Birthday Party Fun

Is it really Thursday already?

Wow.

I know, the four day week tends to throw everyone off, and I am no exception. I have spent the last few days cleaning up from camping, doing laundry, folding laundry, putting laundry away, and being amazed at the amount of sand that appears on my couch under the laundry even after it has all been washed.

Which basically means, we had a great time camping.

I'm also working on planning Emma's birthday party. I'm usually much more on top of it than this year, but our recent bout of sick boys has put everything on the back burner, and now I'm scrambling. Her birthday is in a week and a half. Our invite list is 56 people. I allowed her to invite five friends, the rest is family. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having such a big, close knit extended family, but it becomes a bit of a challenge when it comes to birthdays.

Oh, and the weather forecast for next weekend is looking like rain and high 50's. Not quite conducive for an outdoor party. Have I mentioned our house is 1,400 square feet? Not quite conducive for hosting 57 people. Oh, and there's the fact that our budget is very, very small, which means that this party is taking ab it more planning and creativity than most.

I put it out on Facebook last night, and got tons of great ideas. It seems almost selfish to save them all for myself, so I'm going to share a few of my favorites with you all here:

Brenda Oh come on, you KNOW you wanna do it at Chuck-e-Cheese!!!!
Brenda knows she can get away with comments like these, as she is eleventeen months pregnant and knows I won't beat her.

Kelina I know a lot of kids love Jump Around Fun Zone!

Brenda Our local indoor soccer place used to be $100 (now it's $150) to rent the space for an hour of field time & then 30 or 45 min in the "party" room (I forget exactly). Now before you think "we don't all play soccer" keep in mind it gives you a ginormous play field and the kids (and adults) just ran around for an hour when we did it. Just because it... See More was the dome it didn't mean we actually had to play a game. I'd think you could use the field and do all sorts of things, hula hoop, relay races etc. I'm NOT suggesting the place by us, I'm sure there's a place closer to you!!! Just an idea.

Tiffany We spent 40 dollars and buried dinosaur bones and gold coins in the front yard. We through on plastic safari hats and mustaches on the kids. We made the kids go dig for an hour on an archaeological dig and they all had a blast. We even made our own treasure map. We baked our own cake for 6 dollars and the goodie bags were the "treasures" they found. A year or so before we did carnival at the house, bought some cheap cotton candy, popped our own popcorn and made our own games "Ring of Fire" was a stuffed lion being thrown threw a hula hoop with construction paper "fire." Tattoo station (oriental trading has them for so cheap) and make your own animal balloon station - a huge hit with the adults, just to name a few. We BBQed hot dogs and the kids ran around in circles playing.

Shelly Just pick her favorite something, (color, animal, food, game) and go from there. Not too expensive. Just time and imagination. I love doing kid's parties. We have done Circus, Trains, TeddyBear Picnic, Cloud 9, Spies, Pirates, Beach, Tea Party, Dinosaur, Dora, Gymnastics, Bowling, Pizza, Movie Night, Mermaids, Princess, Swim. I think you can still rent the YMCA Pool for under $100. Have fun.

Kara At your house. Cake, ice cream. Have each kid bring a flash light 2 the party & have a pitch black scavenger hunt (prizes, candy- whatever on ground) in a dark room. Presents and done.

Wendy Ask her if she really wants a party or if she wants to go out with Mommy and Daddy all by herself.......you might be surprised.

Carmen Pirate Run at the Lynden YMCA. Unlimited amount of kids for about $100 if it is available. You get the party room and the pool for just enough time. Plus, the kids LOVE the Pirate Run huge island inflatables. We have done this a few times!!

Micah I remember the parties my mom put on for us when we were younger. The games were things like scooping cotton balls with a serving spoon while blind-folded and putting them onto a bowl and passing an orange from person to person while it was held between our chin and chest. She made us do that one by lining up boy - girl. She'd also buy a ton of water balloons (check out the dollar store) and turn us loose. I was 9 or ten at the time and we had a blast! I'm not sure if this will work for you but it sure has brought back some great memories!

Carrie I love the dinosaur bones idea. I might have to use that one! My mom did fun stuff when we were growing up too, egg tosses, 3 legged races, water balloons etc. She would make the adults participate too, so everyone had fun :)

Lori Oriental Trading had a really cute Cowgirl theme with pink and purple. Even a horse pinata. I also know someone with miniature ponies. Maybe she would loan one or two for rides and the theme could be a pink western theme in your back yard. Emma's pink boots would fit right in! Make it a BBQ with beans and bandannas for everyone!

Misty swimming pool.

Melanie We're doing a minute to win it party for our son Jacob. The kids seem really excited and the prizes are from the dollar store.


I love all these ideas, and I hope you all can get some great ideas from this as well. Now, to figure out what I can do for Emma. Pray for sunshine, would you, please? :)