• Bake your brownies
• Once the brownies have cooled, let kids use a plastic knife to cut them into small squares
• Next, have them load the brownies into the back of a large toy dump truck.
• Frost the brownies and then cover with crumbled Oreos cookies. Add gummy worms and they have the big haul of the day!

Another alternative to birthday cakes, Fruit Kebabs provide a healthy alternative.

• Buy different types of melons.
• Cut off the top and bottom so it doesn’t roll around. Place flat on plate.
• Slice up bananas and other large fruit (apples, pears, oranges)
• Let kids make kebabs with skewers

The kids will have fun making them and eating them too.

Serve the cake in sand pails.

Ingredients

• Box of yellow or white cake mix

• Can of frosting

Steps

• Purchase small pails with shovels for each guest.
• Bake a yellow or white cake.
• Cut the cake into squares and fill the pails with two squares of cake.
• Cover the cake with white frosting and then cover frosting with crumbled graham crackers – you now have a pail of sand for dessert!
• For girls, you can add an artificial flower to the sand and add a bouncy ball for boys.

• Use pictures for the youngest partygoers. If some kids are still learning to read, seeing a picture of the next clue helps them know where to go.
• Create a map. For a treasure hunt, write each clue  on pieces of paper that fit together to form a map. When all the clues are found, kids use the map to find the treasure.
• Incorporate the birthday boy or girl’s favorite character (Disney or Sesame Street Characters) on the clues and prizes.

For More: Birthday Party Ideas

Put Out the Fire

Create targets that look like fire and have kids throw water balloons at it to ‘put out the fire.’

Supplies:

- 1 large cardboard box and strong scissors

- Red and orange paint to create the look of the flame

- 2 oversized waterproof buckets

- Duct Tape

- Enough water balloons so each kid will have three to toss

1. Create a homemade target with a large water bucket and faux cardboard flames:

• Use scissors to cut out enough “flames” to duct-tape onto two large buckets. You want two sets of flames for each bucket: tall flames that will be duct-taped to the back of the bucket (make the ‘flames’ twice as high as the bucket) and one set of flames to be duct-taped on the front of the bucket (make this set of ‘flames’ only as high as the lip of the bucket so the water balloons will fall in).
• Paint the cardboard cutout flames with red and orange paint to make them look like fire, then allow the paint to dry completely.
• Use duct tape to attach the taller set of flames to the back of the bucket, and the short set of flames to the front. Repeat for the second bucket, and now you have two sets of targets.

2. Line kids up into two teams ten – twenty feet away from the buckets (each team should have its respective bucket).

3. Give each kids 3 water balloons to throw at the fire targets.

4. Keep tally of how many times the team hits the fire bullseye, and whichever team hit’s the fire the most with water balloons wins.

Birthday party ideas include:

1. Lots of silver and gold balloons to show Mom or Dad that they’re aging gracefully.

2. A big birthday cake that has depictions of things that were popular when they were teenagers in the 60s and 70s.

3. Mood music from the 1970s

Birthday gift ideas include:

1. A new watch for him, some fancy jewelry for her.

2. A new golf set for him, a fashion magazine subscription for her.

3. Gift certificates for high-class dining experiences.

Whatever you plan to do for a birthday party, you’ll surely make it special no matter the birthday party decoration or birthday gift!

For your daughters, try out a Princess-themed birthday party. Give your child’s friends plastic tiaras and even roses for their hair to wear throughout the party. Birthday party games for this theme include Disney Princess trivia games, pin the tail on the magical horse, or even a waltz competition. Her birthday party decorations can include lots of silver, pink, tulle, and butterflies.

For your sons, try out a car-themed birthday party. The birthday party decorations will be a piece of cake: just adorn the walls with car cut-outs and vintage license plates. And, more awesome, for the birthday cake, try your creativity out and you can either make a cake shaped like a car (with candy trimmings) or a chocolate circular cake to be a tire.

1. Some people say giving your child chocolate birthday cakes is a bad idea because they may acquire chocolate allergies. So, we suggest making a carrot cake, a delicious, healthy option that children, and adults alike, will eat up.

2. Party hats. No party is complete without these, and, besides, how cute do babies look with a hat on?

3. Toys. While it’s your child’s first birthday, chances are s/he and his/her friends won’t be playing Bingo. So, just prepare a play area with lots of stuffed animals and other toys for kids to play with.

Be prepared with a camera — this is a celebration worthy of photo albums.