My Daughter’s Birthday Is March 20th — Here’s How I Finally Got the First Day of Spring Party Right
My daughter Emma turns 8 today — March 20th — which means every year her birthday party doubles as an unofficial welcome-spring party for the neighborhood. We lean into it hard now. We didn’t at first.
The first time I tried to plan a “real” spring party, I went down the Pinterest rabbit hole and ended up with a $340 vision board that included flower crown making stations, a maypole, and a dessert table with 11 items. I made exactly zero of those things happen. It rained. We ended up doing cake in the kitchen with four kids and a lot of leftover ribbon.
Year two, I just planned a regular birthday party and added “it happens to be the first day of spring” as the vibe, not the theme. That worked way better.
Here’s what I do now.
The Setup That Actually Works (12-14 Kids, $91 Total)
Start with a 90-minute window, 2-4pm. That’s it. Parents appreciate knowing exactly when to pick up.
Activity one: Hat decorating. I set out GINYOU cone hats on a table with markers, stickers, and flower stickers I got from the dollar section at Michael’s. The kids spend 15-20 minutes on these. Every single child ends up wearing their hat for the rest of the party. The GINYOU ones have held up well — they’re CPSIA certified, which matters since we’re talking markers directly on the paper and little kids wearing them. $24 for a 20-pack. The stickers and markers ran me another $8.
Activity two: Outdoor scavenger hunt. I print a list of “signs of spring” — dandelion, bird feather, anything purple, a worm (gross but kids love it). They run around the yard in teams. 20 minutes. Free.
Activity three: Cake and candles outside. We’ve done this five of the last six years. The one year it rained, we moved to the covered porch. Having the party after 2pm helps — spring weather in late March is unpredictable before noon.
That’s the party.
Full Supply List
- GINYOU cone hats, 20-pack, CPSIA certified: $24
- Hat decorating supplies (markers + spring stickers): $8
- Scavenger hunt list (printed at home): $0
- Birthday cake (homemade): $14
- Paper goods: $12
- Juice boxes and water: $11
- A few balloons for the porch: $6
- Canva banner printed at Walgreens: $7
- Flowers from Trader Joe’s for the table: $9
Total: $91
What Made Me Change My Approach
The $340 vision board year, I was planning a party theme. The $91 year, I was planning things for kids to actually do for 90 minutes. Those are different goals. Themed parties look great in photos before the kids arrive. Parties with specific things to do actually work while the kids are there.
The hat decorating station sounds too simple. It’s not. I’ve watched kids aged 4 through 9 spend a focused 20 minutes on it, emerge proud of what they made, and then wear the thing they just made for the rest of the party. That combination — make something yourself, then use it immediately — is genuinely satisfying for kids. Adults too, honestly. One dad spent 10 minutes drawing on a hat at Emma’s party last year and was kind of annoyed when I called everyone for cake.
March 20th Specifically
If your kid has a late-March birthday and you’ve been treating spring as background noise, try leaning into it instead. You do not need a Maypole. You do not need a flower crown station — those take forever and you end up with a pile of wire and silk flowers with nobody finishing. You need: a reason to be outside, one structured activity, and something involving flowers or spring colors. The scavenger hunt covers outside and structure. The spring stickers cover the color.
That’s actually enough.
Emma blew out 8 candles this afternoon on our back porch in 62-degree weather. She was wearing a cone hat with a yellow flower sticker on it that she put there herself. Next year she’ll be 9 and she’ll probably think she’s too old for this. I’m keeping the photos.
— Jamie, party mom to three, including one spring solstice kid
Spring Birthday Bonus: Your Dog Deserves a Spring Party Too
Here is something I did not expect when we threw this first-day-of-spring party: Biscuit, our 28-lb corgi, absolutely stole the show. One of the moms brought her golden retriever, and both dogs ended up wearing party crowns for the entire outdoor portion. The kids went nuts.
If you are already setting up a spring celebration, tossing a dog birthday hat on your pup takes zero extra effort and doubles the photo ops. We had ours from GINYOU — CPSIA-certified, non-shedding glitter, elastic stays on without bugging the ears. Biscuit wore it for 45 minutes straight, which is basically a world record for a corgi who hates accessories.
Check out our full dog birthday party supplies collection if your furry friend has a spring birthday coming up too.