Take advantage of good weather by hosting a birthday party in your backyard. Hosting the party outside typically allows for more space that can be used for decorations, games and other activities. It also still has the benefit of being at home, in case you need anything from the kitchen. Small children, teens and adults can all enjoy and benefit from outdoor birthday parties.
Themes
Simple backyard themes can include a beach party or luau, even if you don’t have a pool. Fill kiddie pools with sand and water to bring the beach to you, if necessary. Farm, circus, carnival or jungle themes are also fitting for the backyard. Other outdoor themes include dinosaurs, superheroes or even princess tea parties. Sports themes are easy to put together outside, such as baseball, football or street hockey.
Decorations
Decorate the backyard with balloons, streamers and large life-sized cardboard cutouts that complement the theme of the party, such as cows for a farm theme or lions for a circus theme. Blow up palm trees or beach balls for a luau or beach party. Large appliance boxes can be decorated as a ship for a pirate party, carousel for a circus or a barn for a farm theme. Set up picnic tables with bright table cloths. Your backyard shouldn’t need too many decorations.
Activities
Water gun freeze tag or water balloon tosses are appropriate for nearly any backyard birthday party. Carnival games, such as bean bag tosses or dunking booths can work for carnival or circus themes. Hide candy, stuffed animals, plastic eggs or other other goodies around the yard for a treasure hunt. Attach written clues or pictures to make it a scavenger hunt. Host water relay races, such as filling buckets or watering cans with water, and racing around in teams. Set up plastic 2-liter bottles for bowling with a plastic ball–or pineapples for a luau. Sports games or small tournaments work for sports-themed parties.
Food
Serve cool, juicy refreshments to keep your guests relaxes and hydrated. Cut up pineapples, watermelon, oranges and other fruit. Bite-sized sandwiches, crackers and pretzels are backyard favorites as well. To serve a more-filling menu, consider a classic barbecue with hot dogs and hamburgers. Set up concession stands with nachos, cotton candy, snow cones and other common concession snacks for a sports, carnival or circus party.
Considerations
Have a back-up plan in case the weather turns bad and an outside party won’t work. Younger kids typically enjoy animals, which makes a petting zoo with ponies, ducks, bunnies and other small animals feasible for a party theme revolved around animals. Keep extra sunscreen and water on-hand so none of your party guests get sunburned or dehydrated.
Photo Credit
- colourful air balloons. image by Igor Zhorov from Fotolia.com
