My son’s fifth birthday is in about 3 weeks, and MrsSqueegee and I wanted to come up with something for his birthday party. Right now we’re at a bit of a loss. The obvious options are:
Some kid birthday play-place, like Chuck E. Cheese. We did this last year. Eh.
Have a party at our house with some sort of entertainment. A clown (probably not, I’ve never met a kid that wasn’t terrified of clowns), a magician. Or something. Hmm.
Obviously, nothing is standing out. Any creative suggestions out there?
Some of the best parties I’ve taken my kids to, were at home.
For a little boy’s party, he picked a cowboy theme. All the kids got cowboy hats or Native American head dresses when they got there. The mom had an old fashioned cookout for dinner and everyone roated marshmallows around the fire. Everyone participated in a square dance and sang cowboy songs.
A little girl’s party we once went to, had a glamour theme. Mom had different stations set up around the house for make-up, hair styling, manicures and dress up. All the girls brought home purses with barettes and nail polish.
I’ve had a Where the Wild Things Are type party for daughter and since my son’s birthday is around Halloween we always have a scary party.
There are also activity-based parties, like skating or bumper-bowling. Most rinks and bowling alleys offer birthday party packages that are pretty reasonable, and they seem to go over pretty well.
I took my 5 year-old daughter and a couple of her friends bowling, and a good time was had by all.
Some bowling alleys have “bumpers” that can be set up to prevent little kids from getting gutter balls. They enjoy the game much more that way. The place we went didn’t have the bumpers, but did have a little ramp that the kids could use to aim and push the ball instead of trying to throw it.
One of the best parts was that lugging around the bowling balls got the kids pretty worn out after just one game, so I didn’t have to pay a fortune to keep them entertained.
keep it simple. A theme is cool, because it helps you stay focussed (usually).
Keep it short (2 hour max).
Keep it small (one guest per year of age of the child is good). But if school invites are standard, you’re outa luck, and relocating to a venue of some sort is a good option.
We’ve been to pool-party parties (Gabe almost drowned, not a good scene), and gym class parties (loads of fun and the kids get to race around like idiots), museum parties, and home parties (various themes). The best in parental experience were the gym class ones (no idea if you always have to be a student in a Gymboree or other gym class to get one, though…). The best for Gabe, as far as talking about it later was a pirate themed one, where they went down to a stream (on the property) and raced pirate ships (wooden boats) that they’d built at the party (Blocks of wood, dowels, sheets of thin plastic for sails, and silly putty to hold it all together).
We did a pirate theme for Gabe’s 5th, with a Halloween flavor (birthday near Halloween). Favorite items: Tattoos, treasure hunt (hid a ‘key’ to a ‘treasure chest’, had the kids search for it, the one who won got a pirate-style toy, and then everyone got treat bags). We also had them decorate trick-or-treat bags with stickers and pens. That was a huge time absorber thank heavens. But the temporary tattoos were the favorite - especially with the girls. Brought in pizza, had cake, the usual (but presents were not opened in front of everyone - local trend is to take pictures of the present opening and send the pics in the thank-you cards, so nobody feels disappointed by the usual 5-year-old transparency regarding how cool one gift is compared to another).
Try also: Miniature golf, parks, museums (even small ones), etc. And consider home with a theme - like dinosaurs (get dinosaur masks, dig for bones), or race cars (give out hotwheels, play some kind of racecar tag), etc. Good luck!
We’re doing the 2-party thing this year. The ‘Kids’ party is at a local Fun-Plex (miles ahead of a CHUCKIES.b) and will start around 11 and last til 3. Then we go home and close family & friends come over for the ‘adult’ party. (Catered trays of food, cooler of wine & beer, all plates & utensils are paper or plastic. All garbage gets tossed into Hefty bags so nobody has to do dishes.) The kids are going to run around and whoop it up a bit, so make sure the people you invite like kids/can be pleasant around kids.
MrsSqueegee mentioned that SqueegeeJr specifically asked for a) “a superhero party!” – I assume this is a theme of some sort we can cater to with decorations & super-cake – and b) “a magic clown guy”. Under more questioning, he saw a magician at another kid’s party and thought that was cool.
So, I guess we’re gonna go with a home-theme party w/ activities. I want to do some games to keep the kids from degenerating into fighting over toys & mayhem.
What games do kids do at parties? I remember pin-the-tail, maybe a pinata. What else? I like hedra’s suggestions of a treasure hunt.
If my back yard were bigger and I could be assured of good weather, we might get this. That’d wear the kids out.
I prefer home parties, myself. Rather than party games, I set up play areas like a play dough table (outside!), a dress up spot, a train track spot, etc. I also bought a kit of balloon animals and put a friendly mom or dad to work. The kits are easy and come with directions.
I did note that the local gymnastics place will host childrens parties with lots of climbing, jumping, crawling props. Looked like fun.
We played two party games. One was I took treat bags and red yarn and made a “spiderweb” through the living room. They had to follow their thread (one at a time) to get to their treat bag. The other was I bought everyone a can of silly string and let them go nuts at each other outside (do this outside, some silly string will stain). With five year olds, they haven’t yet gotten the idea to “win” so we just played games without winners.
My daughters princess party involved one game. They had to find eight envelopes which, when opened in sequence told a story in pictures. Then they had to follow the story to get their treat bags. They had to 1) go downstairs 2) through the door 3) where they’d find a castle (the neighbor had a castle, but boxes would have done) 4) guarded by a giant (my husband) 5) if they sang to the giant he 6) fell asleep and then could 7) go into the castle and 8) get their presents. The girls also glued craft store jewels onto party store plastic goblets.
Both parties had themed cakes - you bakery will happily make you a “Spiderman” or “Princess” cake if you don’t feel like bothering yourself.
I had lots of luck google searching for ideas. Keep the games down to a couple - the kids want a chance to play with one another. By the time you play two games, eat cake, open presents and play with presents, its time to send everyone home.
Let moms and dads know if you expect them to stay or leave (or if you want to leave it up to them). If you are expecting a few parents, make sure to have some adult beverages (i.e. real pop, not kool aid) available.
Great Ideas! May I add that if you have a Gamecube & 4 controllers, at least 4 kids will be fully occupied the whole time? Unless there’s football on, in which case almost all the Dads will be fully occupied for the entire party.