Summer birthday party ideas

In case I didn’t make it clear yesterday, I love my birthday. In fact, I love all birthdays. I think it’s important that we celebrate family and friends on that day, if only to tell them “hey, I’m glad you were born”. And I think it’s perfectly acceptable to, on your birthday, tell everyone and anyone because “happy birthday” are nice words to hear.

One of the things I love the most about my birthday is the fact that it falls in June. June is a spectacular month to have been born. Now, I’m not knocking all the other months, but there is something special about being born in June. I think it’s the combination of school ending, summer starting, the days getting longer…everything. And another bonus? Birthday parties are super cheap!

As a kid, almost every single birthday party I had, save for my bat mitzvah, was outside in my parents backyard (or a sleepover party). Since they had a pool, it made for an easy set-up. Some cake, chips and soda, balloons, a volleyball net and we were good to go. When I was really little, they even had a magician come to one of my parties (it was actually pretty cool. I was 6, I think. He gave me a bunny tail. True story). It was also nice because I didn’t have to be as discriminating in who I could invite; I could ask my whole class or, as I got older, all of my random friends from different circles without excluding anyone. Let me just say that kids from all those different cliques made for some interesting parties.

I was always a pretty boring kid so my parties never really had a theme. It was just me and my friends, swimming, listening to music, watching movies…all that good stuff. But let’s say you have a kid who’s a little more exciting than me. What kinds of themes can you have for an outdoor birthday  that are fun, kid friendly and won’t break the bank? Here are a few ideas:

• Pirate party–I totally stole this from a Fancy Nancy book, but it’s a great idea. You have the kids come dressed in pirate costumes, send treasure map invitations, decorate the backyard with signs that say “Walk the Plank”, have the kids go on a treasure hunt or play cannonball toss and serve pirate themed food like Shark’s Blood Punch. 
• Sports/Olympics party–This is a little simpler. For this, you break the guests into different teams and have them compete against each other in games like egg toss, obstacle courses (the dizzy bat is a must), soccer shoot outs, etc. The teams accrue points and then, at the end, you can give out prizes to the winning teams, MVP on each team, best sportsmanship…things like that. It’s fun, physically active and then you don’t feel so bad plying them with cake and juice.
• Garden tea party–A party mainly for girls, this is quite a fun alternative to a traditional backyard birthday party. The guests come dressed in their fanciest dress, like they would going to high tea. Food consists of finger sandwiches and fancy desserts, and the decor is flowery and girly. One interesting addition to a party like this is edible tea cups. After all, who wouldn’t love to finish their tea and then eat the cup?
• Drive-in theater party–This one might be a bit more expensive, particularly if you have to rent equipment but I’m sure there’s a way to do it cheaply as well (hanging a sheet as a screen, borrowing a projector from a friend). At a party like this, you have the kids watch a movie outdoors and you serve traditional movie theater food like popcorn, soda and M&Ms. If you want to get really creative, you can create a concession stand and hand out fake money with the birthday child’s face on it. I’m not quite sure how you would decorate for this, but it would definitely be a memorable party.