Little 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!

Cowboy Party

I have thrown two cowboy parties for my little buckaroos. One of my sons was three for his party and the other was four years old. Both parties were very fun and perfect for our target age group. Each was a little different, so I’ve included photos and ideas from both. Yee-Haw!

Invitation

Isn’t this the cutest little cowboy invitation you’ve ever seen? You’ll need cardstock, yarn, and a paper clip (to secure the head to the vest). It’s all just taped together. I drew the boots, head, and vest- then made copies, cut them out, and taped it all together.

Cowboy Invitation

Activities

Cowboy Up!

As our guests arrived, we made sure everyone looked like a cowboy or cowgirl right away. We painted on mustaches (with washable marker) and passed out cowboy hats, bandanas, and vests. I made vests and bandanas for all the little kids. One year I made them out of felt so I didn’t have to hem them. I just drew my own pattern on a newspaper- a back and two front pieces. The other year, I made much fancier- cowboy printed flannel vests with an actual Simplicity pattern. Tip- The felt was much easier.

Cowboy Vest

Wanted Poster

We made this wanted poster and had all of the kids pose for photos when they arrived.

Wanted Sign

Stick Horses

The first year I just gathered a few stick horses and put them in a bucket (the corral) for use during the races. The second time, I made a stick horse out of a swim noodle for each guest. The kids all got to take them home at the end of the party- so they loved that. My kids helped me make them. Search on Pinterest for “stick horse swim noodle” and you’ll see tons of pins with patterns.

Stick Horses

Shooting Practice

We lined up paper cups. The kids had to knock the cups over with water guns. They all loved shooting them down.

Shooting Practice

Snake Jumping

We used two ropes as snakes. We put a person on each end of the ropes and they wiggled them wildly as the kids tried to run and jump over them without touching the snakes. –Simple and exciting game for little kids.

There’s a Snake in My Boot!

The older kids had to stand on a ladder and drop plastic snakes into cowboy boots on the ground. The younger kids sat in a saddle on a straw bale and dropped the snakes into a cowboy hat.

Snake in my boot

Tie-Down Roping

We put a big brother on a bike with a picture of a cow’s head taped to the handle bars. The kids tried to “rope” the cow by throwing hula hoops at him as he rode by. This was probably not the safest activity, but it sure was funny. –And the riders thought it was fun too.

Tie Down Roping

Rodeo Races

We made two rodeo chutes out of refrigerator boxes from a local furniture/appliance store. We cut off one side and one end, then made a door out of the other end. The cowboys lined up in the chute with their horses for the races. The MC announced the cowboy and horse’s names… “Here comes Black-Eyed Jake riding Wildfire against Crooked Kurt riding Zeus.” The chute door flew open and off the cowboys rode.

Rodeo Chutes

Our first race was just running down to the fence and back, riding the stick horses. The second race was barrel racing. We let the kids barrel race a couple of times because they loved it so much. I’m sure you could add some more races, but we were entertaining 3-4 year old kids so we kept it simple.

Cowboy Races

Wheelbarrow Races

Every kid loves to be pushed in a wheelbarrow. We recruited some uncles and older cousins to push/race the wheelbarrows, giving each child a turn as the rider.

Wheelbarrow Race

Jail Tag

Choose one or two kids to be the sheriff. The other kids are the bandits. This game is basic TAG. The bandits go to jail if the sheriff touches them. If another bandit can get to the jail, and touch one of the prisoners, that prisoner gets to break out of the jail. The game ends (or restarts) when all the bandits are in jail. I made our jail out of quilting frames and long strips of black fabric tacked to the boards

Jail

Searching the Haystacks

One year I bought a few large bags of pet bedding (used for hamsters and bunnies) at a pet store. It cost about $20. The next time, I bought a bail of straw at the local IFA (Intermountain Farmers) for $5. Both times, I put a tarp on the ground, then we pulled the straw bail apart (or dumped the bedding). We hid wrapped candy and small toys in the straw. This made for a great candy hunt. We gave everyone a brown lunch bag to collect their cache.

Haystack

Snacks
This party wasn’t at meal time, so I just provided big bowls of popcorn and pretzels, and an unlimited supply of root beer (root-tootin’ sarsaparilla.) –And really, what’s a party without root beer?!

Root Beer

Cake
Our cake was a horse’s head. It was made out of one 9 X 13 cake.

Horse Cake

I can’t tell you how much I love this party for little cowpokes. It’s a sure winner!