HELP! Birthday party for 7yo twin boys

[kellia]

My twin sons are tuning 7 years old in a month! This will be our first "friend" party for them and I am clueless. I have an older dd, so I am a pro at girl parties in July, but boys in the winter when they are stuck in my house?? What can we do that won't cost a fortune? Any suggestions for party favors or games for 1st graders? Do you do just cake and ice cream or lunch, too? I'd love to have the party elsewhere, but there aren't a lot of options around here this time of year.

Also I need help with the "twin" part. My sons are in different classes at school. Any suggestions for how to pick the guests? Let them each pick a certain number? (And how many boys is a good number?) With dd, we always invited all the girls in her class, but with them that would be 27 boys, so that can't happen because with my luck, they'd all show up! What do I do about boys that they are both friends with, like their cub scout friends? I can't ask them to bring 2 gifts, but other kids just one, I'm just not sure how to handle that or word the invitations!

Hope I didn't ramble too much, I would greatly appreciate any suggestions! I'm ready for Christmas, so I guess I am on to stress about the next big thing coming up!

 

[hipchickie]

I haven't hosted one myself, but my son has had some friends have a 1/2 sleepover party. Kids come over a little later (if you are on a tight budget you could do after dinner and just serve cake and ice cream, or you could include pizza for dinner) Then the kids have popcorn and watch a movie, and go home at 9-10

My son has a winter birthday and the last couple years we have had a sledding party - kids LOVE it, I am sorry we spent so much money on paint your own pottery/ indoor water park/ other amazingly expensive thing before we started that. This year we are going to make our own skating rink too, if kids have skates the can have a friendly hockey game or whatever.

Every town is different too, in our town you can rent the grange blg., or the town park (ours has a skating rink)

What are your boys into? That was about the age my son got into nerf darts, and if I simply invited 10 kids and let them go crazy with nerf darts for a couple hours in my house, they would be in heaven.

Last note - you decide the guest list and split it in half.Decide what you are doing first, figure how many kids you can afford and mentally handle and go from there

 

[lonegirl]

I am doing my son's 7th bday tomorrow! We are having a science party, with tons of experiments, and only 10 boys total. My DH will do some experiments while they all watch, then they will move among 4 stations for individual experiments that they can make/take home. I did the shopping today and I only spent $150 for all the materials, right down to the plates/napkins, etc. I found so much info at birthdaypartyideas.com and stevespanglerscience.com

Our invite was simply a beaker shape on cardstock, I bought safety goggles online for 1.50 each, and the rest of the favors are they things they make at the party (water bottle half full of colored water, half full of oil, shake and they don't mix--density)

And food is simply a cupcake that they will frost themselves after experimenting with making the ugliest color, plus some ice cream and a juice box.

 

[Poohbug]

Parties in Winter can be hard. The sledding idea is great but you never really know if it will be good sledding weather. Sometimes no snow, sometimes the snow is too deep. Right now the temps are 15-20 below windchill-not so good for playing outside.

Sometimes you can rent a room at a hotel for a party and use the pool for the day. The kids can burn some energy but it is not as expensive as a water park.

 

[redshoes]

My oldest (he's 7 too!) just went to a Star Wars Movie Party. It was a huge hit. The kids were encouraged to dress in any stars wars costume or item that they had (some had Jedi robes, some had t-shirts) The parents of the birthday boy gave out play money for correct Star Wars trivia answers and different challenges. The boys cashed out their money for tickets to a few episodes of Clone Wars and some movie treats. I know the idea whole depends on if you have a Star Wars fan but it could be easily adapted to anything your boys are into- like a Phineas and Ferb party with a gadget building challenge and then a few episodes of the show.


Whatever you decide on, I hope that seven is a magical year for your boys!