So my son LOVES construction vehicles. For his 3rd bday party coming up, we have 4 boys invited (ages 3-6) and one girl age 9 (his cousin). I plan to just let the kids play outside on with bubbles and balls and sidewalk chalk and the swing set, etc while the 14 adults chit-chat and hang out outside with them (lots of room to roam outside. We live on a couple of acres).
I feel like I should have at least ONE game. But I am totally strapped for cash. I was thinking that maybe I could have the boys shovel a certain amount of dirt from one pile into a bucket (like a construction guy might do?) using plastic gardening tools. But then I reconsidered b/c then the kids would get real dirty just before eating dinner. They could decorate a plastic construction hat, but some boys wouldn't want to sit down and do that when they're outdoors with room to run, right? I want something that can double as a take-home gift for the kids who attend, but can't come up with anything other than letting them take the gardening shovel home, perhaps. Would love to hear your ideas.
(btw. I thought about a "pin the hard hat on the construction guy, but getting a big blown up construction guy isn't possible. I'm not artistic nor do I have a big projector to blow it up on a wall and trace it on big paper, which is what I did when I was a teacher to make a big poster).
GREAT ideas, ladies. THANK YOU! Not sure yet exactly which one we'll do. Probably the easiest/cheapest one I can figure out just in case they don't even play it. I appreciate all of your suggestions though, like you wouldn't believe. I've never put on a party before and I am such a people-pleaser that I want everything to go perfectly and have it be fun yet age appropriate yet make sure the parents like it, etc..... I appreciate y'alls help in de-stressing me and making a game or two very simple.
Crumple up a bunch of pieces of paper (or cut up some foam) as rocks. Then have each child "scoop" up as many rocks as they can with their arms and then run to a finish line. Child with the most rocks wins.
I would make the take-home gift a Bob The Builder coloring book and mini-crayons. I wouldn't overthink the party favor.
Can you afford a magnet? Attach the magnet to a string, and the string to a board or pole. Loosely bury "treasure" (or whatever metal objects you want to hide) in sand, box of rice or pasta (put rice/pasta in a big tub), and they can be the "crane" that picks up stuff. If you want to award prizes, mark a number or put a colored sticker on one or more of the hidden items, and the kids get the prize that is associated with the color/number.
My son just had his fourth birthday, I planned three games and none of the kids wanted to play the games they were more interested in playing whatever they wanted too. From that experience I would have to say I like the idea of decorating the construction hats, because they can do that when they get tired of running around. If they decide not to decorate it they still get to take home a hat.
We did a fun relay. I had a Hawaiian Lua theme so I called mine Hawaiian Vacation. I put 2 kids at one end of the ayrd and all the other kids in 2 lines at the other end, facing them. Next to the 2 "Vacationers" I put 2 buckets full of stuff you would wear. A calypso hat, giant sunglasses, a leigh , and a beach ball. The 2 lines of kids would take turns running down the yard and put one thing on thier kid , grab another item and run it back to the next person in line. That person runs down to put thier thing on and so on. You could do that in a construction theme with a hard hat, a tool belt, safety vest and tools. It makes for some hilarious pictures and the kids wanted to play over and over. Everyone wanted to be the guy getting dressed.
What about cutting some simple shapes out of felt or construction paper and having the kids create their own cars or trucks out of the shapes (using the Super Shapes idea from Team Ummi Zoomi on Nick Jr). That would give them a chance to be creative, while not costing you a lot.
As an aside, my son's 3rd birthday party was a month ago and we never even got to the planned game, the kids were way too busy running around and having fun outside. Have to LOVE spring in Texas!!!
If you get everyone one of those plastic pails and shovels - I'm sure the dollar store has them, you could fill a larger container with water and have them shovel water from the large container to their bucket (put their names on them) and whoever fills it first wins!!! It's HILARIOUS to watch
wow...I want to run this party for you! So many options available for fun!
Your idea for "Pin the Hard Hat" is excellent. All you need to do is take a poster board (<$1). Draw a stick figure...or cut out shapes to make a figure....or.....whatever works best for you. We're talking kids...it doesn't have to be perfect. The funnier looking it is ....the bigger hit it will be!! Or take a 8x10 photo of your son for the face....that's even better! The hard hats can be cut out of yellow poster board....a few black marker details....& you're done! Man, I want to play!!! This will be soooo much fun!
Another game which will get their energy out: construction zone. Hit the grocery store & get as many big boxes as you can. Do this for a couple of weeks & just pile them up. Let the kids build towers, forts, houses, etc. I guarantee they will love this game. It also helps to have family/friends pitch in & save their recycling for you. Oatmeal boxes, cereal boxes, etc all work great in this project! I do this periodically for my daycare....& used this for parties thru the years too. Best of all: zero cost, hours of fun, & recycle the boxes when you're done! If you have leftover paint, you can also paint the boxes a variety of colors....makes it look really cool.
Good Luck.....It's one of my fav party themes!
Try the Disney website under the party ideas for their shows. The Handy Manny site might have some ideas for you. Sounds like a fun party, best of luck!
Bring in a big pile of sand/dirt. Your son probably already has plenty of dump trucks. Put these along with shovels and pails in the dirt and let the kids go for it. Getting dirty is fun for kids and fun is the point. I am a party planner for kids and adult birthday parties, engagement parties and baby showers. Click my name to contact me if you want more help or personalized party paraphenelia.
I agree they may not want to play a game..but the relay race sounds good to me. If you can make some sort of fake rocks? Or even just buy some matchbox cars and use those..who says it needs to be all realistic-like? Have them relay race with the Little construction truck match box cars, on one of the Little shovels...walk the course or line you say...and dump it into a bucket at the end, then the next fella goes? Something simple like that? For the party favor, they each get the bucket with a few trucks and the shovel?
If you want to fancy it up...go to the craft store and spend $10-15 and get a pack of Paint Pens, and write their names on the buckets in a nice sort of writing, and put polka dots all about it...I can not draw but have decent printing and then I DOT all over them with the multi colors to make them look fun! I have done this with buckets and flower pots and all sorts of things for projects in my daycare.
Don't over think it....they won't!
Use (borrow) two pairs of salad tongs, cotton balls painted brown or gray for rocks, four bowls or buckets. It's a relay race: each team starts with their "rocks" in a bucket and has to transfer them to the other bucket a ways away using only the scooper arm (tongs) each person only taking one rock at a time and passing the scooper to the next person. The first team to get them to the other bucket wins! Or, if it's like our party, the kids had so much fun it ended up not being a "winning" sort of race, just a race for themselves and some wanted to do it over and over.
look for "bob the builder" free printables on the internet. Print off free construction coloring pages - put together your own coloring book to give each child - there are lots of free coloring pages on the internet. Little boys love matchbox cars - look at the dollar store for cheap cars to take home - hand them out at the party for the kids to play with.
