Things You'll Need:
- paper supplies
- cake and ice cream
- treats for kids to take home
- party games
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Step 1
First, if you know you are likely to plan a party in the near future, keep an eye out for sales on paper goods (napkins, plates, cups, tablecloths, etc) and things to put in treat bags (fun pencils, cars, small animals, boxes of raisins). Clearance sales at the end of holidays can be especially useful (but buy only things that you are almost certain to use!!) For the paper goods, I often buy one or two themed items (though not necessarily something that says 'Happy Birthday') and everything else in a matching solid color.
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Step 2
Cardboard box cars ready to be decorated in a picnic shelter.Find a place to have the party. Having the party at home seems like more work, so I generally have held them at playgrounds. I reserve a picnic shelter in advance. Using a shelter owned by the city or town in which you live is most likely the cheapest way to go and may even be free! I also don't make plans more than a few weeks in advance and send out the invitations about a 1 1/2 weeks in advance so that I can keep an eye on the weather and try my best to plan for a non rainy day. If you need to have an indoor party, some places that may be inexpensive are a community center (like a YMCA), a nature center, or some stores (like the craft store Michaels) where, I think, you pay only for the project but not for the room and you can bring in your own food.
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Step 3
Pin the something on the something is always popular. Here, kids are putting themselves on the bus (we didn't designate any winners).Next lay out a tentative schedule. I usually start with a craft, have a game or two, let the kid run around in the playground and then have cake and ice cream just before going home.
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Step 4
After the boxes were decorated, the kids raced around in them.Since my kids are still fairly young, and having a craft that is fun for a range of ages is useful, I usually have the kids decorate something. A few examples: wooden shapes, wooden boxes or foam visors from the craft store. I would then supply stickers, self stick googly eyes (very popular!), and/or markers and let the kids decorate. I've stayed away from glue, especially glitter glue because the kids tend to put huge globs on their projects that take forever to dry. We've decorated flying saucers (made from a paper plate and a paper bowl) and simple kites. Then the kids had fun launching their flying saucers or running around with their kites. I found directions for these projects by searching online. I found cheap kites with string 2/$1 at the Dollar Tree. I separated the string from the kites and let the kids used the string to fly their homemade kites, and the store-bought kites were part of the goody bags to take home.
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Step 5
Using toilet paper tubes to blow bubbles was a fun activity (note: the tubes need to soak for a few minutes to work).Then plan a few games. Standard party games are generally hits, like Duck-duck-goose, pin the something on the something, toss the ball into the holes, etc. For a Magic School Bus party, I had each child pin a picture of him/herself on a bus. Some other activities we've done: Stomp Rocket (the junior version), bubbles, playing the playground and/or sandbox. I bring some of our sand toys, trucks and what I call disposable sand toys (i.e. plastic food containers) for all the kids to play with. One time we played follow the leader--we put a collection of small toys and pictures in a paper bag and each child took a turn to pick something out of the bag, pretend to be that, and the other children followed along. Playing with candy play dough (recipe can be found online) was also a really fun activities. I made different colors, and the kids loved the idea that the could eat it but actually ate very little.
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Step 6
A bus birthday cake from two square cookie cakes--a rectange is cut out of one--with cookie wheels and candy faces.Next, decide on food to be served. I've realized that kids are much more interested in playing than in eating, so I generally just serve cake/ice cream, juice and water. I also try to put out snacks like baby carrots or pretzels, but they often don't get much attention. I often use a a chocolate cookie cake or cookies cut to shapes related to the party theme. For individual cookies, I sometimes let the kids decorate them, which is really fun (probably more fun than eating them). I supply two or three different kinds of sprinkles and some frosting. For colored frosting, I make my own and put them in zipped plastic baggies. Then I cut the corner at the party and let the kids squeeze the frosting out (note that this was fairly messy, so use a disposable tablecloth so you can wrap up all the leftovers and throw it away).
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Step 7
Pail and shovel set (bought in Oct for $.25/each) with chalk & bubbles are take-home treats for pool party.Finally, prepare the treat bags. I generally don't use candy, but instead distribute things like sidewalk chalk, bubbles (8 oz containers go on sale for 3-4/$1 occasionally), small boxes of raisins, pail/shovel set (which can double as a container to hold additional items), other summer toys bought on clearance, cars, small animals, pencils and playdough. I don't worry too much about sticking with the party theme (and probably the kids have never noticed)--I would rather buy items that the kids will enjoy rather than throw away in a day or two. For the goody bag itself, I've used large plastic cups, sand pails or decorated paper lunch bags. The bag can be decorated with stickers (a good activity for the birthday child). For the Magic School Bus party, I glued a picture of the magic school bus onto each bag.
