How To Throw The Ultimate Toy Story Birthday Party

Toy Story is the easiest kids' theme to pull off at home, because the whole look is one thing - Andy's wallpaper. Blue, white clouds, and everything else can be plain.

Here's the decoration plan, six games we'd actually run, what to put in the party bags, and a two-hour running order that gets everyone out of the door before the sugar wears off.

The Andy's room look, cheaply

• Blue tablecloth or a blue paper roll up one wall, then white paper clouds taped on. That is the entire theme done, for about five pounds.
• Cut clouds freehand from cheap white card - wobbly edges look more like the film than neat ones do.
• Balloons in blue, white and yellow only. Adding red and green turns it into a generic birthday again.
• Run bunting corner to corner across the ceiling rather than along one wall and the whole room reads as decorated.
• Table confetti down the middle of the food table takes thirty seconds and makes a folding table look set rather than borrowed. Shop this card
• A cake topper turns a supermarket sponge into the centrepiece. Nobody has ever asked where the cake came from. Shop this card
• Draw an 'ANDY' on the soles of everyone's shoes in washable pen as they arrive - free, funny, and the photo of the day.
• One toy box in the corner with the child's own soft toys spilling out. It costs nothing and it finishes the room.

Six games that work with four to seven year olds

• Freeze like a toy: music on, everyone dances, music off and they must hold completely still like a toy when a human walks in. Last one moving is out.
• Claw machine: a bedsheet over a table, soft toys underneath, one child at a time reaches in blind and pulls one out to keep for the game.
• Pass the parcel with a small prize in several layers, not just the middle. Four year olds cannot manage an eight-minute wait for one winner.
• Buzz's target throw: three buckets at increasing distances, beanbags or rolled socks, three throws each.
• Slinky race: everyone in a line holding hands, the line has to get from one end of the garden to the other without letting go.
• Alien hunt: hide ten small green things around the room and give every child a paper bag. Stop it once they're all found, not once the children lose interest.

Party bags without the plastic landfill

• One good thing beats five bits of tat. An enamel pin badge, a sticker and a slice of cake fills a paper bag properly.
• Skip the whistle. The parents are the people who decide whether you get invited back.
• Seal each bag with a sticker and write the child's name on it - it stops the doorway scrum at the end.
• Put the bags out of sight until the last ten minutes, or you'll be handing them out at half past two.

A two-hour running order

• 0:00 arrivals, shoes signed, free play with the toy box while stragglers turn up.
• 0:20 first big game while everyone still has energy - freeze like a toy.
• 0:40 claw machine and Buzz's target throw, run as two stations so nobody queues.
• 1:00 food. Keep it short, keep it beige, nobody eats at a party anyway.
• 1:20 cake and singing, with the lights down for the candles.
• 1:35 pass the parcel sitting down, which quietly calms everyone before pickup.
• 1:55 party bags at the door as parents arrive.

Shop party supplies

How to write it so it lands

• Decorate the night before. Nothing goes up well on the morning of a party.
• Write the running order on a sticky note on the fridge and let another adult own the timings.
• Photograph the table before the children come in - it's the only time it will look like that.

Where to shop next

• Toy Story birthday party: step-by-step plan
• The best toys for 4 year olds
• Toy Story bedroom ideas
• Pass the parcel prize ideas
• Gifts for 3 year old girls
• The best Disney toys in the UK
• Toy Story gifts for kids
• Shop kids' birthday cards
• Shop party supplies
• Shop party bag fillers
• Shop cake toppers
• Shop bunting and banners
• Shop table confetti
• Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas
• Birthday cards for kids
• Pin badges
• All guides

Frequently asked questions

What are the best Toy Story party ideas for a small house?

Do one blue wall with paper clouds, keep the balloons to blue, white and yellow, and pick games that happen sitting down or on the spot - freeze like a toy, pass the parcel and the claw machine all work in a living room.

What food should you serve at a Toy Story party?

Keep it simple and themed by name rather than effort: sandwiches cut into stars, 'alien' green grapes or jelly, cocktail sausages as 'Rex snacks' and a plain sponge with a cake topper.

How long should a Toy Story party for 4 year olds last?

Two hours. Four year olds peak at about ninety minutes, so plan games for the first hour, food and cake in the middle, and something calm just before pickup.

What's a good Toy Story themed birthday present?

A talking Jessie doll is the one that gets played with rather than displayed - the pull string gives it a voice, and it holds up to being carried round by the ankle for a year.

Do you sell toys or Disney merchandise?

No. We design and print kids' birthday cards, enamel pin badges and party decorations - bunting and banners, balloons, table confetti, cake toppers and party bag fillers - all posted from the UK. Any toy we mention is an outside recommendation, not something we stock.