Birthday Party Ideas

We’re gearing up for our son’s fourth birthday party this weekend. He chose ‘transportation’ as a theme, involving lots of trains, planes, boats and cars. So we’ve been trying to come up with ideas for party activities. For one quiet activity, my husband will read The Little Engine that Could and Jay Jay the Jet Plane Earns His Wings. The former is a timeless classic, and the latter is just so darn cute. We also bought some five packs of Hot Wheels and will divide them up as part of the treat bags (much cheaper than buying individual cars and just as cool).

Planning this party reminds me of the others I planned this past year…

Our five year old had a bowling party. Our neighborhood bowling alley (and most others worth a lick) had bumpers in front of the gutters to deflect balls back toward the pins, making it really kid-friendly. Our alley also had a ‘launching ramp’ for young ones, eliminating the need to swing and aim the heavy ball. Have you ever seen a five year old bowl? It’s priceless!!

Our eight year old decided to have a medieval birthday party, fashioned after The Tournament of Kings dinner show at the Las Vegas Excalibur (a spectacular and very kid-friendly show). His invitations began:

Hear ye! Hear ye! (Our son) challenges his fellow knights to a Tournament of Kings to celebrate his eighth birthday!

We had suction cup archery, plastic horse shoe toss, ring toss, shilling toss (tossing quarters into a can), climbing prowess (using our play structure), and magnetic darts. In the end, we had a crowning ceremony for each boy. I think that the success of the party rested with not keeping score of any kind. They just had to participate in each activity to get their crown.

And last but not least, our one year old had the quintessential birthday celebration with party hats and smashing cake all over his face. Even though I was a “back seat picture taker” (which really irritated my husband), we managed to get lots of chocolatey pictures.