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Ideas for Outdoor Kids' Birthday Parties
by Michael Dance
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Overview
Big birthday parties are a hallmark of childhood, but as an adult, it can be hard to gauge what will work and what won't. Are twelve-year-olds too old for Pin the Tail on the Donkey? (Yes.) Will Duck, Duck, Goose ever go out of style? (No.) Should you plan a lot of activities or just let the kids run wild? (The former.) Luckily, if you're strapped for ideas on what to do, there are plenty of possibilities to choose from and adapt to suit your own party's needs.
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Advice
Unstructured time is a worse idea than you might think. For one thing, it changes it from a party into just any other day, but more importantly, some of the shyer kids will be completely left out. Come up with activities that include everyone and don't end with one definitive "winner," and if you must have prizes, give them to everyone.
If you're not sure if the games you're coming up with are age-appropriate, ask your child what he or she thinks. And finally, set a time limit: two hours or so for younger kids and three or four hours for kids eight and up.
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Backyard Games
Kids often can't agree on what to do, so they're always up for trying a game they might not have done before. All of these games are time tested and good for groups:
Kick the Can: This is a hybrid of hide-and-seek and tag with a tin can. The can is "home base," and the kids who's "it" guards it while the other kids go hide. Whoever's "it" tries to find and tag everyone, while the hiders' goal is to sneak past and "kick the can."
Sink or Swim: This game has dozens of different names, but the idea is the same. There are two safe zones at opposite ends of a large rectangular "ocean." When you shout, "Sink or swim!" the players try to run from one safe zone to the other without getting tagged by one or more main taggers in the ocean.
Capture the Flag: Split up your yard into two halves and the kids into two teams, each with a flag. If a player goes on the other team's side, she can get tagged, which sends her to jail. She can only escape if a member of her own team comes and tags her. The goal is for one team to capture the other team's flag and bring it back to their own side.
Water balloon toss: This requires a good deal of preparation filling balloons with water, so make sure to stop the kids from turning it into a water balloon fight, which will last all of two minutes before they run out of balloons. Pair off the kids and have them toss the water balloons to each other, taking a step backwards after each toss. The last pair to break their balloon wins.
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Relay Races
Relay races are a great idea for parties because they involve everyone and come in hundreds of different variations. The basic idea: two teams line up, and when you shout "Go," the kids at the front of the line run around a lap (or to another side where more members of their team are waiting). When they get there, they slap their teammate's hand or do some kind of hand-off, and it's that teammate's turn. When all of one team's teammates have participated, that team wins.
One popular variation on the relay race is the egg relay: instead of running, teams walk as fast as they can while carrying an egg on a spoon. If the egg drops, the team either loses or gets a five-second penalty while you give them another egg. Another version is the balloon pass, in which kids have to carry a balloon between their legs. When the last person on the team finishes, she pops the balloon and wins.
