Son Turning 7!

I have found that my 6 & 7 year olds entertain themselves when they have friends over. I planned a party at home for my oldest birthday, had everything planned and we didn't do any of it. They boys all just played together until it was time for pizza and cake.

You could try a tie dye party. I heard that these are a hit. Each boy could bring a white t-shirt and you can provide the rubber bands and dye. Center a theme around a craft or activity.

One of the best parties I have thrown for boys was a "pirate" party. You wouldn't have to do a pirate theme but basically what I did was set up an old fashioned treasure hunt in the yard and house. We also always do a pinata, which you can make yourself for next to nothing. These parties take a little more effort but the kids love it. I filled the treasure box with dollar store trinkets. If it's warm enough, you could fill it with small sqirt guns that are already filled and they will go right into a squirt gun fight. Good luck!

I'm not sure about the area where you live (country vs. city vs. subdivision) but my kids and their cousins love to do scavenger hunts. You could print off a list of things to find and just give the kids bags to collect their items. You could just buy some inexpensive prizes or treats from a dollar store. Have fun!

Pick and theme and plan activities accordingly.

Superheros, rock-star, bugs...

Print out coloring pages, do a pin the pick on the guitar or the blaster on the superhero...

Feed them and open presents.

Or, since they are older, you could plan some sort of project. (or is that too girly?). Like, decorate a bug cage or something.

Really, kids are pretty happy to just play.

If you want to keep the party simple, maybe you could take your son out to pick out a few movies from the video store, pick up pizza, ice cream, cake and have a movie and popcorn night with the kids. They can come over mid-day and leave right before bedtime. Kepping it simple is what really counts. I think your son would appreciate you asking for his input as well. Hope this helps.

K.

Hi C.,

Looks like you got some good ideas allready, but I didn't see one thing. My son will be 10 in Sept. and every year we have his b-day parties here at home. We own a bounce house and we put it up every year, but the one thing the kids love is we set up an obstacle course. The kids love it and the party is a success. There are several ways you could set it up. If you would like some suggestions feel free and email me.

Good Luck and have fun,
S.

If you live in a nice kid-friendly neighborhood, you could send them on a scavenger hunt and use your neighbors to give the kids clues. You could also do a fear factor theme, the sky is the limit with this theme, from bobbing for apples in a tub full of goldfish or putting your hand in a jar full of crickets to pull out $1.00 in change to gargling with Listerine for 30 seconds and then sucking on a lemon. All boys like these kind of things. You could also just play normal games like musical chairs, egg toss, ballon pop, and have them decorate their own personal pizza and have a variety of toppings available. I have 5 children all under the age of 12 so we have just about done it all. Good Luck and Happy Birthday to your son!

have a carnival. look on gooogle for kid games. like rap the mummmy using tp. guess whats in the brown papaer bag. using jello and pudding and put plastic snake or bugs, balloon t0ss. different things like that.

C., how about a treasure hunt in the back yard?? You can plant clues at different areas with a treasure chest at the end. Dollar store items are great to fill the chest. L.

Check out FamilyFun.com - they always have great party ideas that include games, decorations, crafts, food, and themed cakes you can make on your own. We've always done at-home parties. They take a little work and planning but the kids love them and have a great time, for a lot less money than going someplace. Have fun!

Make a pinata...my kids love that. A scavenger hunt is fun also. Maybe you could even do a craft. An hour isn't really that much time when you have that many kids to coral.

Hi C.,

I would check out Familyfun.com They have lots of fun ideas to do for birthday partys. Stuff that you can make at home and itsn't to much. Depending on the weather, do something with water. When my daughter turned 5 we had a big water balloon fight, and it wasn't the kids that got into it as much as the adults, but it was so much fun and all the kids loved it. I just put on the invite water balloon fight, please bring change of clothes that there would be a water balloon fight. I'm sure there is nothing more that 7/8 year old boys would reather do then throw water balloons at each other. You can also come up with some games with them too. But it does take awhile to fill them, so if you do get some help and give your self time. We did it the night before and put them in some big laundry tubs then used the wagon to move them into the backyard. Good luck! Also if you do that you may want to make a goodie bag for who ever finds the most pieces at the end of the party! That way it's a game to pick up as well :D Have fun!

Pirate treasure hunts are fun. You can do it at a park or at home.

my son had a "nerf gun" party around that age.
all the boys brought over their favorite nerf, and they played for hours!

My son turns seven in June. Last year (and I plan to do the same this year) we had backyard games. We did water balloon toss, and a relay with teams where you had to fill up a 5 gal bucket with water by taking turns running down with a smaller bucket. I gave out small prizes like water guns, candy and pens - dollar store stuff. Since we had prizes, I didn't do goody bags. Pinatas are fun too and you can make your own with newspaper, a balloon, glue and water. If all the boys are around 7, you could do 3-legged race, wheelbarrow races, have other toys out like soccer balls, frisbees, etc. Scaveger hunts or treasure hunts are fun too and the treasure can be the boys goody gift. It doesn't have to cost much to have fun!!!!

I had a little party for my daughter this past summer. I too was on a tight budget. I had some water games planned out but it rained so we were stuck in the basement!

Instead, I did a little spoon race...ping pong ball in place of an egg. The kids LOVED this. I don't know why but they thought it was totally funny. There was no pirze given just bragging rights. I divided them into teams an let them go around the "track".

I also had some of those giant balloons at the end of rubberbands (dollar store 3 or 4 to a pack) that kept them busy the whole party. We took a brake for pizza. I also had little snacks on the table for them.

You could do a little scavenger hunt to find their goodie bags.

When it was time for their cake I had them sing and did the whole candle thing. Then I had them play a musical pass the ball game while cake was being cut and plated. Each time one of them was out they got to go sit at the table and wait for their cake.

Then we did gifts and they went back to those silly balloons!

I had kids there from age 2 up to 11 and they all had a good time. I was actually suprised they had so much fun!

Our party was longer than an hour so you probably won't need to do that much. The dollar store or Walmart usually has great party toys/games. I got one of those pin the nose on the clown game. I even played w/them...they loved that! We spun each kid the number age they were (i fell over a few times while spinning). I would have oldest go first (they feel for where the other stickers are!)

Hope this helped, have fun!

My son turned 7 this year and we did a "Mad Science" party and our home and it was so fun. All the boys loved it and we had about 10 kids. There is a company that will come to your house and she brings all of the experiments and the kids get to help make things and they get to make a super bouncy ball and some slime. It was a huge hit and I was able to find lots of party ideas for food and goody bags. If you want more info send me a message and I would be happy to help. Best of luck.