Birthday Party Activities for Kids of Varying Ages

I odnt know how hot it is there (we are still 100 here) but you could do some water activites (waterballon toss, water fight). I like the bubble idea. Egg tosses are always fun. Potato sack races I will try to think of some more and add :)

I've done:

-"tape" the tail on the donkey (found at the dollar store)
-"tape" the eye patch on the pirate
-Ball Toss (Target has inflatables that look like a guy in a baseball uniform and you try to throw the ball into his glove)
-Bowling (also from Target)
-Waterballoons
-Hoolahoop toss (take large rocks and tie a helium balloon to it (the string) so the balloon is just little bit in the air) and they try to toss the hoolahoop over the balloons)
-Kids horseshoes

I've also bought the foam visors from Michaels and a bunch of stickers and let the kids decorate them (we had a Scooby Doo theme so those are the stickers we used).

Pinatas can still be fun even at that age because now they make them with pull strings instead of having to hit them with bats :)

We did a plastic lizard/ bug hunt at a recent party and the kids had fun. You could have the older kids so something crafty with the little ones with all the critters they find?

Decorate cookies or cupcakes with frosting, string "cheerios" or "fruit loops" into necklaces (use dental floss it is much easier for the kids to use because it is stiff), collages with scrap wool and paper, decorate a party hat with stickers and glitter, play dough, crayons and coloring pages. You can download 1000s of coloring pages to suit the theme or age group. Does your party have a theme? Also you can get pinatas that have ribbons to pull instead of hitting it and you can fill it with homemade treats or cool non candy stuff. Put out big pieces of paper on the ground and just let them go crazy with crayons or if you are brave finger paint on their feet. Side walk chalk. Paint rocks. If you have a theme I can help you think of some stuff.

PS you should not have to entertain the older ones!

Next time consider taping up some boxes of various sizes and letting the kids just knock them down. My 3 and 5 year old loved the demolition aspect of this. We just tied a long pole onto our deck and a tether ball onto that. The kids could rebuild and knock down at will. They loved it. Have a few things set up where the little kids can just play and not real organized and have a few games for the older kids that like the competition aspect. Even enlist one or two of the older kids to help create the games for the older kids.

I had games ready to set up for my daughter's birthday (5) and the kids enjoyed popping balloons the most. It wasn't one of the games, but they just wanted to get out and run and have fun, rather than play my organized games. It depends on the age, I think.

With the older kids if you are in a house, maybe set up a Wii tourney or ping pong, bocce, something where they can just play and hang out, too.

an assortment of bubble wands and bubble liquid would be a simple way to entertain the younger ones (and maybe the older kids might be willing to make some huge bubbles for the little ones for a little bit of time?). If you have some open concrete patio space, sidewalk chalk can be entertaining for kids of all ages - we have boxes of sidewalk chalk out on the patio areas during our church retreat and even the high schoolers like to draw with it!