The Most Popular Kids' Birthday Party Theme in Every State (2026 Search Data)
By Dinotopia Team ·
One theme won almost everywhere. KPop Demon Hunters is the most-searched kids' birthday party theme in 49 of 50 states. Nationally it draws 68% more party searches than the runner-up, Hello Kitty.
The more interesting story is underneath. New York searches for Sesame Street parties 80% more than the country as a whole. Utah does the same for Harry Potter, and Tennessee for monster trucks. We pulled Google search data for 58 party themes in every state to map it.
Key Takeaways
KPop Demon Hunters is the number one theme in 49 states. Only Wyoming (Harry Potter) and Washington, D.C. (Hello Kitty) differ, and both are close calls.
The national top five: KPop Demon Hunters, Hello Kitty, Bluey, Minecraft and Pokémon.
Bluey is the most common runner-up. It ranks second in 19 states. Hello Kitty is second in 15.
The Northeast is Sesame Street country. New York (+80%), New Jersey (+61%) and Pennsylvania (+52%) search for it far more than average.
Utah over-indexes on Harry Potter by 65%, California on Pokémon by 42%, and Tennessee on monster trucks by 23%.
Character themes burn fast. Searches for "KPop Demon Hunters birthday party" are already down 93% from their September 2025 peak.
Princess, monster truck and dinosaur are the top three themes that are not tied to a show, game or brand.
The top 20 themes in the United States
Share of all party-theme searches across the 58 themes we tracked.
Rank | Theme | Share of theme searches |
|---|---|---|
1 | KPop Demon Hunters | 7.3% |
2 | Hello Kitty | 4.4% |
3 | Bluey | 4.2% |
4 | Minecraft | 4.0% |
5 | Pokémon | 3.6% |
6 | Paw Patrol | 3.6% |
7 | Harry Potter | 3.5% |
8 | Princess | 3.4% |
9 | Spider-Man | 3.2% |
10 | LEGO | 2.8% |
11 | Sesame Street | 2.8% |
12 | Sonic | 2.8% |
13 | Monster truck | 2.7% |
14 | Stitch | 2.7% |
15 | Toy Story | 2.6% |
16 | Dinosaur | 2.6% |
17 | Barbie | 2.2% |
18 | Mickey Mouse | 2.1% |
19 | Minnie Mouse | 2.1% |
20 | Unicorn | 2.0% |
Sixteen of the top 20 are characters from a show, film, game or toy line. Only four are classic themes: princess, monster truck, dinosaur and unicorn.
The most popular theme in every state
"Over-indexes on" is the theme each state searches for most compared with the national average, shown when the gap is 10% or more.
State | #1 theme | #2 | #3 | Over-indexes on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Alabama* | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Bluey | Stitch (+29%) |
Alaska | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Bluey | — |
Arizona | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Minecraft | Spider-Man (+18%) |
Arkansas | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Minecraft | — |
California | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Pokémon | Pokémon (+42%) |
Colorado | KPop Demon Hunters | Harry Potter | Bluey | Mickey Mouse (+24%) |
Connecticut | KPop Demon Hunters | Sesame Street | Bluey | Sesame Street (+29%) |
Delaware* | KPop Demon Hunters | Sesame Street | Hello Kitty | — |
District of Columbia* | Hello Kitty | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | — |
Florida | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Bluey | Mickey Mouse (+12%) |
Georgia* | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Bluey | Hello Kitty (+30%) |
Hawaii* | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Pokémon | — |
Idaho | KPop Demon Hunters | Harry Potter | Minecraft | — |
Illinois | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Hello Kitty | Sesame Street (+10%) |
Indiana | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Harry Potter | Barbie (+14%) |
Iowa | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Paw Patrol | — |
Kansas | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Paw Patrol | — |
Kentucky | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Minecraft | Barbie (+19%) |
Louisiana* | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Bluey | Hello Kitty (+22%) |
Maine | KPop Demon Hunters | Minecraft | Paw Patrol | — |
Maryland | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Bluey | Sesame Street (+38%) |
Massachusetts | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Princess | Sesame Street (+19%) |
Michigan | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Hello Kitty | Barbie (+14%) |
Minnesota | KPop Demon Hunters | Paw Patrol | Bluey | Paw Patrol (+15%) |
Mississippi | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Bluey | Minnie Mouse (+14%) |
Missouri | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Minecraft | — |
Montana | KPop Demon Hunters | Harry Potter | Hello Kitty | — |
Nebraska | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Minecraft | — |
Nevada | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Pokémon | — |
New Hampshire | KPop Demon Hunters | Pokémon | Sesame Street | — |
New Jersey | KPop Demon Hunters | Sesame Street | Bluey | Sesame Street (+61%) |
New Mexico | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Bluey | — |
New York | KPop Demon Hunters | Sesame Street | Bluey | Sesame Street (+80%) |
North Carolina | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Hello Kitty | Monster truck (+17%) |
North Dakota | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Minecraft | — |
Ohio | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Paw Patrol | Bluey (+11%) |
Oklahoma | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Minecraft | Monster truck (+11%) |
Oregon | KPop Demon Hunters | Pokémon | Minecraft | Pokémon (+25%) |
Pennsylvania | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Sesame Street | Sesame Street (+52%) |
Rhode Island | KPop Demon Hunters | Sesame Street | Bluey | — |
South Carolina | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Bluey | Stitch (+20%) |
South Dakota | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Harry Potter | — |
Tennessee | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Hello Kitty | Monster truck (+23%) |
Texas | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Bluey | Toy Story (+14%) |
Utah | KPop Demon Hunters | Harry Potter | Minecraft | Harry Potter (+65%) |
Vermont* | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | Bluey | — |
Virginia | KPop Demon Hunters | Minecraft | Hello Kitty | Sesame Street (+11%) |
Washington | KPop Demon Hunters | Minecraft | Pokémon | Minecraft (+22%) |
West Virginia | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Minecraft | — |
Wisconsin | KPop Demon Hunters | Bluey | Paw Patrol | Paw Patrol (+11%) |
Wyoming* | Harry Potter | KPop Demon Hunters | Hello Kitty | — |
An asterisk marks states where the top two themes are within one rounding step of each other, so the order could flip.
The regional patterns
The Sesame Street corridor. Eight states over-index on Sesame Street, and seven of them are in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia. Illinois is the eighth. The show is set in New York City, and its theme park, Sesame Place, is outside Philadelphia.
Harry Potter in the Mountain West. Harry Potter is the number two theme in Utah, Colorado, Idaho and Montana, and number one in Wyoming. Utah searches for it 65% more than the national average.
Monster trucks in the South. The six states that over-index most on monster truck parties are Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Tennessee leads the country at 23% above average.
Video games on the West Coast. California and Oregon over-index on Pokémon. Washington, home of Minecraft's parent company, over-indexes on Minecraft by 22%.
Mickey Mouse where the parks are. Florida, home of Walt Disney World, over-indexes on Mickey Mouse.
Tennessee's top themes
Since we are in Madison, just outside Nashville, we looked closer at home. Tennessee's top five are KPop Demon Hunters, Bluey, Hello Kitty, Paw Patrol and Minecraft. No state over-indexes on monster trucks more than Tennessee does.
Character themes rise and fall fast
KPop Demon Hunters did not exist as a party theme before the film came out on Netflix in June 2025. Searches for "KPop Demon Hunters birthday party" went from zero to about 14,800 a month by September 2025. One year later, in September 2026, that search was at about 1,000 a month, down 93%. It still ranks first because our figures are 12-month averages.
Bluey followed the same arc more slowly. Searches for "Bluey birthday party" averaged about 13,000 a month in 2024 and about 2,100 a month in 2026.
If your child's birthday is six months away, the number one theme today may not be the number one theme by the time you send invitations.
Themes that are not characters
Leaving out anything tied to a show, game or brand, these are the most-searched classic themes:
Princess
Monster truck
Dinosaur
Unicorn
Mermaid
Soccer
We run a dinosaur park, so we will admit to rooting for number three. Dinosaurs rank in the top 10 themes in 15 states.
The most-searched party activities
Some parents search for a place or an activity, not a theme. Average monthly U.S. searches for "[activity] birthday party":
Activity | Monthly searches |
|---|---|
Pool | 12,100 |
Bowling | 4,400 |
Laser tag | 3,600 |
Petting zoo | 3,600 |
Trampoline park | 3,600 |
Gymnastics | 2,400 |
The pun themes parents love
First, second and third birthdays have their own category: the pun. Average monthly U.S. searches for the phrase plus "birthday" or "birthday party", whichever is larger:
Theme | Age | Monthly searches |
|---|---|---|
Berry First | 1 | 4,400 |
Two Infinity and Beyond | 2 | 2,900 |
First Trip Around the Sun | 1 | 1,600 |
Winter Onederland | 1 | 1,600 |
First Rodeo | 1 | 1,000 |
Three Rex | 3 | 880 |
Two Fast | 2 | 720 |
Young, Wild and Three | 3 | 720 |
How We Got These Numbers
We measured Google search demand for 58 birthday party themes in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. For each theme we combined six search signals: "[theme] birthday party", "[theme] birthday party ideas", "[theme] party ideas", "[theme] birthday cake", "[theme] birthday invitations", and the largest of three decoration and supply searches. Figures are average monthly searches over the most recent 12 months of Google Ads keyword data, retrieved through DataForSEO in November 2026. "Over-indexes" compares a theme's share of searches in a state with its share nationally, among the 20 largest themes.
The limits are worth stating. Google rounds search volumes, and state-level numbers are coarse in small states. Search data cannot tell a child's party from an adult's, which likely helps themes with grown-up fans such as Hello Kitty and Harry Potter. A search is interest, not a party. We tested 58 themes, so a theme we did not test cannot appear. We left out "Frozen" because the word is ambiguous in searches about cake.
Journalists and bloggers: you are welcome to cite these figures with a link to this page. For state-level data or questions, email info@playdinotopia.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most popular kids' birthday party theme in 2026?
KPop Demon Hunters. It is the most-searched theme nationally and in 49 states, followed by Hello Kitty, Bluey, Minecraft and Pokémon.
What is the most popular birthday party theme in Tennessee?
KPop Demon Hunters, followed by Bluey and Hello Kitty. Tennessee also searches for monster truck parties 23% more than the national average, the highest of any state.
What are the most popular classic birthday party themes?
Princess, monster truck and dinosaur are the top three themes not tied to a show, game or brand, followed by unicorn and mermaid.
Are dinosaur birthday parties still popular?
Yes. Dinosaur ranks 16th of 58 themes nationally and third among classic themes. It is a top-10 theme in 15 states.
What is the most popular first birthday theme?
Among pun themes, "Berry First" leads with about 4,400 monthly searches, ahead of "First Trip Around the Sun" and "Winter Onederland".
Planning a dinosaur party?
Dinotopia hosts dinosaur birthday parties for ages 1 to 10 in Madison, 15 minutes from downtown Nashville. Giant dinosaurs come standard, and yes, we have hosted a few Three Rex parties.