Birthday Party Idea: Bike Party

It seems as though my soon-to-be-five-year-old son has quite the social calendar lately. He's been going to a few birthday parties and I'm always impressed with the things that parents create. Personally, I like to go crazy with our kids' parties. Before Party City, my mom used to make awesome cakes and decorations for our birthdays, and she came up with the coolest games. I'm trying to pass that tradition on to my kids. Plus, I was an event planner for about ten years, so I pay attention to the details.

Last weekend, my son went to a B.Y.O.B. party: Bring Your Own Bike (and helmet). His friend lives on a cul-de-sac which provided the most perfect location for a celebratory bike rally. My fellow ROCmomma Kathy created such a fun party, I just had to share it with you, dear readers.

When we arrived at their house, the cul-de-sac was decorated with large chalk arrows on the ground, to ensure all bikers rode in the same direction. There were road signs made from Pipeworks: a stop sign and a one way sign. They even made arch out of Pipeworks and tied different colored streamers on it, so the kids had a fun obstacle to ride through. Even the driveway was lined with a chalk-drawn "parking lot" for the bikes. The tables had black-and-white checked tablecloths, and there was a matching banner with black-and-white checked pennants, just like racing flags.

After riding around for a while, the kids took a break to make license plates and decorations for their bikes. ROCmomma Kathy had punched two holes at the top of a foam sheet for each child, and pre-packaged adhesive foam letters to spell each child's name. She had other stickers on the table - bowls of sports stickers and flower/butterfly stickers. When they were finished, the grown ups helped attach the license plates with zip-ties.

The bike decorating station also included beads, wraps for the spokes, streamers (clusters of ribbon, tied together with another piece of ribbon that is used to tie the streamers to the bike - you can make these), ribbons, and rolls of crepe paper streamers. Once the bikes were decked out, it was time to ride again.

Here's a shot of the license plate and streamers on my son's bike:

 Here are the wraps for the spokes:

 And some bike beads:

After lunch, the kids played Pin the Seat on the Bike. ROCmomma Kathy had made a poster of a bicycle, with the seat missing. It was a big hit.

A bonus tip if you're considering a bike-themed party: keep a first aid kit handy. There are bound to be a few scraped knees. Or the same kid will scrape his knee repeatedly (that would be my son; unfortunately, he gets his coordination, balance, and dexterity from me).

The kids had a blast at the bike party. My son didn't want to leave when it was over; we had to promise to come back for a bike-riding play date soon.

If you're tired of licensed-character themed kids' parties, why not try a Bike Party? If you live on a cul-de-sac, or near an open area with room to ride (a park or playground, perhaps), this might be your go-to idea for your child's next birthday.

As always, thank you for reading. Please Post a Comment to share your great birthday party ideas.