Ideas Needed for 6Yr Old Son B-day Party

Katherine,
Are you close to the Dayton area? The Boonshoft Museam hosts birthday partys and they are fantastic!!! Rollandia Golf center also does birthday partys or there is Pump It Up - which is nothing but the bouncy areas for kids! Good Luck!

I love planning birthday parties so I have an idea for you that I think that your son will like. I planned this party for my two year old last year but I don't think they enjoyed it as much as a group of six year olds would. Anyway, I had a "dig in the dirt" party. My husband took some 2x4s and created a big rectangle box. We filled it with sand... I think real dirt would be even cooler. We then hid a bunch of toys in the sand and had the kids dig in the dirt to find their party favors. We supplied buckets and shovels for everyone to put their "finds" in. We hid trucks, dinosaurs, plastic snakes, etc. You could bury hidden treasure for a Pirate theme. We also provided hard hats, which can be found online or at a party store. I also made individual dirt pudding in flower pots for each child.

The party was a success and I think your 6 year old and his friends would love a dig in the dirt/buried treasure/dinosaur dig party.

Not sure where you're located, but I know that Worthington Community Center has swimming parties. You rent their "fishbowl" room for gifts/cake portion and then pay so much per child for the swimming. My understanding is that it's not badly priced, and it's pretty easy to find decorations that are pirate or dinosaur themed. And I'm sure other community centers might have similar deals.

The other thing that springs to mind (and this isn't especially refreshing, so take it with a grain of salt) is that McDonald's Happy Meal Theme last I was there was "Pirates and Princesses." Really cute, especially if you'll be inviting girls from his class or other activities. I don't know if they'd work with you on incorporating that into the party theme, though. I've not done or been to a party there. Or maybe you could borrow the idea and take it to a different venue. You could find a park with a playground, rent a shelter and do picnic foods.

Downtown Columbus has the Santa Maria replica ship and they do pirate theme b-day parties.

A pirate themed pool party? Sprinklers on high, cheap plastic kiddy pool, water balloons. You can find pirate things in a party store I'm sure, I've seen things in Wal-mart because of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Good luck.

K.,

We had my sons 9th birthday party at a roller rink, Skatetown USA. They have a few different packages. The kids had a blast! I also thought it was very reasonable.

A. Noe
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If expense is not a problem there is Chucky Cheese, a trip to the zoo, or the museum, or even a trip to the local theater if there is a movie for children available (the Danville theater has birthday party package deals). A trip to McDonalds, etc.

I personally think those are very expensive for a child's party and could never understand the idea of trying to outdo the neighbor's, family members etc.

We did a lot of picnic at the park type things or parties at home.

We made a spider web with small gifts hidden, tied with a string and a a clothes pin. Wrapped the string around furniture etc with the small cheap toy hidden at the other end, musical chairs, balloon pop, pin the mustashe on the pirate, carry the hard boiled egg with hands tied behind your back in a spoon held in your mouth to the other end of the room, ball toss into the containers at different distances, etc., with small prizes for the winner and then, weather permitting allowed them to play whatever kind of ball game they most enjoyed, softball, soccor, baseball, for a little while. We hooked up the sprinkler and had the smaller of the pools available for them to run through and a slip and slide available to be used as well. The kids had a blast.

At that age you can pick up cheap prizes at dollar stores, like a bag of lizards, etc. for the spider web, a pack of dinosaurs, balls, army men, etc. to hand out. If you want to go with a pirate theme you can get bags of eye patches, etc. at the dollar stores or almost any of the discount stores.

The nice thing about some of the games is they can be played at the park or at home and the children all had a good time.

I am not sure where you are located, but there are several "Pump It Up" places throughout Ohio. I know there are some in other states, too. We had a Pump it Up party for our son and the kids loved it. Also, if you have a local community center (we belong to Westlake Rec Center) that has a pool, they usually allow you to have swim parties. I know ours does. Another fun place to have a party is at the bowling alley. Kids love the bumper bowling.

In Lima, OH there is a place called Squirty Worm, and it has outdoor mini-golf, go carts, bumper boats, etc... and in the building they have games similar to Chuck-e-cheese, but much cheaper. They also have pizza/food available. It is on Robb Ave.
If you are near Dayton, OH, then I would reccomend Boonshoft museum.

My son wants a pirate party for his 6th birthday this summer. Like all our birthday parties it will be at our house in the backyard (I love summer birthdays -- no need to rent a place!). We're going to have a big cardboard trunk (he'll help decorate it) full of pirate dress-up clothes. I'm starting to scour garage sales now. We'll still do what we did in past years and have a slip 'n slide, sprinkler, water guns and water balloons. My husband will be making some water balloon launchers to act like canons and we'll decorate the wooden play structure like a pirate ship. Each child will have a plastic sword to take home and a small cardboard treasure chest full of candy/toys as a party favor.

I just got done with a "bug" party for my 5 year old son. I got some ideas and bought some things from Oriental Trading. I'm sure they have toys/candy for dinosaurs/pirates/pool party. I also googled bug party and got to a website with other parents telling about their parties and the games/food they had. I had the party at my home with 12 of his preschool friends.

We had our son's 6th birthday at Chuck e Cheese. He had his 5th birthday at Young's Jersey Dairy, Yellow Springs with the Treasure Chest theme. They did a scavinger hunt, had eye patches and cupcakes with a surprise of cream inside. They did a great job and it was $11 a child. Check out their website if your interested.

If you want to do the swimming idea you can always check out your local YMCA. I work for the Y in Fort Wayne, IN and I know we often rent out the pool and a conference room for birthday parties. My girls have had their party there many times! There is a cost involved but it varies so it might be worth a phone call anyway! Above all, just have fun with it!

visit familyfun.com - they have tons of creative yet easy-to-do birthday party ideas - I'm planning one for my 8 year old right now using ideas from that site!

Maybe you could have a pirate theme for the party. That would probably be really fun. You could make paper hats and swords for the kids out of construction paper. You could make eye patches out of extra fabric and construction paper. Then you could send the kids on a treasure hunt looking for things around the house or in the yard.

You could probably copy pictures from the internet to make a list and then give a list to each child. They could look for a smooth rock, a piece of mulch or stick, dandalion, etc. You could have them look around to find things that are certain colors, shapes, or count up to a certain number of the same object.

The parents could help the kids out. It could be fun for the whole family. You could leave pictures of clues to lead to the next object to find. Or... you could hold a list of clues in your hand with numbers on each page. As the children find a clue they have to run as fast as they can back to you to get the next clue sheet.

Then once they all get to the treasure they could pick out things you can buy from the dollar store such as match box cars, balloons, bubbles, crayons-markers, marbles, play-doh, etc. Each person could recieve a gift for being first, second, third, fourth, etc in finding the treasure. Then they could all receive party-participation gifts.

That sounds like so much fun I kind of wish my kids were older so we could do it. My kids think pirates are funny since they always say "Arg" on the cartoons. They run around with shorts on their heads covering one eye saying "Arg".

-S.

What about a pirate birthday with friends? Maybe you could have a treasure hunt. We did that here once and the kids just loved it. I would keep the event relaxed and as stress free as possible, that's for sure. We had a cookout when we had our treasure hunt. Try to pick up cheap swords and such so that everyone can act like pirates. Shannon G.

My son is very into pirates so for his 4th birthday last June we had a pirate come to our house to entertain the kids. It wasn't very expensive. She was there for about 50 minutes and did some games with the kids, balloons and face painting. I don't know where you live but if you want her info, I can give it to you. (They do also have boy pirates but at 4 my son didn't care!)

My son turns six next month. He has been begging for a bowling party (he never bowls, but a friend had theirs there last year). So that's what we're doing. Where are you located? There's a Pirate themed Laser Tag place on Beechmont Avenue in Cincinnati called Scallywag Tag that does parties.

I have done pirate parties for both my boys. One at home in the backyard (June birthday) and one on the Nautica Queen (late October birthday). You didn't say where you are (there seems to be a pretty broad range on this board), but the Cleveland area has tons for boys. I have done the sprinkler/backyard thing (see other posts for detail, mine was pretty much the same). My little one's birthday is in the fall and I did his pirate party on the Nautica Queen. they have pirate cruises about once a month and we just booked a big table on one of them. We felt compelled to invite a parent with each child because of safety, so we didnt invite his whole class, but there were plenty of kids. They have a pirate (Captain Willie) who does songs and games and a big parade with all the kids. They also serve a decent enough lunch. Kids get some prizes from the ship as well, so you don't need to do goody bags. All I did was the treasure chest cake (PM me for instructions, it's too much to get into now...).

There's also a place in the Bedford area called American Bouncers. We had both boys parties there last year (our kitchen was torn up for about 5 months). There's a bouncy place in Mentor, too, but I don't know anything about their parties.

HTH,
H.

There is a place called Pump It Up, in Avon and Middleburg Hts, they are really awesome inflatables and you could do a pirate theme.

there's a fun place in indianapolis called bouncer town-- full of those big bounce houses and slides like they have at the fair. they also have lots of arcade games and skiball. but i have no idea if there's one where you live... anyway that's one idea.

my son really wants to have his birthday party at the park. we're going to rent a shelter and let the kids play at the playground. easy, cheap, fun!

How about a pirate theme? Very easy to find things to decorate with at the card shop/Target/WalMart/etc...also, I made a beach cake for my daughter's 7th birthday and you could easily make that for his and just decorate it with more pirate things (treasure boxes, swords, etc). I got the idea from the internet. Just type in Pirate Birthday Cake Ideas and you will have sooo many to choose from. I found gummy "Pirates of the Carribean" (like fruit snacks) at Meijer and used that on her cake. Anyway, you can really use your imagination and it was a blast. Have a fun party. A.

Medina rec center will let you have a pool party or you could look into Amazone that is out on rt 18 and 71. When my daughter was about that age I hired one of those places that you can hirer where they where a costume. The ideas are endless. Good luck!!!

We bought an inflatable water slide, and it was the best investment. It is great for birthday parties. You can get one at Costco that has a double slide. The best part is that they will take it as a return if it gets damaged.

Last year we did a dance party and gave out glow necklaces as party favors. The kids had a blast. When they didnt' want to dance, they would go outside on the water slide.

My sister attended a b-day party with her son around the same age...

They hired the Mad Scientist - everyone loved it and I don't think it was that expensive.

Hi K., We've been to some fun parties. One was at a place that sells outdoor playsets (Playground World) that was set up indoors. We have been to roller skating parties and bowling parties. They were all fun! Hope this helps. God Bless! N. L.

http://www.pumpitupparty.com/oh/miamisburg/party-packages...

Here is a link to a place that does birthday parties that have like the bouncy slides and stuff like that.
It is in miamisburg.
Hope your son has a fun filled birthday.

You didn't say when his birthday is. See if you can find an inflatable pirate ship. They make those things in ALL kinds of fun shapes, etc for kids. Have a pirate theme. Do a scavenger hunt for treasure. Make the list short & easy. You can use gold coin chocolate candy or....even go to Chucke Cheese and buy tokens if you wanted to spend the $$. Play pin the sword on the pirate or something of that nature and you could even make your own pirate if you're creative. Let each of the kids wear eye patches and ask them to come in pirate gear.
You COULD tie this in w/ swimming too.

Have the party at a local junior high or high school in door pool (if they allow) or even a clubhouse if it's too early or cold for outdoors. ALL kinds of fun things to do with that theme. You can STILL do a treasure hunt, maybe do some homework on luaus. They are PHENOMINAL! Lots of traditions, games, etc. associated with them.