Throwing a kid’s party can be stressful. Coming up with a fun theme and doing all the planning and prep is a lot of work. Luckily we have some ideas to help you plan a party, but not just any party: a super fun pizza party for kids.
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Planning Your Pizza Party
The key to planning a pizza party for kids is all in the prep work. You will need to have an idea of headcount to plan the best way to make pizzas for everyone. You will need to have the right amount of dough, sauce, and toppings.
To get a clear headcount, you will want to start with invitations. You can use a fun tool like Canva to make pizza-themed invitations. Or you can find some cute ones online.
Once you know how many little ones to plan for, you can get started on the rest. The best way to let kids get involved in the pizza-making process is to make little mini pizzas. Every kid gets to be a pizzaiolo for the day.
As the party is starting and guests are arriving, give each child a chef’s hat to decorate. You can provide markers, stickers, colored pencils, or name tags for their chef’s hat. This will let them get creative and ready to make pizzas.
Kid-sized Mini Pizzas Prep
Dough
Figuring out how much dough to make can be tricky. We have found the best formula for mini pizzas is one regular dough divided into three sections. Each section equals one mini pizza. If the kids are old enough or have plenty of adult supervision, you can let each child play with their dough and roll them out. If the kids are younger, providing them with a rolled-out dough may be easier.
An alternative to making the dough is to buy some pre-made mini crusts. It makes it a bit easier for planning. The downside is that kids don’t get to play with the dough and get the full pizza experience.
Once you have the dough ready, the kids can start to make their very own individual pizzas.
Toppings
You can create a pizza-making station, and kids can come up in twos or threes to choose their pizza toppings. Since kids have fairly simple tastes, you don’t need to be too creative with the kid-friendly pizza toppings. You can use pepperoni, black olives, pineapple, Canadian bacon, and any other toppings you think will be a hit.
Pro tip #1: Use the pre-portioned amount of sauce, so the kids don’t drown their dough. An adult can use a small spoon or even an ice cream scoop to give the right amount of sauce, and each child can spread it and go crazy with the toppings and cheese.
Pro tip #2: Check with parents before the party to make sure you know about any possible dietary restrictions. Lactose intolerant kids don’t have to miss out on the fun. There are dairy-free cheese alternatives. Same for gluten-free kids. You can find cauliflower crusts or gluten-free options. Likewise, check about any allergies to toppings.
Assemble the mini pizzas on a baking tray and bake several at a time.
While the kids are waiting for the pizzas is the perfect time for some fun activities.
Pizza Party Activities and Games
A party needs some activities and games. And a pizza party for kids needs some pizza-themed activities.
Decorate Pizza Boxes
Give each child a small pizza box to decorate. So when their pizza is ready, you can serve it in their pizza box. This is great. If there are any leftovers, they can take them home, just like a real pizzeria.
Pin the Pepperoni on the Pizza
This is a take on the old pin the tail on the donkey. You’ll need a blindfold and a poster of a cheese pizza with pepperoni cutouts to pin.
Pizza Dough Shapes
For this activity, you will need extra dough, so each child has a small dough ball just to play with. An adult calls a shape, and the first one to make the shape wins that round. You can do shapes or numbers. Just make sure to have a small prize for each winner.
Pizza Scavenger Hunt
Don’t worry. We aren’t going to suggest you hide pizza around your house. But you could hide paper cutouts of pizza-related items like mushrooms or pepperoni. Kids can search for the items, or for older kids, you can leave clues, and they work in pairs to find the items.
Find Someone Who
This is a game where each child has a worksheet that says find someone who likes anchovies. Or find someone who hates pepperoni. They have to work together to fill in the answers with someone’s name—the first one to complete the worksheet wins.
You can have five to ten find someone who depending on the age and number of party guests. This is a fun ice breaker game if there are some kids that don’t know each other, for example, school friends, cousins, or neighbors.
Finally, how do you finish a pizza party? With a pizza cake, of course. Most bakeries can make a pizza-themed cake. You can also use some pizza-themed cake toppers to make a regular cake into a pizza cake. Or, if the pizza party is not a birthday, you could have Italian tiramisu or sweet cannoli to finish the pizza party for kids.
Have you thrown a pizza party for kids? Let us know if you try any of our ideas.
