Construction Party

Last week my eldest son celebrated his 4th birthday with a Construction themed birthday party.

The entrance to our house was decorated with road signs, hard hats and caution tape.

 

On arrival the children collected their hard hat (yellow for boys and pink for girls) and reported to the Site Manager for duty.

The party decorations were centred around construction colours of black, yellow and orange.  I hung streamers and pom pom from the light fittings.  The pom pom were easy and cheap to make...

...as were the 'road signs' from orange cardboard such as 'Danger Kids at Work', 'Canteen', 'Speed Limit 4'.  You could get these professionally printed but I was happy to make them myself.

To finish the decorations I used construction trucks my boys already had to decorate inside and out and bought a few extras from Aldi and Kmart when they were on special.

Oops...I nearly forgot the balloons and Caution tape.

Food was a priority for the hungry workers and there was plenty to eat at the 'Canteen'.

Sweet treats included Jellygnite Cups...

Chocolate Crackle Boulders...

...and Construction Cookies.

The table centrepiece was the Construction Cake that was decorated with honeycomb boulders and little construction workers.

I made this 'Workers Den' out of 3 old boxes I had in our attic from when we moved house last year.  I simply cut out windows and a door and attached the roof to the top with a lookout for the taller children.

As part of their 'work duties' the children had to paint their workers cottage.  Things got a bit messy but they had a ball.

Here is the finished product!

The theme continued with a game of 'Pin the Arm on the Crane'.  I found a picture of a crane on the internet, had it blown up at Officeworks and cut out the arms from coloured cardboard.  A cheap and fun game for the kids.

I think there may have been a bit of peeking from under the blindfold here!

I wanted to keep the games 'construction themed' so instead of Pass the Parcel we played Pass the Toolbox.  The children got to choose a special goodie from the box when the music stopped on them. They loved it!

To finish the day the children were each given a bag of Construction Cookies from Ollie as a thank you.

My Tips for a Successful Kids Party

1.  Kids parties don't need to be seriously expensive.  Choose a theme and research before the party date.  Pinterest is a great source of inspiration!

2.  Get creative with paper for decorations and use toys you have at home to decorate in your chosen theme.

3.  You don't need to spend a fortune on hiring entertainment for your party.  Think about modifying traditional party games such as 'pass the parcel' and 'pin the tail on the donkey' to mirror your theme.

4.  Make a mix of healthy food and treats the kids will enjoy rather than the predictable potato chips, lollies and fairy bread.  Use fun and colour themed labels, containers and straws to make food exciting and interesting to kids.  

5.  Why not try making your own party favours.  For example, bake your own cookies and top with a home printed bag topper.