A Guided Tour of Kids Birthday Themes

There are hundreds of themes out there for kids birthday parties and your child seems to be changing their mind every five minutes, so how do you go about picking a theme for them? Maybe they’re nuts about Minecraft and emojis one day, and totally into Batman and Minions the next. The first step is determining what your child’s long standing interests are (and by long we mean more than three days). If you have a very indecisive child then going for a more general theme can be the safest option.

Popular gender neutral kids birthday themes

A popular gender neutral theme is a Disney birthday. If the flavour of the month is Mickey Mouse, you could search for some nostalgic Mickey Mouse birthday invitations, or if you are parent to Disney girl you could look up a Minnie Mouse template. Minnie is a cute icon that has been beloved for generations, giving you plenty of options when planning a Minnie Mouse 2nd birthday, or a baby Mickey Mouse 1st birthday. Mickey Mouse 1st birthday invitations can range from bright cartoons to a stunning vintage image reminding your older guests of ‘Steamboat Willy.’ Finding a Mickey Mouse invitation template would not be a challenge, but maybe you would like to design your own Mickey Mouse invitations (that way you can ensure they will be unique). If you want to stick to a general Disney theme, the perk is that there are so many great costume ideas if you decide to make the party dress up!
Theme ideas summary:

• Disney
• Mickey Mouse
• Minnie Mouse

Popular girls birthday themes

The somewhat obvious theme for a girl is princess. Cliché or not, it is often a crowd pleaser and, unsurprisingly, there are a slew of super cute princess birthday invitations to be found.

Maybe your daughter is growing up but still has a place in her heart for Disney. Moana is a modern Disney princess – passionate, strong and independent. What better role model for a young girl? For Moana birthday ideas you could search ‘Moana free online’, or you could let the movie inspire you (or even the birthday girl herself). Girls birthday invitations can be found online or if you or someone you know have artistic flair you could design them yourself! You could also find Moana online free games to play at the party and adapt them according to the age and demographic of the group. Moana can easily be tied to beach, island or under the sea themes and if you want to steer away from the more typical invitations with the cartoon on the front, you could do an island theme with a Moana motif. There’s no reason your Disney boys can’t have a Moana themed birthday party too, so if they are keen, go for it!

Have you picked a theme but don’t have the time and energy to do it all yourself? The good news is that you can hire a party planner to help you execute your vision to perfection. Your invitations could follow some great girly themes like Little Mermaid invitations, Peppa Pig birthday invitations, or Barbie invitations. Bear in mind that a Barbie birthday party is a lot easier to dress up for than Peppa Pig or the Little Mermaid!

Theme ideas summary:

• Princess
• Moana
• Beach, island or under the sea
• Peppa Pig
• Barbie
• The Little Mermaid

Popular boys birthday themes

A broad theme for your indecisive little man is superheroes. If this month your son is obsessed with Batman (and you think it’s got a chance of lasting a while), you can do Batman invitations–and a batman birthday card while you’re at it. But if your child can’t decide then it can be best to just keep it general.

Spiderman invitation templates

Spiderman is a popular superhero (who doesn’t love the idea of swinging from buildings or tying up the bad guys with your very own spider web?) and Spiderman birthday invitations don’t have to be tacky. Consider employing a cartoon artist who specialises in comics for your boys birthday invitations–or even a watercolour artist if you are design conscious and want to revolutionise Spiderman’s look.

The other end of the scale to general themes is niche markets. Do you have the kid who has been mad about Star Wars or the Ninja Turtles from day dot? Hint: you may have been forced on more than one occasion to take them out in public in a Batman cape or their Star Wars pyjamas. The great news is that you are free to go all out. Spring for those expensive watercolour Ninja Turtle invitations or Star Wars invitations and don’t stop there. Go to a party store and raid the green section, stalk Pinterest for all the DIY projects and go as far as your creativity (or budget) allows. Boys will always love being able to whack something with all their might so a Raphael or R2D2 pinata can never go wrong. You can always do a twist on the classic games like pass the parcel and Pin the Tail on the Donkey (‘pin the lightsaber on Darth Vader’). Your boy (or girl) may love to help you with some homemade Ninja Turtles invitations; you could let them draw a picture on a computer program like Paint and then print and send to your friends (if you’re easy going enough to send out whatever your little munchkin comes up with!). The theme doesn’t have to stop at Pokemon party invitations or Toy story invitations; it can stretch as far as you like, so don’t be afraid to theme the food and music as well … if you have the energy, of course!

Theme ideas summary:

• Superheroes
• Batman or Spiderman
• Star Wars
• Ninja Turtles
• Pokemon

Birthday themes for the under-5s

Very young kids may not have grown into the superhero and princess phases just yet, but if your young tots are hooked on Paw Patrol and you are looking for Paw Patrol birthday ideas, Pinterest is your best friend. You might be searching for free paw patrol printables or a paw patrol invitation template. Either way, your Paw Patrol birthday invitations are bound to be adorable. If you are a parent to one focussed kid, they may already have an idea of their dream career. You could incorporate a ‘when I grow up’ theme into your Paw Patrol invitation or design your own occupation themed party invites instead of Paw Patrol invitations.

Theme ideas summary:

• Paw Patrol
• Occupations or ‘when I grow up’

Kids in tech: Modern kids birthday invitation ideas

The technology age is upon us and all our kids seem to know their way around this world better than us. If your child spends a lot of time on the computer he or she may enjoy Minecraft birthday invitations, or Emoji party invitations. For Emoji birthday party ideas the best place to go might be your own phone, or you could ask your child what their favourite emojis are and go from there. You could even have The Emoji Movie playing in the background at the party. If you want to make life really easy for yourself, Emoji invitations could even be digital, filled a whole bunch of the fun-filled little icons!

So whether you use Minion birthday invitations, Elmo birthday invitations, or you host a monster truck birthday party or a Cars birthday party, at the end of the day if the kids are having fun then everyone is winning.

Looking for more kids birthday party ideas? We’ve got a whole blog post full of 70 theme categories to help inspire you! Looking for invitation inspiration? We rounded up 12 of the best kids themed birthday invitations, including superhero birthday invitations, minecraft birthday invitations, pokemon birthday invitations, mickey mouse birthday invitations, Frozen birthday invitations, Paw Patrol birthday invitations, Star wars birthday invitations, dinosaur birthday invitations, Minnie Mouse birthday invitations, Minion birthday invitations, and more! Maybe you’ve got a teenager, not a small child? Check out our list of birthday invitation ideas for teens!