Simple Play-Doh Birthday Party Ideas

If you're in the market for simple, affordable, no-nonsense Play-doh birthday party ideas, you are in the RIGHT place! A party for your little one doesn't have to be complicated or expensive to be a great time. My baby just turned THREE! I can't believe it. I mean I was just holding him as a newborn in the hospital and now he's toddling off to Preschool! It's been such an incredible three years watching his personality and talents develop.

One thing that amazes me is his attention span while playing with Play-doh! This little man will sit for HOURS and play with it. As long as we have some fun tools and a few different colors, he is happy as a clam. I mean what else keeps a toddler busy for that long? NOTHING! I'm so grateful to this stuff that we dedicated his 3rd birthday to Play-doh! Come take a look and see how easy it is to recreate these ideas for your next play-doh birthday party, play date, or just a rainy afternoon.

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Play-doh Birthday Party Stations

Each guest was greeted with an apron on the back of their chair and all the supplies necessary for hours of fun!

We kept it super low key and used our kitchen island for our workspace. Each guest was given a Play-doh station with a name tag mimicking a Play-doh label.

The work space is defined using plastic cutting boards duct taped to the counter to prevent slipping and keep the mess contained {a little}. Three colors of homemade playdough were provided in muffin tins along with extruders and mini rolling pins.

A fun red tassel garland laid on the counter was the only decorative touch and all that it needed. The kids were excited to dig in.

There are many options when it comes to Play-doh tools. This is a simple and inexpensive extruder from Dollar Tree. You'll notice I picked up quite a bit from my local dollar store ensuring maximum fun for a minimum budget. The extruder comes with 2 shape blades and 2 cutting tools.

The extruders may not be top of the line but they worked fabulously to create mounds of noodles.

Cookie cutters are another must have for younger children playing with playdough. We got great dog bones, flowers, and a few circles before the kids tired of their creations and were ready for lunch. {all except for my son who would have stayed in his seat playing for another hour!}

Recreate a Play-Doh Station of Your Own:

• Tassel garland: Dollar Tree*
• Aprons: Dollar Tree
• Plastic cutting board: Dollar Tree**, Amazon
• Red Duct Tape: Amazon
• Extruder set: Dollar Tree, Amazon
• Muffin Tin: Dollar Tree, Amazon
• Playdough: Homemade {recipe coming soon}
• Wilton Gel Food Coloring: Amazon
• Mini Rolling Pins: Oriental Trading
• Editable Play-Doh labels: Teachers Pay Teachers {FREE download!}
• Cookie cutters: Dollar Tree, Amazon

*While I purchased these items locally, the inventory of the Dollar Tree changes very quickly. I cannot guarantee that they will still be available, but it's worth a look. In fact you should start EVERY party plan with a trip to your local dollar store! With that in mind I've provided links to comparable items on Amazon if you need to source them. The downside is they will no longer be a dollar.

**You can also find some of these items at Dollartree.com but you must typically purchase a case – which defeats the goal of saving money.  

Play-Doh Birthday Party Lunch

We had a small table set for our little guests to enjoy a very simple lunch of my little man's favorite foods: pbj's, watermelon, and mac n' cheese. This menu is not fancy and wasn't served up in a pretty fashion our food did not even get photographed!

Luckily I did snap a few pics of the table before the meal. Having four total children for this party was a piece of cake! {or should I say cupcake!?} Have you ever heard the Guest List Golden Rule? Just in case I'll share it again….

For a 3rd birthday, we kept it nice and easy with four total guests. The rule grows as they do and are able to more autonomously. Makes a lot of sense doesn't it? Now why don't I follow it more often!?

Play-Doh Party Place Settings

Each guest received a colorful luncheon plate topped with a paint palette full of edible playdough and giant sprinkles. The napkins, spoon, cup, and favor bag are all plain and simple but tie in the fun color scheme.

You may recognize these paint palettes serving a totally different function from our Party Like Picasso Art Party earlier this year!

The easiest way to dress up simple cups and bags is to create a label or sticker of some sort. I printed these on full sheet label paper and cut them out for a quick themed upgrade that cost me pennies.

DIY This Play-Doh Birthday Party Table: 

• Table plastic tablecover: Zurchers
• Colorful lunch plates: Zurchers
• Paint Palettes: Oriental Trading
• Yellow cups: Dollar Tree
• Yellow bags: Dollar Tree
• Cornflower Blue napkins: Zurchers
• Yellow spoons: Zurchers
• Editable Play-Doh labels: Teachers Pay Teachers {FREE download!}
• Full sheet labels: Amazon

Edible Playdough 

After a yummy lunch the cupcake palettes returned to the table. The object of the next activity is to create a fun cupcake topper with the edible playdough and decorate the store bought cupcake with sprinkles. We had a young crowd so the idea of edible playdough was new and very exciting.

Here is my son's cupcake topper masterpiece. {Which never actually made it to the cupcake BTW!} Instead he insisted on a plate full of “tiny sprinkles”. This molding exercise was a little advanced for our kids 18 months-3 years but they all enjoyed the activity and the playdough!

Which was actually just soft marshmallow fondant. Shhhh….don't tell anyone how easy that is! Just kidding! Tell EVERYONE. This is seriously life altering. I'd never made fondant in my life and it was SO EASY.

Get the Edible Playdough: 

• Marshmallow fondant recipe: {coming soon}
• Wilton Gel Food Coloring: Amazon
• Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes: Smith's Grocery Store Bakery {What!? I KNOW!}
• Large sprinkles: Zurchers

Play-Doh Birthday Party Favor

If you've been around here for very long you'll recall that I LOVE party favors. Like, I'm kind of obsessed with them! For this one I made it simple by sending home all the tools {extruder, dough, mini rolling pin, cutting board, etc.} in their personalized yellow Play-Doh bags.

Then added one more surprise to the food table! A jar of Play-Doh for each guest tied up with a cookie cutter and cute ribbon. Since I added a thank you note to the bag, I didn't even make a label! {GULP!} Talk about EASY. It was awesome.

Make this Play-Doh Favor:

• 5oz. Play-Doh Tub: Dollar Tree
• Plastic cookie cutters: Dollar Tree
• Red & white baker's twine: Amazon
• Polka dot ribbon: Michael's

I think you can tell our guests enjoyed their Play-Doh birthday party experience! They were thrilled to take MORE Play-Doh and their very own cookie cutter home with them. This is the perfect party theme for toddlers looking for a sensory experience. You could add things into the dough, have them trace shapes or letters you slide under the mat, or just enjoy the mess of traditional playdough. And if you're lucky….you might just keep them busy for HOURS! You can thank me later.

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Until next time my friends,