Son Turning 6, What Type of Birthday Party to Have

Why not have a sports party? You can actually rent out baseball, football and soccer fields in Mesa for very little money. If you go on the City of Mesa website they have the prices for the fields under the Parks and Recreation section. Since his birthday is in May it will be starting to get warm, but you can have them play baseball with water balloons and put up shade canopies. You could even rent a shaved ice machine and have snow cones after the game. You can have Cracker Jacks, peanuts and popcorn in bowls on a table or also rent a popcorn machine and serve freshly popped popcorn. Fill ice chests with water bottles, gatorades, etc. and have pizza delivered to the park. Decorate with his favorite team colors or if you are picking a specific sport such as soccer, decorate in black and white. For goody bags, fill empty water bottles with candy, sport tatoos, whistles, etc. and write each child's name on the bottle with a paint marker. If you go to orientaltrading.com you can buy this stuff in bulk and spend a lot less. If you have more money to spend divide the guests into teams and have different colored shirts for each team (the same colors of the party?) You could put the number "6" on the back of the shirts or put each child's name, but that can get really pricey. Just some thoughts, just let me know if you need more ideas!

Hey J.. All those ideas are great and if you'd like to have a outdoor sports party, and want someone else to run the party and take care providing the equipment and activities I would invite you to consider J.'s Party Pad. We have a gigantic inflatable sports party that is a ton of fun. Huge basketball hoop, soccer net and ball, football goals, and even oversized golf clubs. Just another idea. Our packages are flexible to allow you to do as much or as little as you want to do. Visit our website at www.jenniferspartypad.com or call to set up a time to meet for a tour. ###-###-####. Good luck and have fun!

I've done several park parties,and the weather is perfect for it right now! Plus, you have the added benefit of not having your house completely annhialated by a bunch of 6 yr olds! (LOL) If he's into sports, you might have a sports theme - football shaped cake, maybe, or decorate a round cake like a baseball or soccer ball and have sporty goody bags and stuff. You might also be able to still find some superbowl stuff on clearance in the party stores. It would be a lot cheaper than buying a party package at an entertainment venue! Plan out some games that revolve around sports and maybe figure out some kind of obstacle race involving different sports (eg - kick this soccer ball around this pylon, then run here and throw this football through this hula hoop....etc). Park parties are great because they provide so much room and so much opportunity for creativity. My kids have always enjoyed going to the park for their birthdays!

ps - reading your responses, I LOVE the stadium rental lady's ideas! Think I might steal some of those!! :P

i read in one of the parenting books a place called sneakertime.com they go were ever you want them to and they set up the sports and outdoor activities and then they clean up the mess. I am going to have them for my sons party in april. Couldnt tell you if they are good or not yet. check out their website. good luck

If your looking to go to a facility to do a party try The Little Gym. They do great bday parties (especially for very active kiddos). The staff takes care of everything, you just provide the cake, paper goods and the kids. www.thelittlegym.com

Hi J., We are having a football party this month for my 7 year old. Target has some sports things for party favors that are $1. I made the birthday invitations: a football shape with another shape on top that openes up. The face of the card, I went to a scrapbooking store and got paper that looked like a football,punch holes in it and put yarn to look like the laces. When you open up the invite, it has a white piece of paper glued on (football shape) with all of the information for the party that I typed on the computer: "Kick off to a 7th Birthday party; Stadium: Park; Touch down: Saturday, etc. We are just going to do snacks and have fun games: pass the football over your head then under your legs (race against two teams); throw the football through the hoop; relay race; volleyball with a blow-up football. You can vary these things if you do any other sport or many sports. Do a search on the web for free ideas, children's sports parties and you can find other parents who have written in with ideas! FUn, fun!

Hi J.,

Just wanted to give a few ideas. My son is 6 and has been to a few birthday parties this year. His absolute favorite has been the inflatable play places like Pump it Up and Bounce U. He hasn't tired of it one bit. I also found The Play Factory when I was looking for a place, but not sure if it's open in Mesa yet. http://www.playfactoryparty.com/
We also went to a party at a park called Playtopia. It think it's off of Germaan and McQueen. I thought it was a great place for a party. Best of all free, except for maybe reserving the covered picnic tables.
I thought the other ideas were great for having a sports party. Hope your son has a great party.

C.

My friends son is turning 5 next week and they are holding the birthday party at Makuta's<sp> Island. I guess it was very reasonable in price to reserve a birthday party. I have never been there but have heard good things.

I also discovered the great place off of Main and 56th between Recker and Higley called Bounce Party. They have the huge blow up slides and jumpers all indoors, which is nice as it is starting to get warmer. I took my son and his friend and they played for 2 hours straight. I finally had to tell them it was time to go home or they would have been there all day.