Birthday parties for kids 2 and under

Shoestring

Does your one- or two-year-old really have so many friends that you need to leave home? Consider hosting a small gathering with imported entertainment. If your mini is in a music class, the teacher may agree to sing off-site—or check out the performers below. Just think: The cash you save this year can be put toward next year’s bash, when your kid’s social circle likely will have increased tenfold.

Photograph: Andy Rinehart

Top choice

Gina Samarge

Well known on the Brooklyn kids’-tune circuit, Gina Samarge wears many hats. The part-time accordionist and clown-band member also teaches at the Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory of Music, directs its Children’s Chorus and leads her own toddler-music-and-movement classes, called Musical Stew. In her spare time (yes, she has some), she will make haste to your home for a birthday sing-along.

details Gina sings and plays her guitar; choose titles from her playlist (replete with standards like “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”), or let her plan the program. Other tricks up her sleeve: puppets and a parachute to bring everyone together for the birthday song. Gina will learn any tune not in her repertoire for a fee of $5 per title.

decor Push the furniture to the walls to clear a space where kids and parents can dance. That’s it!

eats Moving and shaking can get appetites going—opt for finger foods and one-bite hors d’oeuvres that can be easily nibbled between songs. Most bakeries can handle a circular cake decorated as a CD of your child’s favorite song.

loot Spring for egg shakers, kazoos and mini-tambourines for goody bags (available at partycity.com); Gina offers her CD, Sing with Me, for $6 if you buy four or more to use as favors.

damage Most musicians determine pricing based on length of set, number of kids and travel distance. For locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan up to 42nd Street, Gina charges $100 for 30 minutes and $150 for 45 minutes (a bargain compared with some other performers); add $25 above 43rd Street and in Queens.
info@ginasing.com, ginasing.com

Alternatives

Michelle Casillas of Music for Aardvarks (ursamusic@yahoo.com); $250 for 30 minutes

Joanie Leeds (718-930-7434, citykidmusic.com); $300 for 45 minutes

Tricia Mincy of Kindermusik (646-823-5626, tmincy@gmail.com); $20 per child for 60 minutes, minimum of five kids

Bree Sharp of Music for Aardvarks (getyourway@breesharp.com, breesharp.com); $250 for 30 to 45 minutes

Ivan Ulz (212-674-5241, ivanulz.com); $300 for 30 minutes