Sports Birthday Party
Another favorite birthday party theme is sports. You can have the party focused on your child's favorite sport or make it more broad and invite everyone to wear some part of the uniform from their favorite sport. Set up some outdoor party games that are sports oriented. Get a large poster of the birthday child's favorite sports star and hang it up. Carefully tape a birthday hat to the poster or make it look like the star is holding a helium balloon. Play "Who Am I" with famous sports stars of the day. Play charades that are sports oriented as well.
Cooking Birthday Party Theme
Food and birthday parties go hand in hand so think about having your next birthday party theme be a cooking one! Come up with some food that your child likes that can be assembled party style, either as part of an assembly line or in a build your own kind of style. Something like lasagna can be set up in different stages. Tacos can also use plenty of help in being prepared. Build your own pizzas are another favorite party food. If the kids are too young to roll out the dough, do that ahead of time and let them just build the toppings. You can use recipe cards for invitations and thank you notes and send home aprons as the party favors.
Games and Your Birthday Party Theme
If you have a birthday party theme, adapt games to match the themes. For example, you can have a scavenger party and make the items to be collected organized around the birthday party theme. If you're having a cowboy party with a scavenger hunt, have kids collect items like a can of beans, a piece of rope, and a piece of straw or hay. If you don't have a particular theme, make the items age appropriate and easy to collect. One variation on the scavenger hunt idea is to give each team a "white elephant" item. Instead of asking for things, they offer to trade the item for something that the people don't want. Set a time limit or a number of houses and then have everyone return. Have each child vote (anonymously) on what item they think is the best. The winner is the team that collected the most popular item.
Movie Night and Popcorn
If you're having a movie night birthday, a party idea is to have lots of different popcorns for munching. Set out large bowls of buttered popcorn and offer everything from parmesan cheese to taco seasonings to sprinkle on top. Ask everyone for their favorite popcorn toppings and you may learn some new tricks! You can buy flavored popcorn toppings or make your own. For a treat, buy some movie theater popcorn boxes for serving the popcorn. Whether you make your popcorn in the microwave, a hot air popper, or the old-fashioned way over the stove, movies and popcorn go together like birthdays and parties.
Who Shares my Birthday?
One fun birthday party theme for adults and teenagers is to center the party around who else was born on that day. You can play various games where the answers are other famous people born the same day as the birthday person. You might set the stage by making the birthday party invitation include names and pictures of celebrities born on the same day. Birthday decorations can also center around this theme, with pictures of famous people or some specific genre of art or music credited to someone who shares a birthday. Younger children might get a kick out of decorating around a favorite book by an author that shares their birthday.
Scavenger Hunt with a Twist
Many parents plan scavenger hunts for birthday parties but are uncomfortable with asking people to give the kids things. Here's a modern twist on an old birthday party idea. Borrow some digital cameras and have an adult or older child go with each team. Rather than taking away the items on the scavenger list, you can just take a picture! Whichever team makes it back to the party base with a photograph of every item on their list wins. *Make the prize a disposable camera to keep within the birthday party theme.
Water Balloons
Kids like throwing water balloons but you might not be thrilled with the idea of having a bunch of soaking wet kids in your house later. No matter what you birthday party theme, you can probably come up with a 'bad guy" that is related. For a fun birthday idea that keeps the kids entertained and your house dry, create a drawing of the bad guy on a piece of plywood or other scrap wood and hide it somewhere in the yard before the party starts. Nearby, have a container of water balloons ready to go. Send the kids off to find the bad guy and let them throw the water balloons at the character. If you draw on the wood with chalk, the balloons will wash off the chalk and "make the bad guy go away."
Candles for 50th
For a unique and sentimental party activity try asking everyone attending the party to bring a white candle (or the birthday person?s favorite color). It can be any size, shape, or style. Surround the room with tables of the candles (could be before the birthday person arrives). Then, when they are present, have each guest, one at a time, approach the table, light the candle they brought, and say something special about the birthday person, or a shared memory, or something funny they did together. The birthday person will remember this day forever! *It will work even better if you have exactly 50 guests so that there are 50 candles lit at the end.
Pretend Sleepover
Younger kids might not be ready for a sleepover party, although they like the idea. Instead of pushing them before they're ready, have a pretend sleepover party instead. This birthday party theme is fun for all and everyone still gets a good night's sleep. Have the kids arrive already in their pajamas with a favorite blanket and pillow early in the evening. Rearrange your family room furniture so the kids can stretch out and watch a short movie after they've played a few games and eaten their dinner and cake. Arrange for the parents to pick them up at about your kids normal bedtime.
A Backwards Birthday Party
Why not take things in reverse? One fun birthday party idea is to have a backwards birthday party. You can have children get dressed with their clothes on backwards, walk in the door backwards, eat the cake and ice cream first and then sing Happy Birthday, and do the games at the end of the party rather than the beginning. *Play a few games that can be played backwards by starting at the end.
Nutritious and Fun Food
While older kids don't need a theme to have a birthday, their idea may be to eat nothing but junk and that doesnĄ¯t make for peaceful parties. For a sleepover, plan both dinner and breakfast with an eye toward fun as well as nutrition. Make your own pizzas and let each child customize to their heart's content. Offer some salad as well or some vegetables and dip for the munchies in addition to the typical chips. For breakfast, pancakes and eggs are pretty easy to make for a crowd. Serve a large pitcher of orange juice and some hot chocolate as well.
Birthday Party Theme for all Ages
There are an endless variety of themes for birthday parties. Toddlers typically enjoy the perennial favorite theme of Disney. Younger elementary school kids like a birthday party theme around fantasy characters, like a pirate or a princess. Some themes are universal, like an island party. Older adults might enjoy a surprise party where they are the theme: Have each guest bring a written letter or scrapbook page. If someone organizes this in advance, the completed scrapbook can be presented to the guest of honor at the party. It's sure to invoke some fun memories and great stories.
"Through the Years" Video or Collage
Collect old pictures from family and guests to and either create a collage or have the pictures transferred onto a video tape (easily done at local video/camera shops). Don?t forget the music - a perfect addition to the clips, or play favorite "oldies" at the party while watching the video. (Tip: Transferring pictures to video takes a few weeks - make sure you allow enough time.)"
Bonding in Planning
Planning a birthday party can get hectic. Transform your planning time into bonding time between yourself and the birthday person. Before you start take an evening, turn off that television and cuddle up with your child or that special person while you choose a party theme. This allows two people to do two things at once in this very busy world.
Planning Your Birthday Party Theme
Coming up with a birthday party theme can sometimes be a challenge as your kids get older. Get your child involved in picking out what games, if any, will be played. Even older kids enjoy winning prizes so think of some fun activities that can have a variety of different winners. You might have them decorate a t-shirt or visor and give out prizes for most original, funniest, most colorful, and so forth. You could play short bursts of popular songs and let the kids compete for who can guess the name of the song first. If you're completely stuck for a birthday party theme, just pick a color and go with that!