6yr old birthday party ideas

Hello all.. My oldest son will be 6 next weekend (Jan 17) Ive had 98% of all of my kids previous birthday parties at other locations, i.e. Chuck E Cheese. So, this year, since he is a big boy now, he wants to have his party at a Laser Tag place that one of his friends had his party at. I cant afford to do the actual party there, but Im thinking I will let him invite 3 friends to go to laser tag with him before his actual party at our house. This is where my delimma comes in. .What in the world am I going to plan for them to do? The parties I have had in a house have been for smaller kids, and everyone just ran around and played until it was time for cake and presents. I dont know what 5-7 yr old kids expect at a party.

I thought of bobbing for apples... but the stems on most apples are not long enough, and the kids would probably think I was crazy for considering that 'fun'.

I dont know what else to do.

Please HELP!

 

We're doing a carnival-themed party at home for Nadia, because she wants to invite *everyone* she knows, and so far the guest list is 38 kids!

So, I'm going to rent a popcorn machine, and buy a box of corn dogs at Sam's, and talk some poor dad into being a corn dog vendor, LOL. I'm also buying pre-packaged cotton candy, and hanging it up with clothes pins. (Thought about renting a cotton candy machine, but didn't want the mess.)

I'm making cupcakes (which I get to display on my new Crate & Barrel cupcake stands, hooray!), and will probably also buy those little individual cups of birthday cake ice cream.

Then, I'm going to set up carnival games -- ring toss, basketball throw, putting, guess the number of pennies, mystery box, etc. I borrowed Wii Carnival games from a friend, and will probably let the kids play a couple on there, too.

I figured I would hand a goodie bag with tickets in it to each kid, and then let them go around and play the games. I'll give out small prizes for playing each game. I bought a bunch of stuff -- bouncy balls, tops, whistles, etc. at Oriental Trading. I also bought inexpensive plush (the homely dolls, which are a knockoff of ugly dolls), and will package them in cellophane and hang those up as prizes, too.

We'll also do Pin the Tail on the Clown, and I'm making a photo board where kids can stick their faces in the hole and take pics (do you know what I mean?).

Oh, and I hired a balloon artist to come and make balloon animals for the kids for 1.5 hours.

I think it will be fun! If you search for Dimple Prints on Etsy, I bought her circus-themed kit, and am using those designs for the invites, cupcake toppers, banner, etc.

I'm looking forward to it, but it's a lot of work! Next year, I'm hoping Nadia opts for a girls-only tea party or something, LOL.

 

If you are going to play laser tag before going home to open presents and have cake....i don't think you have to plan that much beyond that.

If you feel you want to do more, I would do one craft and maybe a game and/or a pinata. The pinata ALWAYS is a big hit.

Out boys just celebrated their 6th b-day party last week during Christmas break from school. Winter is tough for planning. Seems like we attend loads of Chuck E Cheese and bowling parties. They always wanted a beach/pool party...so that's what we did! We rented the hotel pool at a nearby Marriott Courtyard. The kids had blast with that theme and so did I. Gotta love palm trees decorated with Christmas ornaments! It was special to swim with all the snow that we've been having.

 

what about setting up an obstacle course with things you already own, like soccer cones, hoola hoops, a broom slide through the 1st hole of 2 standing cinder blocks, etc. divide the kids into teams and time how long it takes each team to finish. to add interest you could make the last part of it be spinning in a circle with your head down on a baseball bat 3 times before running the last 5 ft. or so to the finish line. you can do an army or g.i. joe type theme that would be a big hit with that age, tie into the laser tag thing, and camo party stuff is super easy to find cheap.

 

Thanks for the ideas ladies. Ive actually decided to have a football-theme, since he said he wanted a football cake..and its about 2 weeks before the Superbowl. I also decided to have him and his 3 friends go to Laser Tag after the party at home, because there will be other children at the party, who are not going to laser tag (cant afford everyone to go) and I wouldnt want them to return to the party talking about how much fun they had in front of the other children. Laser Tag is basically his brithday gift from us, because he really wanted to go.
Here is what I know Im doing for the football themed party...

Buying mini gatorade bottles for all the kids
Making popcorn balls

I dont know if they should consume these at the party, or if I should send them home as their 'goody bag'... because I dont plan on making a bunch of bags of candy and junk.

The only activity I have so far is to have them decorate a tshirt as a football jersey. I will buy the shirts and black fabric paint, and have them paint their last name and fav # or players # on them.
I found some other neat games online, but I dont know if Ill have enough kids to play them.

Anyone have any game ideas that could be modified for a football theme? If I dont come up with anything else, I will probably just do games like Musical Chairs, and Freeze Dance, and give them all Football-themed prizes.

 

you could do a football toss by cutting out 3 holes from a piece of plywood or card board. paint it like a football field and label each of the holes as 20 yds, 35 yds, & 50 yds. each kid gets 3 throws from whatever distance you decide on then give out prizes accordingly. also if you go to lowes they have kits where you can spray paint a football field complete with team logo on your yard. then they could just play football & it would look cool in the pics, too. check their website for specific teams. i have seen them for LSU here & don't remember them being too expensive.

as favors you could get football pennants and all of the kids could sign them using their "pro athlete" signatures.