Help! Need indoor party ideas--QUICK!!

[maps]

Hi all

My son's 6th birthday party is on Sat. Since we're going on vacation right after, I wanted an easy party not at my house. Chose the playground and of course it's going to rain--they're saying heavy downpours!

There is a pavillion there but now I have to quickly come up with some other activities to keep them occupied.

Any ideas? His party theme is Cars.

Thanks in advance.

 

[offwegotoneverland]

so is this in the pavillion or really indoors?

What about a pin the car part on the car game? Blindfold and a supply of wheels etc cut out from some pictures or the like instead of tails on a donkey?

Pinata's from a plant hook in the ceiling?

Hide and seek?

does your dollar store have a lot of mini cars? Perhaps a "race" to see who cn find them hidden some where like an easter egg hunt?

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Sending a little of this your way. It couldn't hurt.

 

[Evil Queen]

Do age appropriate puzzle/riddle games.

One year I gave my older son a party, and made a quiz........I honestly thought a bunch of teens would think it's lame, and heck I'm not in school I'm at a party, why do I want to take a quiz? It was more of a trivia game.

They actually loved it. The first person to finish and have the most correct answers won a prize.

Also, we do a card game at indoor parties. Take a deck of cards. Pull out one full suit (hearts, spades, etc). Let everyone draw a card. Go from 2 to A's.
Have the same number of little dollar store gifts wrapped, as you have party members. Who every has 2 or the lowest card goes first. They pick a wrapped gift off a table (once you touch it-it's yours). They open it. The next low card does the same, picks a gift and un-wraps. If they like the gift of someone else who has one, they get to trade (be careful here with kids get items that most kids will like). And so on. We love this game.

It's also a great game for adults. I've ended up with toilet paper, cheap little tool kits, soap, etc at various parties with this.

 

[maps]

thanks so much for the quick replies--great ideas!

It will be under a pavilion so technically not indoors--but not exactly the plan I had in mind!

I usually put a lot of thought and creativity into my kids' parties but just this once I wanted it to be mindless-- go play on the playground equipment, come back for cake and then go home. Oh well.

 

[disneymom3]

One word for you--BINGO! I played this at DDs 6 yo party and we ended up ditching ttwo of the other games because they just wanted to keep playing bingo. I picked it up at the party supply store but have seen them on the internet for free if you don't mind using a LOT of ink. We played enough games that all of the kids won twice. (Yeah, it was fixed but they never caught on.) When they won, they got to choose a piece of candy out of the grab bag. We have also had the prizes be coin bubble gum.

 

[paigevz]

I was also going to say Bingo is perfect................you can computer print some bingo cards and put car stickers on them to keep it in theme........or use CARS instead of BINGO.

Also, matchbox car painting. We did this in Pre-Kindergarten on Transportation Day. Just cut papers into circles to fit into pie plates. Squirt some paint on the paper, and place a matchbox car in...........let the child either run the car through the paint or tilt the pie plate to make it roll through. Easy craft, and cars are easily cleaned in just an extra pie plate of soapy water and then place on a paper towel. You can bring along some clear contact paper already cut for the purpose, and simply cover the paintings as soon as they are dry, then trim the excess. If you also place a ribbon and loop it in between the layers of contact paper, you have a built -in hanger. The resulting painting won't run in the rain, is ready to be hung and enjoyed. Kids love it!

 

[paigevz]

You can also just have car races. Let each kid pick a car of their own when they arrive. This can be their car for both painting and races. Just sharpie their names on bottom.

Make ramps with scrap wood and a finish line with masking tape. Have the kids race in heats, with each heat winner going against the next, and gradually tapering it down. Once the official races are over, some kids will continue to play this for the rest of the party. It also teaches them about ramps, force of motion and friction. Sorry, that's the teacher in me!

 

[hlbtimes2]

Playdoh is a great way to keep them entertained at that age. Its pretty cheap, and since you'll be outside, you wont have to worry about it getting on the floor.

Print our coloring pages and set up an area with water colors, crayons and markers. For my sons birthday I printed and photo copied Buzz lightyear pictures and gave one to each child. I did a custom cover with saying thank you for coming to Harrisons birthday.

Bubbles! Again, you won't have to worry about the mess.

 

[christineann]

ice cream sundae bar or decorate your own cupcake bar

Treasure hunt - get a big tub (like you would wash your dog in), fill it with play sand and put little treasures under the sand (plastic or matchbox cars, trading cards, super balls, etc.) and give each child a turn digging for a prize.

Go fish - hang a sheet up (we decorated ours with fish), attach a string with a clothes pin to a pole, and have each child put their line over the sheet. Attach little treasures to the clothes pin, give it a tug and the child will pull it in.

 

[Evil Queen]

above poster gave me an idea. how about a tub full of water. Have plastic floating ducks. Write numbers on the bottom of the ducks, the numbers match up with certain prize bags?

Or a fishing game with a tub. Super glue magnets to the fish. Make a fishing a pole with a bigger magnet on the end. Again numbers on fish to match up with prizes or prize bags.

 

[EthansMom]

You could play Simon Says.

Sending some your way!