Plan B for an Outdoor Birthday Party

We have friends who scheduled a pool party at their house...it rained that day for the first day in a month! Argh!!

So they took all of the kids bowling instead. It was a small party...6 girls total, but they had SO much fun! They also had a plan C of going to the movies.

A community center? A park with a pavilion?

Here is one idea that a neighbor used--though theirs was in their yard. Get a really large blue tarp that they sell at home stores and some rope. Tie the rope to the tarp and to tress. Now you have a cover. Of course, this will only work if there are trees close enough together.

I think it depends how many kids are coming. I mean if it's only like 6 or less, you can kind of play it by ear and tell the moms if it's raining that you can meet at the movies or (bowling or an indoor bounce place) but if it's a larger crowd that won't work. Is there a pavilion at the park you could reserve? So that if it does start raining you can hide out under there? Maybe you could have a piñata, some crafts in your back pocket, music to dance, a few board games. Otherwise I guess I'd look into a community center room but the thing with those is you'll have to probably reserve it and that will cost. I guess tell everyone to bring their umbrellas just in case! ;)

I have found that almost every business will require a reservation in advance if there is going to be a party. You cannot bring food or drinks into a business without their consent. So if you do decide to reschedule it you will not be able to do the cake and any other activities.

If you go bowling you will need to just take them and pay for the lanes and that's all. They wouldn't even let us do presents at my oldest grandson's birthday. We had reserved the area for parties and in a mix up they lost the reservation. We had a bunch of people show up and I had cake and drinks, they made us take them out of the building. I told them we had reservations but since they couldn't find it they said we didn't have one. So we just bowled and took the cake and stuff back home with us. It was still fun.

McDonald's, Burger King, any fast food place, they are going to charge you and they may already have a party going on where you can't even go on the playground.

So if it is raining I suggest the movies or some other activity but if you can't do it at the park you may not be able to do the cake, drinks, gifts, etc....

My son's party was at the park and there was a 40% chance of rain too, and we went and bought a pop up canopy for $100 (Wal-mart). We kept it in our trunk in case we needed it for rain and if we didin't we could return it. If there is a pavillion, even better (there wasn't for us). We didn't worry about the kids getting wet as they are boys and boys love getting wet and playing in the mud! We brought a bunch of towels in case of wet kids wanting to get dry. We just prepared for rain, except of course if it lightening, then we would go back to our house. But it never rained and we had a great day. Good Luck!

I had to look on your profile to see the age of your son - he's 6. How many people are invited? Bowling alley is always a great idea for that age....and easy clean up!

Our son will be 10 and we are having an outdoor adventure party, so we are planning on buying parkas if necessary. They can play outside and get a little wet. Boys LOVE that.

Arcade connected to a mini golf type of place. They have rooms.

Community center next to a park/library.

Skating rinks will let you rent a room if you want them to roller skate.

Take them to see a movie then go to a pizza place for lunch.