. Just keep with the animal of choice for all your decorations and party favors. If you can, make the cake in the shape of the chosen animal too.
Jungle Toddler Birthday Party Theme
A popular variation on an animal themed party is to have a jungle or safari themed party. In this case, your decorations would include all the popular jungle animals, such as zebras, lions, giraffe, hippos, and more. This is another theme idea you should have no trouble at all finding decorations for. For example, you can get this great “King of the Jungle” party pack or this great “Sweet Safari Pink 1st Birthday” party pack from The Party Works.
To really dress up this theme, liberally display large jungle stuffed animals and potted tropical plants if you can swing the cost. Often times your kids already have lots of stuffed animals and you can move plants you normally have in one room into the party area. Or perhaps you could even borrow some. For a boy, you can also add in safari truck toys. Kids can come dressed for the theme and it’s always fun to have a few kid’s toy cameras and binoculars around.
A more specific version of this theme is to go with Disney’s The Lion King and a great location for this type of party might even be at the zoo.
Circus Toddler Birthday Party Theme
Circus themed parties are fun. Think carnival, circus animals, clowns, and big tents. Some people go all out with a circus theme, including hiring circus performers and renting out circus tents.
But you don’t have to go all out like that. You can still have a fun party at a lower cost. Maybe have some red clown noses and face paint to dress up the kids as clowns. Have a few easy carnival games set up that the older kids can play (ring toss or bean bag toss). And maybe have a pinata shaped like a circus animal or play pin the tail on the circus elephant. Having cotton candy and popcorn to eat adds to the theme. Dress up the dog as a circus performer. It doesn’t have to be over the top, especially for a toddler party. And, you can simplify things even more with a circus themed Birthday in a Box party kit.
Farm Toddler Birthday Party Theme
A farm theme is perfect for a toddler birthday party. There are even lots of local farms that have set themselves up specifically for these types of parties. If you have the party on a farm, the kids can have a hayride or help milk a cow or feed the chickens. They might also have a petting zoo set up. And, a little mini corn maze might be fun for older toddlers.
If you have a party with this theme in your home, hay bales are a great addition to the decor and maybe some gingham plaid table cloths. Some toy farm equipment is great for a boys party. Farm theme is also perfect for playing some old fashioned games like the three legged race… although this may need to be reserved for older toddlers. As with any other theme, it’s fun if your decorations include all the typical barnyard animals.
Farm Babies Barnyard Photo
Birthday Invitations
by allpetscherished
Farm Animals Apple Tree
1st Birthday Party Invite
by Pip_Gerard
Cute farm animals barn
birthday party invitation
by Jamene
Sometimes it’s good idea to go with a girly theme for a toddler girl’s birthday party. Maybe you plan to have a girls only slumber party or a tea party for your toddler. Or, perhaps your toddler girl is especially fond of princesses or mermaids. Here are our current top 5 girls girly birthday party theme ideas.
Our top 5 toddler girl’s birthday party theme ideas
Princess Toddler Birthday Party Theme
Princess parties are pretty gender specific, but you can make this theme more gender neutral by calling it a fairytale theme. That way boys coming to the party can be Prince Charming or a knight or even an ogre if they want. And girls don’t have to be princesses at a fairytale party either. They can be fairies and ogres and whatever they want too. But it’s also fun to have a girls only princess slumber party or tea party. Whatever you want.
This theme is so popular, most girls already have the costumes at home and you can get princess party decorations from just about anywhere, including a great selection from Amazon. And you can make it more specific by sticking with a particular Disney princess too if you want. Some girls might be particularly fond of Rapunzel or Jasmine or Sleeping Beauty. Decorate with castles, dragons, knights in shining armor…. all the usual.
Mermaid Toddler Birthday Party Theme
Mermaid themes are a cross between a fairytale party theme and an under the sea party theme. Lots of decorations for under the sea theme would also work for mermaid theme…. just throw in a few mermaids to go along with it.
You can also use Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” for all your mermaid party decorations. You can find The Little Mermaid personalized invitations and party supplies online.
Little mermaid girl cute
girly birthday invitation
by TheStationeryShop
Mermaid Birthday
Party Invitation
by holiday_tshirts
Under the sea mermaid girl’s
birthday party invite
by JameneZebra and Zebra Stripe Toddler Birthday Party Theme
I’ve already discussed Zebra stripe parties under the gender neutral animal party theme. But, in the case of a specific party for girls, the black and white zebra stripes are paired with hot pink for a sassy, chic sort of look. And of course, cute cartoon zebras are thrown in for good measure.
In some ways this is actually a fashion party. Girls can come in their fanciest zebra print outfits and for decorations you can even hang zebra print paper lanterns, garlands, and balloons.
Zebra print is wildly popular right now for girl’s decor, so you’ll have no problem finding party decorations with this theme.
Since this is a “high fashion” sort of theme, a photo booth for older toddlers might be fun. So having props like zebra print mini purses, shoes, hats, and sunglasses would be cute with a hot pink glitter background. Whatever you can find to make a fun photo booth.
Zebra Stripe Photo
Birthday Invitation
by allpetscherished
Zebra Birthday
Party Invitations
by chocolattedesigns
Chic Tea Time Girls
Pink Birthday Invitation
by Birthday_DelightLadybug Toddler Birthday Party Theme
Ladybugs are a cute and colorful toddler birthday party theme for girls. Usually, the colors are red, black, and white. However, you can also do this theme in pink, black, and white. And, of course, your party decorations can feature all sorts of polka dot designs.
It is a very popular birthday party theme, so you won’t have any problem finding all sorts of ladybug party supplies. You can find all in one kits and everything you need for a ladybug party at The Party Works as well. Add ladybug wall decals and make some cute ladybug cupcakes using black and white polka dot cupcake liners or wrappers. This is a super easy theme and if your toddler girl likes ladybugs, then it is a perfect choice.
5×7 Little Ladybug Spring
Birthday Invitation
by allpetscherished
Ladybug Birthday
Party Invitation
by holiday_tshirts
Cute pink lady bug girls
birthday party invitation
by JameneCowgirl Toddler Birthday Party Theme
Cowgirl theme is great for any toddler girl who loves western life. It’s also appealing because boys can come dressed as cowboys too. This theme might be fun to have at a local ranch if you can find one to host it at. Older toddlers might like a real pony ride perhaps.
But, it is likely more practical to host it at home with rocking horses and broom horses to ride. It’s a fun theme for a photo booth where you set up western props (hay bales, cacti, rustic wood fences) for the background. You can have a lot of fun with the food for this one. Chili and BBQ with corn on the cob. For activities, you can set up a game of “Pin the tail” on the horse/cow/pig… and the kids can have fun dancing. Teach the kids a super easy square dance or line dance and play hoe-down or country music for them to dance to. Another fun activity for this is to play a game of horseshoes or, using the broom horses, you can set up a fun barrel racing obstacle course and kids can compete in teams for fastest times (probably best for older toddlers).
There are all sorts of great ideas for cowgirl themed birthday parties and Amazon has some fun western party supplies.
Cowgirl Western Monkey
Photo Birthday Invitations
by allpetscherished
Fun cowgirl western girl
birthday party invitation
by Jamene
Little Cowgirl 2nd
Birthday Party Invitation
by pinkinkart
There are many great ideas for a toddler boy’s birthday party theme too. Here are our current top 5 boy’s birthday party theme ideas.
Our top 5 toddler boy’s birthday party theme ideas
Monster Truck or Construction Toddler Birthday Party Theme
Monster truck or construction themed parties are fun. Let’s face it, boys love big trucks. These themes are especially great if you have a garden or sand box for the kids to play in. For a construction party you can have Little Tikes trucks and Lego Duplo sets and let the kids have fun building roads and cities and whatever they want. For monster truck parties, perhaps the kids can bring their own monster truck and have a competition. Having cardboard box forts and toddler tools, toolbelts, and hardhats is perfect for a construction party as well.
Whatever you choose to do, there are quite a lot of available party supplies for a construction or monster truck themed party.
Monster Truck Birthday
Party Invitations
by ThePaperMill
Monster Truck Photo
Birthday Invitation (Red)
by allpetscherished
Construction Zone Backhoe
Boys Birthday Invite
by allpetscherishedTransportation – Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Toddler Birthday Party Theme
Boys generally like modes of transportation, such as airplanes, trains, and cars and these make for great toddler birthday party themes. Many people will narrow the theme and use Disney’s Cars or the Hot Wheels brand for the basis of a cars or car racing theme party. Or they may use Thomas the Train for a train party.
Racing toy cars, playing with toy trains, and flying toy airplanes are definitely part of the activities for this party theme. Have lots of paper airplanes to fly around for an airplane theme too. Kids can pretend they are cars or planes and race each other. Or you can have the kids play train by linking themselves together like train cars and making their way through an obstacle course. And of course you can always make a cake and cookies shaped liked cars, planes, or trains.
Dinosaur Toddler Birthday Party Theme
Boys love dinosaurs, so a dinosaur themed party is a great idea for a toddler boy’s birthday party. Because it is a popular choice, it is easy to find dinosaur themed party decorations. Make cupcakes for the party and get some great dinosaur cupcake picks to dress them up. You can get a dinosaur pinata for a fun party game. As an activity, older kids can make dinosaur masks and wear them when they are finished. Although, this might be a bit challenging depending on how many kids you have coming and require a lot of supervision, so maybe you can print out dinosaur masks before the kids come over and have them ready to go or buy some dinosaur party masks if your budget allows. And of course, kids can come dressed up as dinosaurs too.
Boy’s Dinosaur First
Birthday Party Invitation
by NiteOwlStudio
Chalkboard T-Rex Dinosaur
Birthday Invitations
by Birthday_Delight
Dinosaur Birthday
Party Invitation
by chocolattedesignsPirate Toddler Birthday Party Theme
A pirate themed toddler birthday party is a wonderful choice and really does work well for girls too because the theme has become very popular in the last few years. Pirate parties are perfect fun because it’s easy to dress up the kids with eye patches and little hats. And as an activity, you can make a treasure map and have the kids search for hidden treasure or you can have them do scavenger hunts. I personally think this treasure chest pinata is great! It can be the treasure at the end of the map! You can even get a variation of pin the tail on the donkey, but it’s pin the eyepatch on the pirate. And, like other popular themes, there are plenty of pirate themed decoration kits available. Think pirate ships, treasure chests, parrots, tropical island scenes, treasure, and treasure maps as decorations. Eye patches, tattoos, beards, moustaches, pirate hats and scarves can be used to dress up the kids. It might even be fun to dress up the family dog as a pirate too so he/she can get in on the fun.
Robot Toddler Birthday Party Theme
With technology being what it is, boys certainly love robots. It’s a fun theme and I was torn between adding this one versus say aliens or monsters in our top five boys toddler birthday party themes. Robots are a good choice for a toddler party because they are generally not considered scary for kids of this age. Plus, robot technology is undergoing such progress in the last few years that it’s definitely seeming like they will eventually become a big part of our daily lives. That said, I think getting kids excited about them early in life can’t hurt.
Robots is another easy theme to find party decorations for. Make a robot costume or two out of cardboard and the kids can trade off wearing it for photo booth photos. Perhaps add in some other high tech fun for the photo booth background. Making robot hats or masks prior to the event might be fun and kids can play a game of “pin the part on the robot”. This blog post here shows how one family put together a great robot birthday party. I especially love the treat table which included “robot fuel cells”, “assorted parts”, “computer chips”, and “nuts and bolts”.
Blue Robot Childs
Birthday Party Invitation
by paper_robot
Futuristic robot boy’s
birthday party invitation
by Jamene
Brash Robot Boys
Birthday Party Invitations
by Birthday_Delight
I hope you found these to be good theme ideas for a toddler boy or girl’s birthday party. Whatever you choose, try to make it as low stress as possible. As always, the idea with any child’s birthday party is for the child to have lots of fun with their friends. There is no need for you to stress over all the small details. Places like Birthday in a Box and The Party Works really make your birthday decorating a breeze and they have party supplies for almost any theme idea you can think of. So, don’t worry and have fun!
About Shannon
Shannon is a graphic designer for Wasootch, a special occasion stationery and gift shop that specializes in unique and affordable wedding and bridal shower stationery. Interested in Shannon's designs? Check out her shop on Zazzle, her shop on Etsy or check out her designs on her new partner website Lemon Leaf Prints.
I love this post. So cute!
My boy just turned 2 also. Check out my post about his birthday party and let me know what you think.
http://rueduchatquipeche.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/kids-party-fit-for-birthday-boy.html