10yo birthday party ideas needed

[Robyn Kozierok]

We're having Ryan's 10th brithday in 2 weeks. He wants to have a party
at home. That's all we have figured out so far. We desperately need
some ideas. We've already scanned some of the large birthday party idea
websites to no avail. We've done some great Harry Potter and science
parties in the past, but we're all (including the likely guests, I'd
imagine) sick of those! We don't have any "birthday party entertainer"
types available (that I've been able to find anyhow) and Ryan wants
the party to be "home grown" anyhow.

We'll have a mix of boys and girls, mostly 8-12 years old. Probably
about 8-12 kids total. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!!

--Robyn

[Sue]

Hi Robin (I usually read mk unmoderated)

We have had wonderful success at our children's birthday parties when we
would make our own pizzas. We have a local pizza place that we buy the dough
and sauce from. DH then makes individual sized pizzas and I place out many
toppings and have the kids make their own pizza. It is a big hit around
here. What are some things that your son is into? What "character, movie or
sports does he like? You could go from there with a theme and work other
games into it. If your not opposed to having the party out of your house,
you could take a couple of his friend's to a baseball game or have a bowling
party. If it is still nice where you are, you could have a park party, so
they can run at the park and not at your house ;o) Good luck.
--
Sue
mom to three girls

Robyn Kozierok > wrote in message
...
>
> We're having Ryan's 10th brithday in 2 weeks. He wants to have a party
> at home. That's all we have figured out so far. We desperately need
> some ideas. We've already scanned some of the large birthday party idea
> websites to no avail. We've done some great Harry Potter and science
> parties in the past, but we're all (including the likely guests, I'd
> imagine) sick of those! We don't have any "birthday party entertainer"
> types available (that I've been able to find anyhow) and Ryan wants
> the party to be "home grown" anyhow.
>
> We'll have a mix of boys and girls, mostly 8-12 years old. Probably
> about 8-12 kids total. Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks in advance!!
>
> --Robyn
>

[Banty]

In article >, Sue says...
>
>Hi Robin (I usually read mk unmoderated)
>
>We have had wonderful success at our children's birthday parties when we
>would make our own pizzas. We have a local pizza place that we buy the dough
>and sauce from. DH then makes individual sized pizzas and I place out many
>toppings and have the kids make their own pizza. It is a big hit around
>here. What are some things that your son is into? What "character, movie or
>sports does he like? You could go from there with a theme and work other
>games into it. If your not opposed to having the party out of your house,
>you could take a couple of his friend's to a baseball game or have a bowling
>party. If it is still nice where you are, you could have a park party, so
>they can run at the park and not at your house ;o) Good luck.

I'll weigh in to say that I had a local pizza parlor do a make-your-own party
for my son's 10 y/o birthday party, and it was a big hit even with boys a couple
of years older.

Banty

[Iowacookiemom]

Henry's 9th birthday was a roller skating party -- I can't remember if it's
Ryan who broke his arms -- if not, then roller skating might be fun. They had
a ball at the roller rink and it wasn't that expensive.

His 8th was "come dressed as your favorite character from a book." They had a
lot of fun with that too. 10 might be too old for a dress-up party though.

That's all I can think of -- good luck!

-Dawn
Mom to Henry, 10

[Cathy Kearns]

We have a wood fired oven in our back yard.
Yeah, make your own pizza is a hit even with adults, just
go for the more esoteric toppings. Bring your own topping
parties are quite popular. We've even been able to get a good
sum of money for the local elementary school by auctioning
off make your own pizza party for up to 8 adults.
With 10 year old kids, you pretty much only need tomato
sauce, pesto sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and olives.


"Banty" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, Sue says...
> >
> >Hi Robin (I usually read mk unmoderated)
> >
> >We have had wonderful success at our children's birthday parties when we
> >would make our own pizzas. We have a local pizza place that we buy the
dough
> >and sauce from. DH then makes individual sized pizzas and I place out
many
> >toppings and have the kids make their own pizza. It is a big hit around
> >here. What are some things that your son is into? What "character, movie
or
> >sports does he like? You could go from there with a theme and work other
> >games into it. If your not opposed to having the party out of your house,
> >you could take a couple of his friend's to a baseball game or have a
bowling
> >party. If it is still nice where you are, you could have a park party, so
> >they can run at the park and not at your house ;o) Good luck.
>
> I'll weigh in to say that I had a local pizza parlor do a make-your-own
party
> for my son's 10 y/o birthday party, and it was a big hit even with boys a
couple
> of years older.
>
> Banty
>
>

[Karen G]

I don't know how long the party will be, but Bill and Ted's Excellent
Adventure is a pretty age appropriate movie that appeals to both genders
if you need a movie. There are plenty of themes to pick out of that
movie as well.

Karen G

[E]

Robyn Kozierok wrote:
> We're having Ryan's 10th birthday in 2 weeks. He wants to have a
> party at home. That's all we have figured out so far. We
> desperately need some ideas. We've already scanned some of the large
> birthday party idea websites to no avail. We've done some great
> Harry Potter and science parties in the past, but we're all
> (including the likely guests, I'd imagine) sick of those! We don't
> have any "birthday party entertainer" types available (that I've been
> able to find anyhow) and Ryan wants
> the party to be "home grown" anyhow.
>
> We'll have a mix of boys and girls, mostly 8-12 years old. Probably
> about 8-12 kids total. Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks in advance!!
>
> --Robyn

I haven't read the other posts yes, but one thing my kids and I have always
enjoyed were scavenger and treasure hunts. if you get enough well hidden
clues/items it will take a fair amount of time. It can also be customized
for whatever theme you might do.
--
Edith
oht nak

[Robyn Kozierok]

In article >,
chiam margalit > wrote:
(Robyn Kozierok) wrote in message
>...
>
>
>If it is still warm in the Frozen North, you might want to have a
>SuperSoaker party. My son went to one when he was 9 that he STILL
>talks about. It was evidentally very fun. The host gave everyone one
>of those huge SuperSoakers that hold like a litre of water, and they
>had a course set out all over their yard, which had a lot of both lawn
>and trees.

That is a cool idea! It's not reliably warm enough here in late
September to plan an outdoor water-based party like that (and what
if it rains?) and we have a little issue of a sibling in 2 casts
at the moment, but that's one to keep on the back burner for
another time.

Thanks,
--Robyn

[Robyn Kozierok]

In article >,
Sue > wrote:
>Hi Robin (I usually read mk unmoderated)
>
>We have had wonderful success at our children's birthday parties when we
>would make our own pizzas. We have a local pizza place that we buy the dough
>and sauce from. DH then makes individual sized pizzas and I place out many
>toppings and have the kids make their own pizza. It is a big hit around
>here.

He's already rejected "make your own pizza and sundaes" -- too "boring".


>What are some things that your son is into? What "character, movie or
>sports does he like?

Harry Potter, but we've done it to death! :)

>You could go from there with a theme and work other

I think we've decided not to have a theme, and just do some fun activities.
(Now we just have to think of them!)

--Robyn

[Scott Lindstrom]

Robyn Kozierok wrote:
> In article >,
> Sue > wrote:
>
>>Hi Robin (I usually read mk unmoderated)
>>
>>We have had wonderful success at our children's birthday parties when we
>>would make our own pizzas. We have a local pizza place that we buy the dough
>>and sauce from. DH then makes individual sized pizzas and I place out many
>>toppings and have the kids make their own pizza. It is a big hit around
>>here.
>
>
> He's already rejected "make your own pizza and sundaes" -- too "boring".
>

Ah yes, the perennial complaint of a 10-year-old ;)

DD's 10-y b-day was at the pool, one small advantage of a
July birthday. Her favorite birthday thing to do is a
sleepover. That's a lotta work for a parent though --
and a little shrill, at least for girls. There's usually
take-out pizza and VHS/DVD movie & popcorn involved.

I'm afraid I've no clue what's in for 10-yo boys, however.
Ask me in 3 years ;)

Scott DD 10 and DS 7

[Robyn Kozierok]

In article >,
Scott Lindstrom > wrote:

>Her favorite birthday thing to do is a
>sleepover. That's a lotta work for a parent though --
>and a little shrill, at least for girls. There's usually
>take-out pizza and VHS/DVD movie & popcorn involved.

With a mixed-sex, mixed-age group, I'm not up for a
sleepover. :) Besides, he's still at a stage where
he wants to invite lots of kids rather than a smaller
number of "best friends" which I would insist upon
for a sleepover.

He's coming up with a few ideas of activities he'd like to do,
so we're just going to do whatever mishmash of activities he
manages to come up with :)

Anyone have a suggestion for an egg-drop like activity that
doesn't actually involve breaking a bunch of eggs? We did
an egg drop at a prior year's "science" party, and he would like
to do one again, but I hate wasting food, and we never did find
a use for all those cracked eggs before we had to just throw
them out.

--Robyn

[Chris Himes]

(Robyn Kozierok) wrote in message >...
>
> I think we've decided not to have a theme, and just do some fun activities.
> (Now we just have to think of them!)
>

Our boys have loved treasure hunts of various kinds. Takes a little
work by the parents, though. We usually hide clues around the yard
and house where each clue is a riddle leading to the next spot. The
key is to get them going from front to back, in and out, so it takes a
while to finish. At the end we have had a buried treasure, a puzzle
to solve (each clue along the way had a letter that then had to be
unscrambled to make a phrase), etc. The end result is a bag of candy,
pinata, or a favorite last year, cans of silly string. We tried
capture the flag one year and that worked pretty well, too. Some here
have suggested peanut trails leading to treasure, that could work.

Our parties are usually pretty unstructured, a few games, the big
hunt, cake and ice cream, presents, and then just playing. We've done
the going to miniature golf and bowling with success, too.

Have fun,
Chris

[Penny Gaines]

Chris Himes wrote in >:

> Our boys have loved treasure hunts of various kinds. Takes a little
> work by the parents, though. We usually hide clues around the yard

One variation of a treasure hunt is to hide lots of letters: kids have to
find them all, and work out what they spell. (At our last party, for 7yos,
the letters spelt 'party'.) You can print them onto card, from a computer.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

[Chris Himes]

(Robyn Kozierok) wrote in message >...
>
> Anyone have a suggestion for an egg-drop like activity that
> doesn't actually involve breaking a bunch of eggs? We did
> an egg drop at a prior year's "science" party, and he would like
> to do one again, but I hate wasting food, and we never did find
> a use for all those cracked eggs before we had to just throw
> them out.

Our school participates in the Science Olympiad and has a big 6th
grade learning fair each year where everyone does some of the
activities. One favorite is "mystery architecture" where you give
groups of 2-3 kids a bag with straws, string, tape, some index cards,
and they have to make the tallest tower that will hold a tennis ball
at the top. Another is a balloon race, I've forgotten the exact
rules, but you have helium balloons and you tie weight to the strings,
the goal is to have your balloon reach the ceiling in the slowest
time. You could do an "egg lift" instead of an "egg drop"--make
something for the balloons to carry the eggs aloft.

Chris

[Tracey]

Banty wrote:

> I'll weigh in to say that I had a local pizza parlor do a make-your-own
> party for my son's 10 y/o birthday party, and it was a big hit even with
> boys a couple of years older.


This is what we are doing for my DD 7th birthday party next month. At first
she wanted a Chuck E Cheese party, but when I found out that a local pizza
place has a make-your-own deal for kids birthdays, she decided that the
pizza would be lots more fun. And I like it too (quieter, plus the pizza
place only charges $3. per child vs. $11.99 a CEC).

[Robyn Kozierok]

In article >,
Chris Himes > wrote:
(Robyn Kozierok) wrote in message
>...
>>
>> Anyone have a suggestion for an egg-drop like activity that
>> doesn't actually involve breaking a bunch of eggs?
>
>Our school participates in the Science Olympiad and has a big 6th
>grade learning fair each year where everyone does some of the
>activities. One favorite is "mystery architecture" where you give
>groups of 2-3 kids a bag with straws, string, tape, some index cards,
>and they have to make the tallest tower that will hold a tennis ball
>at the top. Another is a balloon race, I've forgotten the exact
>rules, but you have helium balloons and you tie weight to the strings,
>the goal is to have your balloon reach the ceiling in the slowest
>time. You could do an "egg lift" instead of an "egg drop"--make
>something for the balloons to carry the eggs aloft.
>

Thanks, those are cool ideas! Just what I was looking for.

--Robyn

[Chris Smith]

Chris Himes wrote:
> Our school participates in the Science Olympiad and has a big 6th
> grade learning fair each year where everyone does some of the
> activities. One favorite is "mystery architecture" where you give
> groups of 2-3 kids a bag with straws, string, tape, some index cards,
> and they have to make the tallest tower that will hold a tennis ball
> at the top. Another is a balloon race, I've forgotten the exact
> rules, but you have helium balloons and you tie weight to the strings,
> the goal is to have your balloon reach the ceiling in the slowest
> time. You could do an "egg lift" instead of an "egg drop"--make
> something for the balloons to carry the eggs aloft.

Hey, that's neat! I coach that activity for a homeschool support group
in town. Unfortunately, both of those two events (Mystery Arch and
Balloon Race) are gone this year. I really liked both of them.

--
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