Ten things I found out about third birthdays

July 2, 2018 joshuasdadjames

It was my smallest’s third birthday yesterday. He had a whale of a time, we all did. However there were a few eye-openers along the way!

Here are some things that I discovered about third birthdays and third birthday parties:

1) Be prepared to be woken up EARLY.

Two year olds might not ‘get’ the whole birthday thing but believe me, three year olds do and it will be the first thing they think about in the morning. To be honest as long as it’s post 6am then it’s actually quite fun to be woken up by the most excited child on the planet.

2) Do not expect them to be able to wait for anything.

If there is anything left to unwrap by 8am you have a VERY patient three year old on your hands.

3) Time spent worrying about presents is time wasted.

You can get them tonnes of exciting, expensive gifts but their favourite will be something stupid and/or cheap (in this case a squishy poo).

4) If you’re married, do you remember the feeling the night before the wedding that it might all go wrong? It’s eerily familiar.

If you’re throwing a party, you will get so many last minute cancellations you’ll be genuinely terrified that no one will turn up. And this is a THIRD BIRTHDAY.

5) It pays to outsource.

We had Captain Fantastic running the party and it was brilliant. For fantastic children’s entertainment in Kent definitely check them out, I can’t recommend them highly enough.

6) It also pays to get people on board to help.

We decided to do a joint party with my friend’s daughter, and not only did it halve the cost of the party itself but it definitely helped to have someone to remind me about all the bits I would have forgotten.

7) Get a card with a badge.

…Otherwise no matter what else you’ve done, you’ll feel like you’ve failed. It’s not a third birthday without a badge.

8) Same goes with a big helium balloon.

although you want to check the size before you ask it to be inflated because if it’s over a foot in diameter that’s quite scary when it floats at you in the dark. Just FYI.

9) There will be meltdowns before bed.

Sugar, excitement, being the centre of attention… If you think the terrible twos are the pinnacle of tantrumming children, you’ve never met a three year old on their birthday.