Big Kid Parties Archives - Page 3 of 4

Silly Sports Party

My nine-year-old son wanted a silly sports party to celebrate his birthday this summer. This was a very easy and incredibly fun party. At the end, one of the kids told me, “You always have the best parties!” This made me laugh because this particular party had only one expense: ice cream sundaes. It’s just one more example of the fact that you don’t have to spend money to have a good time.

First Things First

When the kids arrived, we had each of them write their name on a cup and clothespin it to a ribbon strung across the patio. I knew our guests were going to go through a lot of water at this August sports party, so this saved me hundreds of plastic cups!

Next, we had each child choose if they wanted to be on Team Mango or Team Banana. (I had yellow and orange fabric in my storage room. I cut it up into long strips for headbands. Teams Mango and Banana were born!)

With two teams, we were ready to compete.

Activities (Silly Sports)

Beach Ball Volleyball
We made a “net” by stringing yarn across the yard, then tying strips of crepe paper along the yarn, every two feet. We then played regular volleyball rules, but with a beach ball. It moves slower and doesn’t hurt your arms!

Crab Soccer
We played soccer using a giant beach ball. The kids all had to stay in crab position whenever they moved or kicked the ball. They could stand up and run get it if the ball went out of bounds. The entire fence on each end of the yard served as the goals. This was my 14-year-old son’s favorite game of the night. It’s quite challenging and very funny.

Crazy Baseball
We set up a baseball field in the yard using car mats as the bases. The ball was a soft knitted ball with stuffing inside about the size of a softball. The bats were a book, a spatula, a zucchini, a hockey stick, and a tennis racquet. Teams were required to use all the bats before they could repeat using one. The zucchini was especially funny. Some of the batters couldn’t stop giggling as they swung.

Stuffed Animal Dodge Ball
We strung a rope across the middle of the yard, then played dodge ball with stuffed animals. There were hippos and tigers flying everywhere. We put out two small rubber balls to give the teams more of a chance to “rescue” their players over in prison. If the prisoners could catch a ball in flight, they were freed and returned to the field. It was an epic battle of flying penguins and teddy bears!

Grand Finale
We ended the party with an ice cream sundae bar complete with whipped cream, gummy bears, and Oreo cookies. The birthday boy opened gifts, and the kids played a game of real soccer as their parents arrived for pick-up.

Mini Golf Party

My seven-year-old son wanted to go miniature golfing for his birthday, but he didn’t want to leave our house to do it. He wanted to build an 18-hole miniature golf course in our yard. -So, we did! Afterward, I thought this would be a fun party with several families. You could have a pile of supplies and let each family build three holes.

Invitation

Here’s the simple invitation we sent to all of his golfing buddies:

Golf Clubs/Balls/Tees/Scorecards

As the guests arrived, they checked in at the club house and received their scorecard, ball, and putter. We borrowed putters from lots of neighbors. Many of the kids were able to bring a putter from home. In the end, a couple of kids used random irons. That worked out just fine. I purchased a box of golf balls and tees. You can find these online or at any sporting goods store. I printed my own score cards and gave each foursome one card and a pencil. Here’s the scorecard with the rules printed beneath. Mini Golf Scorecard

The Golf Course

Dividing the Yard into 18 Holes

I bought four rolls of brightly colored plastic marking tape at Harbor Freight & Tools. They use this tape (which is not sticky) to mark off areas during construction projects. I used this tape to divide both the front and back yards into 18 sections. I used 3-inch-long nails to pin the ends of the tape into the grass. These were our 18 holes. Most holes were long rectangular sections, but a few were triangles. In each section, I stuck a flag with the number of the hole. This helped our golfers know where to go next and where to mark their score. I made the flags with dowels and paper. You could also use sprinkler flags.

Building the Holes

We found that the best thing for the actual holes were large 24 oz. paper cups. We laid them on their side and stuck a nail inside and through the cup into the ground to hold it in place.

We used all kinds of stuff to create the obstacles leading up to our holes. Here are some of our ideas:

PVC or dryer vent pipe for tunnels

Multiple 2 X 4’s, rocks, and bricks made great tools for building obstacles.

A castle made from a cardboard box with a hole through the middle (the doorway).

A ramp that drops into a toddler’s potty. (The kids thought that was hilarious.)

Weave the ball around a bunch of boots or shoes.

Make an animal face with a hole for the mouth.

We built a wooden ramp up and over a small kiddie pool—water hazard!

Plastic rain gutters make great ramps and slides.

Boxes- Oh what you can do with boxes! Ooh- and plastic crates or bins are great too.

Tree branches are challenging to hit a ball through.

Tires are great obstacles.

Orange cones (We have them for soccer drills.)

2 X 4’s set at different angles are fun because balls bounce off them and go a different way.

Toys! You can incorporate any cool toy buildings into your course. Think Little People, Legos, blocks, etc.

You can also use a lot of other toys. We used our big stuffed alligator and plastic snakes for a fun swampy hole.

We used a bicycle right in the middle of a hole. They had to hit the ball between the wheels to get through to the hole.

Treats/Cake

We served golf ball cake pops- which were donut holes on a stick, dipped in white chocolate, and sprinkled with white nonpareils (sprinkles).

The birthday cake was frosted with chocolate icing, then sprinkled with green colored coconut (grass) and white Sixlets that looked like tiny golf balls. I wrote the birthday boy’s name with red golf tees and stuck a flag made from a bamboo skewer with a 7 (the birthday boy’s age) written on it. We saved the cake to eat after dinner and gave the kids cupcakes. The cupcakes were frosted, sprinkled with the coconut grass, and had a large white gumball on top. You can kind of see them on the far right side of the photo above. Super easy and super cute!

Birthday Olympics

This party is a simple idea but with tons of possibilities. It was a big hit with our 9-year-old birthday boy. It would be an awesome neighborhood party too. We had over 30 guests at this party with kids ages 2 -12 competing in the events. We also had eight adult helpers, each dressed as a judge from a different country. The adults played a huge part in making this party a great success. I am sure this party would still be great with a smaller group. There’s a lot of flexibility with this party plan.

Judge — The honorable judge from the nation of Mexico.

Invitation

Here was our invitation for the party. It was an official letter from the International Olympic Committee. Notice that the kids had to RSVP themselves and tell us what country they would represent at the party.

Olympic Uniforms

After I had a list of countries, I printed paper flags from each country. I made these simple pinnies from one square of felt, and some elastic ties. I wrote the name of each country with fabric paint.

Decorations

Other than the people themselves, my only decorations were strings of plastic flags purchased at a party store. I hung them around our church’s gym (the location of our party). This party would be great in a backyard or park. Too bad our birthday was in January!

Flags

As the guests arrived, we gave them each an 18” X 30” flag to decorate with fabric markers. Most of the kids looked at the picture on their chest and copied it. I sewed a line down one side of each flag creating a sleeve for a dowel to slide inside. I didn’t hem them, just left them with cut edges. You could use pinking shears if you wanted them to stay a little nicer.

Opening Ceremonies

My husband had all the kids line up. He announced their name and country and they walked around the gym waving their flags. We had an adult lead the line, and they followed. I played the Olympic Fanfare by John Williams. Then we began the competition!

Olympic Events

We made a big scoreboard with the list of events for the night. We listed all the events down the left side, then the names of the countries along the top. If the kids wanted to keep track of their scores, they could write on the board. If they didn’t care, they didn’t write anything down. It didn’t really matter to us– but some of the older boys really wanted to record every score. Here were the events we did. You’ll notice that some are big group games, and some are individual events. Most of the time we had two events going at once, so the kids didn’t have to wait.

Discus (Frisbee throw)

Javelin (swim noodle throw)

Shot Put (throw a foam ball)

Archery (Shoot rubber bands at targets)

Long Jump

Basketball (shooting from three different points on the court)

Rhythmic Gymnastics (Hula Hooping)

Cross Country Skiing (The goal here was to move your whole team across the gym on paper plates. Individuals had to pass paper plates up and down the line as they moved.)

60-yard dash

Marathon (run around course 4 times)

Hockey (with swim noodles cut in half for hockey sticks, and a foam ball for the puck)

Bowling (2-liter bottles as bowling pins)

Cycling (Tricycle Race)

Awards

Every participant stood on the medal stand. We had 3 crates which were all the same height. Each child received a sports drink and a medal. The medals were made from canning lids and ribbon (super easy). My husband announced each of their names/countries and had them stand on the crates for everyone to cheer. They each had their moment in the spotlight.

Cake

I made a big chocolate sheet cake with the Olympic rings made from M&Ms.