Help, I have been going crazy trying to figure out a birthday party for our son who turns 4 on Dec. 2. We have had 2 parties at home (#'s 1 &2) and one party we hosted at a local park with a bounce house. He has about 18 friends that we need to plan for and they are a equal mix of boys and girls. We don't want to do a bounce house b/c we have been 2 3 bounce party's over the last 2 weekends. All suggestions! No, chuck-e-cheese/mcdonalds...something creative, fun, no TOO expensive (around 300.00 total).
Wanted to go to the dewberry farm, but they close in november and it's just not possible to do an early bday party...daddy will be out of town until december. :(
Anyone know of a place similar to that?
There is always the Children's Museum. They have a package that includes admission to the exhibits.
You could also go to Discovery Green in Downtown.
For our 3 year old's birthday last year, I made a bunch of cupcakes, different colored icing, and little bowls of various toppings. We rented small tables and chairs from Tomball Rental and the kids decorated their own cupcakes. It turned out to be fairly inexpensive and the kids loved it!
Oh yeah, I gorgot...I also purchased some kids aprons from Hobby Lobby and some iron on sheets from Office Depot and ironed on each kids names on their apron which they took home as their favor.
Jean kutcher is a fantastic puppatear. I have used her for bday parties and girl scouts. Boys and girls enjoy her. I hope this helps.
I'm having a dinosaur themed birthday for my son who will also be 4 in December. I am going to buy some confetti eggs and have the kids hunt for dino eggs. I am also going to fill up 2 baby pools with styrofoam and put "bones" in them for the kids to dig up. I may also get a pinata for them to knock down.
We will have cake and food and I plan on letting the kids play. All in all it will be super cheap.
Kids will be happy just playing and will be happy with whatever you provide. Don't stress and worry over it to much. Cake, an activity or two and you are good to go.
Good Luck.
With 18 kids, I'd have it at a local park. Corraling that many kids in your house may be a little too stressful.
Since your son is 'all-boy', I was thinking of an "Olympics" theme. With 18 kids, you can split them up into 3 or 4 teams that could be named for countries, animals, colors or whatever they choose. You can get different-colored bandanas at Hobby Lobby that each child can wear to represent which team they are on. Team selection can be determined before the party (based on abilities - so all the star athletes don't end up on the same team) or randomly by placing the bandanas in a bag and each guest pulls out their color themself. Each guest must wear their team color on their person - wrist, ankle, headband, or other safe location (kinda like Survivor).
Each team competes in a series of games. You can award little prizes - gum, pencils, erasers, etc., which end up being the party favors - after each event or simply keep score on a posterboard. Game ideas: relay race, balloon pop, pin the tail on the donkey, photo scavenger hunt (give each team a picture of a location in the park, when they get to that location another photo will be there giving the clue to the next location. Each photo takes them to another location which will eventually lead them to the finish line. You can also put pieces of a small puzzle with the photos each team must collect. Once they get to the finish line, the team that completes their puzzle first - wins. This ensures that no one skipped a location. You will need an adult to chaperone each team and a 25-50 piece puzzle for each team.)
Kids tend to complete the events faster that expected so have 2 or 3 events that require little or no setup ready to go - always keep the kids busy or they'll turn on you. LOL!!!
Goodie bags can be white bakers bags with team colors pasted on them. You can use a marker to identify each persons bag so after the events they can put their prize in their bag. You can also have stickers and other decorations handy in case some of the kids want to add their own flair to their bag. Some kids are into this, others are not.
At the end of the competition, you can give the winner's first choice of the grand prize (of which all the prizes are the same so no one gets left out - but 4yr olds won't care), or they get cake first, or just a round of applause. Just make sure that all competitors are made to feel like 'winners' so there are no hurt feelings.
I did a similar party for my daughter (11yr. old) using a Survivor theme and they loved it. Just don't think many 4yr olds are into Survivor.
My oldest has a Dec. birthday, too. We always rented out our neighborhood clubhouse and one year we hired a clown who did face painting and balloon animals. Another year we hired a magician and that was a HUGE hit. There was a playground at the clubhouse so the kids would play after the entertainment, before the cake. Good luck!
