For those of you who have the option of choosing between indoor or outdoor parties, there are a few things you may want to consider. If weather permits, outdoors is the best place to let loose a bunch of party-hungry kids. Fresh air is good for everyone and cleaning up is usually much easier.
If you have a backyard, you’re all set. But, for those of us who don’t have the luxury of a backyard or don’t want to forsake our backyards, you can hold your out door parties for free at a local park, lake or beach, etc. These days, there are lots of places that offer to host children’s parties. And (for a fee), many of these places can provide everything – all you need to do is show up. Make sure you settle the exact details and know exactly what to expect. For outdoor parties, venues can include zoos, farms, water parks, theme parks, miniature golf, batting cages, nature centers, etc.
Indoor party venues provide you with a great option for indoor parties that aren’t actually held in your house. Some of these include restaurants (Chuck E. Cheese’s, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King.), bowling alleys, ice rinks, roller rinks, movie theaters, craft shops, laser tag arenas, Gymboree, museums.
Sometimes, taking the kids to such venues is a great way to diversify, however, because of the cost involved, you may have to cut down on the number of kids that are invited.
Animal Safari party ideas and photos by: Rikelle from Chandler, AZ My son is obsessed with elephants. We decided to throw him an safari party that would take him on an elephant expedition. Many of the ideas I found right here on this site. Safari invitation: I cut a 12×12 piece of black cardstock into … Read more
Circus theme party ideas and photos by: Allyson from Lafayette, LA For my daughter Amelia’s third birthday we had a circus birthday. Amelia wanted a merry-go-round cake. The circus cake was Duncan Hines chocolate with Wilton Butter cream Frosting recipe. The party colors were red, blue and yellow. The bottom tier of the cake was … Read more
Hello Kitty birthday party ideas and photos by: Lark from Gainesville, FL My daughter Amelia loves Hello Kitty or as she calls her “Hello Meow Meow.” We wanted to do a girly birthday for her since next year and probably for many years she’ll be having a dual party with her brother since their birthdays … Read more
Army birthday party ideas and photos by: Jeffere from Frisco, TX The Army party was the best! All three of my kids wanted one – obstacle course, tug-o-war, and rescue recon (we took the cheap parachute men, wrote a one word message in the parachute, and scattered them all over the three yards on our … Read more
Clown birthday party ideas and photos by: Sandra from Peoria, IL For my son’s fifth birthday he wanted a clown birthday party. So we dug out the face paint and went to work! I made his invites on our computer. Mostly clip art and the important party info. For decorations we used yellow and red … Read more
Horse party ideas and photos by: Amy from Blair, NE “Giddy Up Partner! Head on Over to Jacob’s Corral for a Horsey Good Time!” Jacob LOVES horses – so it was a must for his 4th birthday to have a horse party! We sent out invites done on MicroSoft PictureIt! Hay bails and red streamers … Read more
Army birthday ideas and photos by: Jenni from Shawnee, KS Our five year old wanted to have an army birthday this year so we set our battle plan in action. I made up invitations with a camo background and a drill sergeant on the front, it read: “Ready Recruits? Sound off! I don’t know if … Read more
Cowboy birthday party ideas and photos by: Donna from Leechburg, PA My son’s and daughter’s birthdays are only two days apart, so we usually need to pick one theme that they both like. Last year, we decided on a Cowboy birthday party. I started by taking black & white pictures of them in their cowboy … Read more
Kids birthday party theme ideas and photos by: April from Cypress I threw this party together at the last minute so bare with me but I must say it went great! The kids birthday party theme was monster trucks so I made a monster truck cake to slightly resemble the obstacle course we did. It … Read more
Army theme party ideas and photos by: Christine from Palm City, FL A lot of my inspiration for this army party came from this website! What a great source of information! The fun started when the recruits arrived. They were issued dog tags and field glasses. A good game of tug-of-war with a muddy puddle … Read more
Cowboy party ideas and photos by: Sandra from Peoria, IL When our son Karl turned 4 the only choice for a party was a cowboy party. My mom made him a vest out of cow print fabric. To complete his outfit we went to Wall-mart and got a cowboy hat, holster and guns and a … Read more
Kids birthday party ideas and photos by: Tiffany from Surprise, AZ For my son Zane’s 5th birthday we gave him a military party. My son is very interested in the military and it only seemed appropriate to celebrate his kids birthday party with his favorite things. We received so many good party ideas from this … Read more
Ballerina party ideas and photos by: Ramiro from Miami, FL My daughter Marcella started taking ballet lessons and fell in love with the ballerina! So picking a theme this year for her birthday wasn’t hard at all! We decided to do an “only girls” party, that way the pink colors and tutus could be enjoyed … Read more
Creative party theme ideas and photos by: Molly from Santa Barbara, CA My son LOVES monsters, so his 4th birthday party was a MONSTER PARTY! To create this party I needed some creative party theme ideas. Invitations: We only invited 5 children so we figured making the invitations with our son wouldn’t be TOO time … Read more
Kids party ideas and photos by: Debbie from California There are so many cool kids party ideas for an army theme. Here is what we came up with for invitations: We wrote our invitations in Army slang – “Attention Marine Recruits! You are invited to Cody’s OOH-Rah 8th Marine Corps Boot Camp Birthday Party. If … Read more
My son wanted an airplane/soldier bday party for his 4th bday. I was inspired by ideas found online & in magazines, using several of them for his special day. I love hosting parties esp. themed ones. This was so much fun to put together & execute. Enlistment Orders for Army Invitations American Heroes invitations were … Read more
Barnyard birthday party ideas and photos by: Silvia from Miami, Florida At our barnyard party we had pony rides for the kids. The decorations were all made by me! Bandannas everywhere! The linens were bandannas sewn together. The centerpieces were real corn in buckets. I went to the nearest farm and they sold me the … Read more
Ducky party ideas and photos by: Laura from Mobile, AL We had a bubble maker going and had it outside on the back patio. So our guests would know we were back there we cut out duck feet prints out of orange poster board (mommy duck size and baby duck size) and taped them to … Read more
Knight party ideas and photos by: Caryn from Mackay, Australia We had a Knight birthday party for my son’s 9th birthday. On the invitations we wrote: “Calling all Knights & Wizards, a day of fun awaits you! Sir Troy is celebrating his 9th Birthday. Please join us at Spence Castle.” We had moved house a … Read more
Mario party ideas are few and far between! So I thought I’d post my ideas on here to share. All are original unless otherwise noted. The party was a HUGE success! Games for a Mario Bros. Birthday Party Every game was called a LEVEL – Level 1, Level 2, etc. * There was a Yoshio … Read more
Basketball party ideas and photos by: Maha from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia My 11 year old son wanted a basketball themed party. I printed out basketball invitations from this site and personalized them. I got favor bags from the dollar store and printed out basketball pictures and stuck them all over. I filled them with candy … Read more
Fear Factor Party ideas and photos by: Sandra from Peoria, IL My boys wanted a Fear Factor party for their birthday last year. I made the invites on our computer. The basic yellow and black from the Fear Factor logo, some clip art and all the important party info. The first game we played was … Read more
My son just turned 3 and we did a toy story party for him which was a huge hit. We did the following: Handmade Toy Story Invitations I hand made all the invitations. The front of the invitation was done like the upcoming Toy story 3 movie poster with it saying my husband and my … Read more
Birthday idea and photos by: Tabitha from Indianapolis, IN Our son couldn’t decide what type of party he would like for his 7th birthday, so we convinced him to let us surprise him with our birthday idea (we knew he would love). We chose a secret agent/spy party. He loves Spy Kids and Cody Banks, … Read more