My son is turning 10 in November and he wanted to have a party at home with 10 of his friends. It's pretty cold here in November, so it would have to be inside or short lived outside. I haven't had an at home party in years so my brain is stuck on smaller kid games. Any suggestions?
By Emily S.
For my sons 10th birthday party, we had a football theme. I moved all the furniture in the living room back against the walls, or if you have a large area in your basement. We made yard lines of masking tape on the floor (goal line,10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 40, 30, 20 ,10, goal line). My son chose two NFL teams he liked and we divided up the names of the boys who were coming into these two teams. We made two huge posters with the last names of the boys and their age or birth date as their team number and taped them to the walls.
For jerseys, I took garbage bags and cut out holes for the head and arms. Using masking tape, we taped the last name and number on the garbage bags, the boys wore these for the party. For the other siblings and myself, we wore black shirts and taped white strips of paper on to represent referees, we also had whistles.
For games, we did relay races-works good for boys with lots of energy. Divide kids into their respective teams and line up at one end of the "field". On the whistle blow, one kids runs down the field and puts on 6 pairs of tube socks (either new, or your husbands, bigger is easier to put on), runs back, takes them all off one at a time, then the next team player puts them on (one at a time), gets up and runs down, touches the goal line and runs back. This goes on until one team finishes first, having gone through all their players. Give 10pts to the winning team.
Another game starts out the same, all team players at one end, one kid runs to the other goal line, puts on a large (dad's) sweatsuit (top and bottom), runs back to the team. The team then has to stuff as many balloons in the sweatsuit as they can.
Start the next game the same way, one kid runs down to the other goal line where a pile of boxes are waiting. The boxes should be different sizes, taped shut, and one of them has a round object rolling around in it (like a football, or baseball-it's to offset balance). The kid picks one box, runs back to the team and hands off to a player who then runs down, adds a box to his stack and runs back. This continues until one team gets all the boxes to their end first without dropping them. If they drop a box, they start back at the far goal line. 10 pts to the winner.
They can hold a football between the knees, waddle down to the other goal line, go around a chair, and waddle back, pass off the ball to the next team player. First team to go through all players gets 10 points. I did several relays like this and tallied the points, team with the most points was the winning team (no prize involved, just congratulations and high fives).
For a pinata, I cut heavy cardboard into the shape of a very large football, taped with shipping tape and filled with candy. I had the team players spread out on alternating yardlines and had them pass the football (which was very heavy with candy) back and forth until it finally broke. Paper lunch bags with their last name and number were used to put the candy in.
This party was some work, but thrifty and a lot of fun. I had done one similar before, but with a soccer theme and the boys were in training camp!
How about a sleepover? Pizza, movies, cake and icecream, and let them make their own fun. I don't think you have to overorganize with 10 year olds.
Emily, this is an old fashioned game, perhaps you remember it. Have the kids drop clothespins into a small neck container such as a jar or bottle. Take a chair and turn it backwards. Have them kneel on the seat and drop the clothespins without leaning over the back of the chair. Of course there is a little prize for the winner.
Make sure that everyone goes home with a little something from the party. Of course the dollar store is the place for the prizes! Serve hotdogs and let them put their own favorite condiments on them. This can take up a little of the time.
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My son is turning 10 on the 30 of December, but I want to give him a house party on the 4th of January. What games can I do?
By Nina from Chicago, IL
Paper airplane throwing contest, melon smashathon or makeover adults blindfolded
I am giving a party for my 10 year old son, however his friends are 11 and 12. I need to think of amusing things for them to do at his birthday party (just boys). It is winter and I live in Quebec, so there will be no activities outside. He has his wii, but I don't want then playing with that all day. Can somebody please give me suggestions before I pull my last hair out? lol
By Janet
When my son was that age, video game parties were the in thing to do. We mixed up a bit in that i would make pizza dough and have the sauce and stuff. The boys would smoosh out the dough on to the pans and put on sauce and toppings to their tastes.
We would also make a huge web of yarn, cut long (like 6 or 8 feet and put a candy at the end. Then wind the yarn around furniture and stuff into a huge "web," and let them follow it to find the candy.
My husband would take the runes from The Lord of the Rings books or Egyptian Hieroglyphics and make clues to find "treasure" which he made from rocks spray painted gold. He would make a 'key' of the runes so the boys could figure out their clues and search for the treasure.
On July 2nd my son Evan will turning 10 years old! He has already opened his gifts from me, a new bike and Xbox 360 games. I wanted to be sure he got something he deserved! Money is super tight, but I knew he needed a bike so badly! I am blessed to have him. We are having a swimming party at my sister's July 6th from 11am-3pm. It's Texas; so it will be hot. There is a nice porch with chairs and tables.
As for the food, goodie bags, and something to make it special and fun. I am low on ideas and need advice! I was thinking a game, Mad Lib, and some kind of questioner about him (that he could keep for memories). For food I was thinking something simple fast and interactive. Like family personal pizza night where each member makes their own pizza, but having to put each one in the oven wouldn't work too well, timewise. There will be about 22 people. I want this birthday to be awesomely amazing and I need some ideas to manage it without spending too much.
Please help!
If you have access to a grill, you could make burgers and franks and have different toppings. I am going to make piñata cupcakes for my granddaughters birthday. Just google it and there are recipes. Some are from scratch. Im using a boxed mix and canned frosting.
Do a Scavenger Hunt! In your yard or neighborhood if it can be trusted. They are super fun - kids love them. I did one for 10 year old twins and the kids loved it.
Go to jungle jacks or crash crawlies or go to play lazer tag then hit up chuckie cheeses after followed by a movie at the theater
A treasure hunt is a fun activity. You make up clues that people have to solve, leading them to the second clue, third clue, etc. About 4 is usually good. You have two teams, and the kids work together in their team to find their teams treasure. The treasures can be the same. When I did this with school children (I had 4 teams) in grade 2 the treasures were little toys like whistles or a chocolate bar, and the first team to find their treasure got an extra prize of a balloon each (but you could just have them have the glory of being first!! ha ha). You could make them have the treasure hunt to get their goodie bags, as far as that goes. I think if you do the swimming, and have lunch, and perhaps one other game (like a scavenger hunt or a treasure hunt), that will be plenty. Kids appreciate a party that is kind of laid back; it is a birthday party, not Disney World. Another activity that kids like is a water fight with water pistols. You could make the water pistols part of the goodie bags.
