What to do for 8 yr boy bDay party who doesnt love sports

abby1776

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 2:37 pm

Any suggestions?

I have never made a birthday party for any of my kids, but the area we live in its pretty common for younger kids. My 6 year old DD has been to a dozen birthday parties so now my 8 year old son also wants one - the thing is I get the feeling that 8 is getting a bit old for parties - as my son has only been invited like to 2 (or maybe he isnt popular) regardless I have to make a party for him and I dont know what to do with the boys - Any ideas?

Barbara

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 2:48 pm

abby1776 wrote:

Do you have a backyard?

Scavenger hunt.

Relay races, tug of war (unless that's too sporty), create outdoor carnival games like throw the ping pong ball into a can

Or have the boys bring bathing suits, and throw water balloons, make their own sundaes, then wash off by running through the sprinklers.

greenfire

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:00 pm

you're never too old for a birthday party ...

paint everyone with clown faces & decorate your own cupcakes ... messy FUN ... takes up plenty of time ... and I like another vote to add the water balloons at the end ... if you don't have a yard - go to a park

add a fun party favour that will keep them busy

http://www.orientaltrading.com.....50233

http://www.orientaltrading.com.....6/164

abby1776

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:04 pm

imasinger wrote:

Theme it based on his likes. What does he enjoy? Cars? Put togethers? Performing? Start with his interest, the try googling "X theme birthday party ideas."

he likes cars, lego, building things,

Its not that he doesnt like sports, but he would rather do other things, and the boys in his class are very into sports.

Also, we dont have a TV or let our kids play video games and all the boys in his class watch tv and have Nintendo DS - so even though my son might like the activity, I am afraid that the other boys wont.

For my DD who was 6 it was easy - we did a craft project, served pizza, then the girls decorated their own cupcakes, and then everyone went home.

If I could do something similar for my son great, but I dont think it will go over with the other 8 year old boys.

amother

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:04 pm

My DS's favorite bday party he went to (at age 8) was one where they had a slip and slide (and maybe some wading pools set up? I don't remember) they told them to come in bathing suits and they ran around and had a great time.

They are selling slip and slides now at Costco for about $30 (or maybe you can borrow one?)

nyer1

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:04 pm

8 is definitely not too old for a bday party!!
I agree with the above... scavenger hunt, relay races, cupcake decorating, building something, teamwork games. trivia games, etc etc. you can always take instead of having it at your house, take the birthday boy and 1 or 2 friends out for a special outing -- bowling or ice skating and pizza and ice cream.

abby1776

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:11 pm

amother wrote:

This sounds good - but a little concerned it might get a bit wild and out of control.

My DS is having a rough time making friends and I would really hope that the party is a way to get the other boys to like him more. But there is only so much we can do.

mha3484

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:15 pm

I like Barbaras idea of water activities since its so hot out. Make your own sundae bars are also tons of fun.

I had a birthday party until my bas mitzvah, everyone in my class did. They were pretty low key but the class came and we did an activity of some sort and there was food. After my bas mitzvah they were more like go out with a few friends somewhere fun but birthdays were always celebrated in my house.

self-actualization

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:16 pm

I'm doing a 7 year old boy Lego theme party in 2 weeks IY"H. I am planning to invite 11 boys and have 12 in total. We are first going to eat pizza, because it's straight after school on Sunday. Then we will have a game building Lego bridges and seeing which ones are sturdy enough to support a raw egg without it cracking. I think this is so cool but my DH thinks the parents will be annoyed if the kids come home with egg on their shirts. Then I plan to do a Lego themed cake and make-you-own ice cream cones. Then the next game is pass-the-present where there will be a Lego minifigure in between each layer of wrapping paper. The party is only two hours but if there is extra time I plan to do a Lego scavenger hunt in my yard where I break all the bridges from the first game and scatter the Lego, whoever picks up the most wins the game and gets a prize. Not sure if I will allow the boys to take home the bags of Lego that they pick up - I want to but I am afraid that it's a choking hazard for their younger siblings. Any thoughts? Anyway, if you need more info on where I bought everything, please ask. Two more things - the candy in the goodie bags will of course be candy Lego blocks, and also - my son totally doesn't like sports either!

self-actualization

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:18 pm

Abby - it's funny - I am also doing this to help my son make friends - my son is intellectual and not into sports and that's very tough for an elementary school boy - I keep telling him that everything will be fine by the time he gets to graduate school but it doesn't seem to help him calm down Smile

mandr

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:23 pm

self-actualization wrote:

I don't know if you're looking for anything else, but I recently bought these adorable lego-shaped chocolate molds that you can use with candy as well as chocolate, or water to make ice cubes!

http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Min.....GSG0C
(I'm sure there are cheaper places because I didn't pay this price, but that's the idea)

rachel6543

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:24 pm

I don't know what your budget is, but in my area I've seen an ad for birthday party where you can hire someone to do cool science experiments with the kids. I'd love to do something like that for my son when he's a little older. I think that would be a fun, different & educational party. Also, museums (science, history...etc) could be a neat place to have a party.

anon for this

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:47 pm

When my daughter was that age, I made goop for her birthday party, but my son, who's the same age as yours, likes goop too. I prepared the goop before the party, then put a portion for each child in a zip-top sandwich bag and let her color it with a few drops of food coloring.

http://chemistry.about.com/od/.....e.htm

Barbara

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 3:55 pm

anon for this wrote:

Every good goop deserves an oobleck

http://www.instructables.com/id/Oobleck/

abby1776

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 4:27 pm

self-actualization wrote:

I think this is a great idea - I wouldnt worry about the choking hazard, all 7 yer old boys I know have little lego and little siblings, the parents just try and figure out where to keep it so no one swallows anything.

You are going so above and beyond what I think I am capable of. There are about 15 boys plus some others from the neighborhood - if I invite 20 boys, thats a lot of boys. I am sure some wont come, but still., thats a lot of 8 year old wrangling.

self-actualization

Mon, Jun 03 2013, 4:51 pm

This is the basic pack I bought for the bridge game -

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEG.....-6177

(Divide evenly and put into paper bags, in my case I plan to do 6 teams of 2 boys each)

This is the set of minifigures -

http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Edu.....gures

Here are the goodies bags -

http://www.amazon.com/Lego-Bir.....V0VEE

I'm a little stumped on the cake - I might just make a yellow cake and then frost it different primary colors in different places and carve dots onto it. If that doesn't work then I can just frost it white and put Lego candy blocks on the top.

My main issue now is getting the physical set-up - if the weather cooperates I plan to do it on my back porch, but if the weather is bad I will need to do it in the basement. I will need some folding tables, chairs, primary color tablecloths and paper good (plates, cups, spoons).

If your husband or other friend/family can help, I think it can be doable. I limit these kind of things to 2 hours (max 3). Also my son's class has 26 boys but I can't physically handle a party for all of them, so I asked my son to list his closest friends and then I added some community kids to get up to 11. I would love to host the whole class but I don't think I can handle taking care of that many kids.