6-Year Old Birthday Party

The sooner the better on the invites! With the holidays coming up, people's calendars start to fill pretty quickly.

Considering the fact that you will be doing the party just before Thanksgiving, you could definitely do some fun activities that are indoors and seasonal.
- crafts that are appropriate for their age and could be decorations for Thanksgiving or a holiday gift (think decorated picture frames, mugs, wreaths, etc)
- If you have a basement with open space, consider doing a "fall festival" with bobbing for apples (or the donuts on a string), pinata, face painting, carnival snacks (popcorn, candy apples, hot cider)
- Traditional children's party games are always a hit- "pin the tail on the donkey", "red light/green light", bean bag toss, hoola hoop contest

Google "children's party games" and get creative!

**Also indicate whether or not parents are supposed to stay. If you would like families to attend, you could do a big thing of chili & cornbread for the adults and something equally as simple for the kiddos. If you do not want parents to stay, add something like.... "Mom and Dad, drop them off and get the last minute Thanksgiving preparations finished and we'll see you at 2:30!"

Definitely not too early to send out the invites. My girls and their friends enjoy doing craft projects so all of their b-day parties involved doing some sort of craft projects - you can get lots of ideas online (sites like http://www.familyfun.com and http://www.dltk-kids.com/ have many that use basic materials that you might already have around the house - paper plates, cardboard tubes from paper towels or toilet paper, empty cereal boxes, etc.). Paper bag puppets have always been a big hit - use lunch bag size paper bags and have an assortment of scrap wrapping paper, fabric, etc.

Games - pictionary is an easy and fun one - if you have a party theme, the words can all go with the theme (so if, for example, your theme was "Fall" you could have words like "leaves", "pumpkins", "halloween", etc.), Bingo is another - google "free online bingo card" and you'll find sites that will convert a word list of your choice into printable bingo cards.

Have fun!

I would send them out soon, especially with the holidays coming up and besides that, I feel like people are so busy anymore and weekends fill up fast!

I would pick a theme and then go from there as far as snacks and party games/activities. Pick something that your daughter is excited about and it will be easy to figure it out. You'd be surprised how much time just eating and opening presents can take up anyway! If you decide on a theme and still need suggestions let me know...I love theme parties and I'd be happy to throw some ideas your way!

For my son's 6th birthday party last spring I bought t-shirts and clothing paint, and let them paint their own shirts. They loved it, and it was a great party favor, too. My son is very artsy, so it was perfect for him, and everyone had a great time. There were only 6 kids, so it was managable. It might be difficult with a big group. My 12 year old son painted one also, and the boys sleep in them. It was really a lot of fun. Happy Birthday to your daughter!

I say 3 weeks prior to the party and have them RSVP one week prior to the party.

My son turned six this summer but it was raining so we had to do it inside. We did a pinata in the garage but if your basement is big enough you can do it inside. I had a couple of games planned out like red light, green light and simon says but I just ended up letting the kids play together and do whatever they wanted. I put a beginning time and end time (2 hours) on the invitation and parents just dropped the kids off. Then we just did cake and presents.

I had my daughter's 7th birthday at our house in September. We had a craft theme. The project the girls LOVED was doing spin art. I bought a salad spinner, paper plates and a variety of colors of paint you can squeeze out of small bottles. Place the paper plate in the salad spinner, squirt on 3-4 colors of paint, put on lid and spin. Very easy, no mess! It was a huge hit!!!

We also played some games where the girls could win small prizes...

-Who could Hula Hoop the longest.

-Have the kids stand or sit in a circle, play music, pass a beanbag, whoever is holding the beanbag is out when the music stops. The last person left wins a prize.

Also some time for free play.

Send out invitations about 2 weeks in advance.