Fun Kids' Birthday Party Theme Ideas

Bubbles and balloons won’t last forever, but these birthday party memories will. Set kids loose with lots of bubble-making tools for fun that won’t disappear when the bubbles pop. When kids tire of bubbles, they will be ready for party food that carries out the birthday party theme.

• Party Invitation: Inflate a plain balloon, but don’t knot it. Write the party details on the balloon’s surface with a soft-tip permanent marker, then carefully deflate. To read the invitation, guests must blow up the balloon.
• Party Decorations: Give balloons a little flair by attaching simple crepe-paper circles and stripes with double-stick tape. It’s easy to make dots and fun shapes using paper punches. Scatter helium-filled balloons in bunches around the party area. Keep them from flying away with weights made of bubble bottles.
• Party Activities: Premix bubble soap by combining 2/3 cup dishwashing soap, 1 gallon water, and 2 or 3 tablespoons of glycerin. Let the kids loose to blow bubbles in the backyard and have a contest for the biggest, the fastest flyer, and the longest lived.
• Party Food: Serve two-bite burgers on miniature rolls. For the birthday cake, create a tower of glazed doughnut holes. Pipe colored icing between carefully stacked layers as the tower’s “glue.” Add dots of icing to the top and finish with a dash of sprinkles.
• Party Favors: Send kids home with their very own balloons and bubbles. Attach a jar of bubbles to the balloon’s string and add a round name tag. Bubbles and balloons can be found at party supply stores and discount stores or online. Rent a helium tank to fill the balloons.

Explore these outdoor kids’ party games and activities.

Go for the gold. Celebrate your little sports star’s special birthday with an Olympics theme. Friendly competition will make this birthday party theme a real winner.

• Party Invitation: Send out a pennant-shape invite to get kids in the team spirit. Write the party details on a triangular piece of paper and glue to a chopstick. Mail in a letter-size envelope to all participating athletes.
• Party Decorations: Create the Olympic rings by attaching five Hula-Hoops together. Set up an awards-platform photo op by arranging kids on milk crates for gold, silver, and bronze.
• Party Activities: Organize three to five Summer Olympics events: A water-balloon shot put, shoe-box hurdles, Frisbee discus, badminton, and a somersault tumbling contest all make perfect backyard games.
• Party Food: Fuel contestants with fish and chips or bangers and mash (sausages and potatoes). Then serve ring-shape cookies, iced with blue, yellow, black, green, and red frosting.
• Party Favors: Congratulate kids with homemade trophies. Fill a small box with chocolate coins and seal it with a gold-medal sticker. Glue a plastic athlete figurine on top and hand out at the closing ceremony.