Age characteristics
After 9 years of going to birthday parties and having hosted them, children know exactly what they want at this point, so consult with your child about what party theme they would like and what they would like to do. As they get older, they begin to feel very grown up about parties. They like to show off and compete and have a desire to win in games that involve active participation.
Guest list
Invite schoolmates and friends. Some children prefer to only have children of their own sex at their party. Since as they get older, children typically tend to have one intimate group of friends, the guest list might not even be that large. And parents need not be at the party.
Length of party
2 -2 ½ hours
Entertainment for age
Girly things such as spa, manicure, dress-up for girls parties are great since the girls love to feel grown up at this age. You don’t even have to hire a professional, buy a couple of nail polishes, mud masks, and clean out your closet full of old clothes you don’t even wear and tell them it’s vintage clothing. They’ll have a blast trying things on!
For boy parties, physical activities, including attending a sporting event with friends are great. Create your own little league in the back yard, or make dad take the boys to a basketball game.
Good music, fun pickup foods and a DJ Emcee helps to insure the success of a party at this age. Dance games with lots of prizes help to keep the dance floor filled. A strolling entertainer, such as a sleight of hand magician, works well to entertain those kids that shy away from the dance floor.
Games & Activities
Relay Races
Scavenger Hunt Relay Races
Sack Race
Lip Sinc Contest
Karaoke
Safety for age
Make sure to have all the phone numbers of the guests’ parents.
Science Party
Birthday Child’s Starring Role
This is a day dedicated to your child, so pick a role that suits them. Would they like to come as head scientist? Maybe they are a little older and understand the concept of a “mad scientist.” Your activities will revolve around science and nature.
Send out your invitations well in advance!
Party Settings
Try to arrange for a room or tour at your local science museum or nature center. If you can’t do this, set up science experiments and articles of nature in one room in your home and lead the children on a tour of your own. Pick up a few science kitsfor kids at your local toy store and you may have a party in a few boxes.
Transform your kitchen into a lab by covering surfaces with plastic white table cloths, then set out a variety of glass jars, vases and pitchers, ingredients, and measuring tools for mixing potions.
Party Fun & Games
Accessorize all the kids with safety goggles and rubber gloves before they begin their fun activities. If you want to take the extra mile, get white lab coats for the guests, or simply cut up large over sized white t-shirts down the front and you have yourself a very nice lab coat.
Incorporate the theme of your day into a scavenger hunt. Provide clues that coordinate with the displays at the science center or the exhibit you’ve arranged at your home.
If you don’t mind the messy route, try some of these easy experiments.
Eruption in a Bottle
1. Pour warm water into a plastic bottle until it’s three-quarters full.
2. Add some drops of food coloring and 1/4 cup of vinegar.
3. With a funnel, quickly add a heaping teaspoon of baking soda. Instantly, the mixture will fizz and overflow from the bottle.
Color Collisions
1. Pour some milk into a bowl.
2. Add a drop of food coloring.
3. Pour a small amount of dishwashing soap into another bowl. Dip a toothpick into the soap, then into the drop of food coloring floating in the milk. The drop of coloring will instantly spread into a ring, repelled by the soap. For another fun experiment, try adding drops of several food colors to a single bowl of milk.
For more fun and easy science experiments to do at home, visit www.sciencebob.com for a laundry list of innexpensive projects that you can do at your party.
Party Leader
Find someone who knows the facts when it comes to science and nature. There should be someone on staff at the center who can help out. Otherwise, enlist a science teacher from your child’s school to lend a hand.
Party Menu
Use Lab equipment to serve your food items and use food coloring to make the colors of food more intense and fun. Empty pixy sticks into clear test tubes. Serve juice or milk inside measuring flasks. Pour pop rocks into the kids drinks just before serving them so that they will start popping. Have kids build their own pizza by giving them a pre-made crust and providing an assortment of ingredients that they can top their pizza with.
Party Tunes
This is an opportunity for your child to really become involved in planning their party. Suggest that they put together a mix of music that will be fun to hear on their day.
Party Finale
The entire day will revolve around the discovery at the end of the scavenger hunt. Try to incorporate the science theme into the finding. Could the goodies be stashed in the hollow of a tree trunk or in a beaver’s dam (artificial of course)?
Birthday Presents & Favors
You may have sparked an interest in science and nature with some of your guests. Perpetuate their enthusiasm with a book about science or nature.
Party Tips
Make clear to your party professional that this is a day in which science and nature should be as much fun as possible. Then encourage them with suggestions for an interactive and educational program.
