Imagination Funland – A Pretend Play Themed 2nd Birthday Party

What better party theme for a 2 year old who spends all day bathing her toy puppies and feeding her little dolls than pretend play?! We had a super successful pretend play party for my littlest. Here are all the details from the party. Be prepared for a long and image-intensive post 🙂

You Never Know With Kids!

For about 2 months, I had been planning a ‘Dance’ themed party for my youngest. I was so convinced that she would love it. She does love to dance and is crazy about the vibe of a disco club. I had planned for a Hot Pink and Gold color scheme and ordered decorations too. (All website sources in the post)

But as the birthday came near, I was suddenly unsure whether my daughter was even going to meet with the guests, let alone dance with them. And a few incidents (like the one I blogged about) made me question my own decision. So, 3 days before her birthday (yes, that’s a first for a planning-fanatic like me!), I turned things upside down. I came up with the idea of a pretend play birthday party. My daughter loves making pretend-tea in her toy kitchen, bathe her dolls, feed her little toy doggies and what not. And a pretend party would also allow for a lot of free-play time. Since all kids invited were toddlers and preschoolers, they would also find it easier to just sit down and play!

So, in 3 days time, I planned the entire set up in my mind and this is how it all came together. Some last minute purchases were made at Amazon.in. I was careful to choose only ‘Prime’ items which would be surely delivered on time. You will see in the pictures below how my ‘pink and gold’ decorations also became a part of the party decor 🙂

Pretend Play Birthday Party Decor

With 3 kids, you can be sure we have a whole lot of toys! I planned to bring out all the pretend-play toys. My eldest daughter came up with the name ‘Imagination Funland’ for the party and it really did justice to the idea.

Mats

First of all, I dug up all the bright colored mats and blankets I could find. That was very easy as I love to collect baby linen :). We covered the floor of our terrace balcony with colorful sheets and blankets so the kids could sit down peacefully and play to their heart’s content.

Pretend Play Stations

We then divided the entire area into different stations that the kids could play at – Kitchen, Doll Bath, Doll House, Another Doll House, Play Doh, Cars, Tea Party etc. You will see each one in the pictures below and I have tried to include all online resources where these or similar toys are available.

ToysRUs Doll House

Above is the latest addition to our toy family – You & Me Family Cottage by ToysRUs. It is available on Amazon.com but unfortunately, does not ship to India. If you have a friend or a family member visiting US or UK, you can ask them to bring it for you. But Amazon India has many more dollhouses available.

Dora Kitchen

Another, and the most popular station was the Toy Kitchen. We bought it when my eldest was 3 years old and since then, all 3 have played numerous pretend play games with it. The most popular one being a ‘pretend restaurant game’. The same set is not available anymore, but Amazon India has a newer version of this kitchen. If you see closely, most of the pots and pans are exactly identical. Only the overall design has changed.

Baby Doll Bath

This little baby doll bath set was a Christmas gift for my daughter. These little sets are all over YouTube and she loves to see the videos involving these. The exact one as in the YouTube videos was being sold on Amazon India and I grabbed it for her.  It is still available on the site:

Cars Mat

If you follow my blog, you will recognize this mat from a few months ago. I was sent this for review by BabyWalk and the Zooming Mat has been a favorite with all my kids. You can read the entire review and find the shopping resources here.

Dora City

This set does not have a name, but we call it ‘Dora City’ lol. If you have a ‘Dora the Explorer’ fan in the family (my eldest was crazy about her), you will love these. Back then, we had to order it all from USA. Now, most of it is available on Amazon India. Here are some products I could find:

Treehouse – the most loved one of them all!

School House

Clubhouse

Tea Set

If you have a little girl in your family, you might already have one! Ours contains images of all Disney Princesses and comes in one huge tea pot. This particular style might be discontinued, but there are similar ones available.

Rosebud Village Doll House Set

Once upon a time, this entire set was available on Shoppers Stop Online – and I got lucky by grabbing them all! Now, only the family figures are available on Amazon:

Other things seen above are available at Mothercare and ELC stores in the UK, should you have someone living there or visiting:

Bedroom Set

Living Room Set

Pets

Adopt a Puppy

This station was not really for playing. It was a part of the party favors. Along with other return gifts, we also had these little puppies.  The one you see in the front was my daughter’s birthday gift and I am reviewing it separately. The Dalmatians behind were for ‘adoption’. My little one is so into cute doggies that we had to have this station! I bought these from FirstCry.

Play Doh Station

Play Doh is a must have for pretend play parties! Little ones love creating shapes with cookie cutters and older kids get more creative making play food for the kitchens. Here are the exact Play Doh products that you see in our station above:

Pink and Gold

I had to make use of my pink and gold items too. The party/play area became so colorful that I could fit in anything really. I used the ‘Happy Birthday’ gold foil letters for the main backdrop along with pink and gold balloons. I decorated with a few balloons. The rest made for fun time for the kids to blow up and burst!

The Pink and Gold tassel garlands decorated the Return Gift station.

The dinner table was set in Pink and Gold, of course 🙂

Hot Pink Paper Plates – FirstCry

Gold Paper Napkins – PrettyurParty