Throwing a Birthday Party Soon?

“Ready, set, goooo!” I yelled my hardest, even with my newly 5-year-old pulling at my sundress in shy terror. Soon she was relaxed and joining in the fun, though. Who can resist a rag-tag line of children, wrapped in pillowcases, hopping their little hearts out in the sand? Not her.

But for at least the opener of her beach birthday party, my poor daughter hid from the first, “Hello and happy birthday!” through the circle time and on into games. I was glad my sundress was merely a cover-up for a bathing suit underneath. Otherwise  I would have been a little less cheerful at her nearly pulling it off.

Make that seemingly cheerful.

But what was I to do with all those little faces looking at me, the faces who’d dared to be lured into a circle and games I led? I tried to give comfort, I did. But this had been what she wanted all these years past when we’d kept the gatherings small. And besides the show (which I imagined to be a mini-Survivor with myself as the host) must go on.

By the water balloon-toss, I’d lost the cover-up so she had less to hide in. And by the sack race, my Birthday Girl finally had her game face on. She was in.

So early bumps aside, our day of fun, sand, and sea could only be perfect and lovely by the end. I was glad I'd started the day off with the a circle-time and games, many of which I got from a sweet book I picked up at the in Encinitas called The Birthday Book.

This book has great ideas for activities and birthday celebrations for every age. Perhaps I shouldn’t have skipped the section about temperaments and gone right for the games, though. There I would have read that my five-year-old shares traits with, “Melanie… intelligent and observant, with lots of ideas about how things should go,” and that a fairytale may go over better than too much participatory circle-time. Live and learn.

But if you have a party coming up soon and are searching for a way to make the gathering a bit more  fun, I recommend picking up The Birthday Book. Even if you won’t throw a bash this year, there are ideas on everything from card-making to family rituals that make the day more special. I still look forward to chapters about old birthday traditions and birthday stories to tell.

To start you off, here’s a few ideas for birthday activities from the book and elsewhere, divided by age groups. Party on!

Younger than 2 years old:

We’ve not done parties this young but it is recommended to plan nothing for toddlers. Some pillows, toys, sand and water-play are perfect for a very small gathering so as not to over-stimulate.

For games, stick to very simple circle songs like “Ring Around the Rosie” and “Round the Mulberry Bush”, with adults leading the way.

Ages 3 to 4:

To begin the party so everyone settles in, it can be nice to start with a simple craft as guests arrive, like water-coloring, bread-dough rolling, or clay-molding--again, keep it small. Imitation is key at this age, so adults should be ready and available to join in.

For my daughter’s third party at a park, all we did was put out pipe cleaners on a child’s table and everyone was thrilled. If you want to do games, more circle and action songs work well, as does “follow the leader” and parachute (or sheet) play.

Other games for the older ones in this range include “hide and seek” and “pat the pan”, where one child is blindfolded in the center of the circle and uses a tapping stick to find the pan in the center and win the prize underneath.

Ages 5 to 6: 

These gatherings can begin with some dress-up, cake decoration, and even paper-folding (The Birthday Book has a terrific pattern for folding party-hats). Scavenger hunts also begin to be fun at these ages.

It’s advised that kids know each other’s names at a party by now, so you might want to include a naming game. Try having each person in a circle say their name and that they’d like to switch places with X (person to their right), which they do. This goes along until everyone has had their name called at least once. Sack races, water-balloon tosses and egg-on-a-spoon races are also fun for these groups.

Ages 7 to 8: 

Crafts and hunts to start with can get more complicated now, like folding paper airplanes and butterflies and fairy-tale play.

Games like energetic relay races and mystery games are big hits at these ages. Another terrific opener is the game where a tangle of string-lines gets unraveled to find gifts hanging along the lines in paper bags.

Ages 9 to 10: 

Making friendship bracelets, windmills, tie-dying and folding candle boats to float in a tub are all fun ways to begin with these older ones.

Also try blindfolded games like Catch the Cat, King’s Treasure and piñatas.