Three Themed Parties Kids Will Love

I have wonderful memories of my childhood birthday parties. My mom loved hosting and did a great job of making each year special, usually on a specific theme. There was my “Little Mermaid” birthday party, where we bounced around on a waterbed, pretending it was a stormy ocean. Or the “Candy Land” birthday party, where we turned our house into a life-sized Candy Land board (thanks to reams of colorful construction paper!).

My dad decorated the cake, and my grandma decorated the sugar cookies

One of my favorites was the “Mystery Menu” dinner party, where the entire menu was encoded, and you didn’t know exactly what you were ordering. Naturally, this led to some hilarious moments – if, for example, someone ended up ordering pudding but no utensils!

But I also loved one of my high school parties where my friends and I just hung out at home, playing games like Exquisite Corpse.

You don’t have to “go big or go home” for every party. But if your child has a birthday coming up, here is some party-planning inspiration – particularly if they’re into dinosaurs, Pokémon or Taylor Swift.

And one bonus birthday tip: Sign your kid up for the FREE TulsaKids Birthday Club! You’ll get party-planning discounts plus fun freebies in your inbox on their special day. Join today at tulsakids.com/birthday-club

Dinosaur Party

Use these rawr-some ideas to throw a dino-mite dino party!

Dino Dig Activity:

Fill a plastic kiddie pool with sand. Bury plastic jewels, seashells, dinosaur skeletons, etc., in the sand.

Give each kid a plastic bucket/basket with a plastic shovel, rake and cheap paint brushes. Let them dig and see what they uncover!

Pro Tips

• Many of these items can be purchased at your local dollar store.
• This activity can easily be moved inside the garage in the event of rain. Just put a tarp underneath the pool for easy clean-up.

These bright baskets filled with digging tools double as a fun party favor

Menu:

• Mashed potato volcanoes: Assemble plates of mashed potatoes shaped to look like volcanoes. Decorate the volcano with dino nuggets and broccoli “trees.” Finally, ladle gravy into the top of the volcano so it can flow down the sides. Each child gets a pre-assembled plate.
• Dinosaur cake: There are many fun ways to decorate a dinosaur-themed cake! Reasor’s is a good place to start. 

Additional Party Inspiration:

• Purchase cardboard dinosaur masks, feet and hats the guests can wear (look for dinosaur party hats with spikes – they can be worn as tails!).
• Wal-Mart and other retailers may carry “dinosaur eggs” that kids can excavate to uncover a dinosaur.

Pokémon Party

If your kid’s “gotta catch ‘em all,” you can’t go wrong with Pika-choosing a playful Pokémon party theme.

Pokéball Painting Activity + Scavenger Hunt:

Purchase plastic balls that separate in the middle (the type you’d find in gumball machines). Let the guests decorate them using paint markers. Will they make a basic Pokéball, a master ball or ultra ball…? So many possibilities!

Next, hide small Pokémon figurines around the house. Make sure there’s enough for each kid to have one. Let them hunt for their partner Pokémon, which can live in its new Pokéball! These both double as party favors.

Pro tip

• Make sure your Pokéballs are large enough for the Pokémon figures to fit into, as both come in various sizes.

Menu:

• Cupcakes: Keep it simple by ordering plastic Pokémon rings that can be added to the tops of colorful cupcakes.
• Pokéball fruit platter: Place a small bowl of fruit dip in the middle of a large, round platter. Add a line of blueberries running across the platter and around the fruit dip. Fill the space above the blueberries with strawberries, and below the blueberries with marshmallows or banana slices.
• Pokéball pizza: Decorate a cheese pizza with olives and pepperoni so that it resembles a Pokéball. (This could double as an activity if you let each kid make their own personal pizza.)

Party Favors

• Pokémon cards, of course! Ask your local Buy Nothing group if anyone has extra Pokémon cards they no longer need. Chances are, they will. If not, you can buy individual Pokémon cards for 10 cents each at places like Vintage Stock or Oinkers Island. Give each child a few cards, and they can even have fun trading them at the party. You could also buy booster packs, depending on your budget, and maybe a cardboard card box to put them in.

Additional Party Inspiration:

• Other activities can include playing the Pokémon card game, Pokémon Mad Libs, painting or drawing Pokémon, etc.
• Many Pokémon are fairly easy to draw and paint. Create your own party décor by painting Pokémon and hanging them on the walls. Better yet, let the birthday child help!

Taylor Swift Party

This one is for all the Swfities out there – of any age!

Activities:

• Make friendship bracelets.
• Dress up with Taylor Swift tattoos, face glitter and jewels.
• Taylor Swift karaoke
• Taylor Swift trivia
• Guess that Taylor Swift song
• Dance party – Turn on the Eras Tour movie or create a Taylor Swift playlist ahead of time.
• Polaroid photo booth station – You can either use an actual Polaroid camera, or make a cardboard frame designed to look like the outline of a Polaroid picture.

Menu:

• Chicken tender roll-ups: Make a spread of Ranch dressing, cream cheese and cheddar cheese (blended to taste). Spread the mixture on a large tortilla. Add cooked, breaded chicken strips, lettuce and/or additional veggies. Roll up the wrap and cut into 1” slices. Use toothpicks to hold the rolls together. (From Betty Casey’s Editors’ Blog at tulsakids.com/blog)
• Red velvet cake/cupcakes
• Friendship bracelet fruit skewers: Create skewers with fruit and marshmallows. Place the fruit on the ends, with the marshmallows in the middle. Use an edible food color pen to write each party guest’s name on the marshmallows (one capital letter per marshmallow) so they resemble lettered beads.
• (Milk)shake it off: Blend up your favorite milkshakes!

Party Favors:

• Heart-shaped sunglasses
• Disco ball keychains
• Friendship bracelets 

Additional Party Inspiration:

• Google party ideas for specific Taylor Swift albums. Use these to inspire your color scheme and décor.