Beach kids
Everyone loves hanging out at the beach. An indoor beach-themed birthday party can bring the beach fun to your home or party location. With careful selection of activities, decorations, treats and music, a beach-themed party can be a hit for any kids of any age group. An indoor beach party for a winter birthday is a special way to break out of the winter blues. Does this Spark an idea?
Invitations
Invitations set the tone for the special beach-themed birthday event. Cut construction paper into different beach shapes, like a pair of sunglasses, a beach ball or a colorful towel with a beach design. Announce the event on the front of the invitation. Use the back for important party information, as in the honoree, date, place and time.
Write the information on the inside of a large clam shell or on an inflatable beach ball or toy. Using words phrases like "Dress: beach attire" livens up the party expectations and fun.
Decorations
Bright bold beach towels can be used as table clothes and furniture covers. Different sized buckets with shovels can be used as serving bowls for pretzels, chips and Goldfish crackers. Sprinkle a bit of sand, a few shells, sand dollars and a starfish on a mirror tile for a centerpiece. Decorate the entryway with a surf board and beach chairs. If your indoor space is safe for throwing beach balls, add some as this may quickly become an activity for the children.
Float blue (to represent sea water) helium-filled balloons from the ceiling of the party room. Attach white ribbon to each balloon with a plastic sea creature tied to the ribbon. This will give your room an underwater feel.
A piece of blue butcher paper attached to a wall can be both a decoration and an entry activity. Before the party, draw the outline of a variety of fish, sea anemones and other underwater sea creatures. As the children arrive, provide crayons or sidewalk chalk to color the underwater scene. This will make a great backdrop for pictures of your guests that can be sent as thank-you notes.
Beach Boys or Hawaiian music transport your guests to the beach. Add Chubby Checker's "Limbo Rock" to the music set for a fun activity. Have a pole ready, but let the music invite guests to limbo.
Activities
Create a treasure map that leads to a hidden treasure goody bag for each guest. Decide whether you want to provide one treasure map for the entire group or individual maps for each guest. Place age-appropriate beach items in each bag. Young children love sunglasses, goggles, bags of Goldfish crackers, and buckets and shovels. Older kids enjoy lip gloss, marbles, sunscreen, shell- and fish-molded chocolates. Disposable cameras provide fun pictures throughout the party.
For young children, create several centers of different activities. If you plan to have center-based activities, be sure to include parents in the invitation. Let parents know that you expect them to help their child with the activities.
Fill a child's pool with sand, beach toys and shells, starfish and sand dollars for a great beach exploration. Fill another pool with water and plastic fish, each numbered with a permanent marker. When children catch a fish with a fish net, they can get a prize that corresponds with the number on the fish. Hang a sheet in a doorway, with a person and lots of gifts, hding behind it. Let children use a fishing pole with a clothes pin hook to catch prizes.
Painting large rocks with beach scenes can also be a fun activity.
Find an adult willing to dress as a pirate and enter the party just before lighting the candles of the birthday cake. The pirate can even deliver the cake and ice cream. Let the pirate lead in sing "Happy Birthday." Make sure someone takes lots of pictures of the pirate with the kids.
Older kids may enjoy ending the party by laughing at the teens of the sixties in the original Beach Party movie made in 1963 starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon. Barney has a Beach Party video out for the younger ones.
Food for Beach Themed Birthday Party
Teach children to make a hot octopus. Slice a hot dog with a 1-inch head and eight legs. When you gently heat the hot dogs, the legs will curl to make a cute octopus. Serve with a shell pasta salad.
You may choose, too, to have a Hawaiian luau, complete with kabobs made of pineapple, marinated steak or chicken, peppers, onions and cherry tomatoes. A fruit salad, served in a watermelon rind, will be a big hit with party guests.
Decorate the birthday cake to reflect the beach or have kids can cupcakes as a mini beach. Cover cupcakes with white frosting and then sprinkle with vanilla wafer cookie crumbs for sand. Add a Gummy Bear to a 1-inch piece of Fruit Roll-Ups to create a beach scene. A small paper umbrella and a gumball beach ball complete the scene.
Tags: beach ball, beach-themed birthday, birthday cake, each guest, Goldfish crackers, kids enjoy