Fifth Birthday Party

At age 5, girls like to hold tea parties, dress up in costumes, and play with dolls. Parties for 5 year old girls should therefore include themes and activities that match these elements.

At age 5, boys like to run and play, hang upside down, and fish with dad. For this reason, outdoor venues are great for fifth birthday parties. Boys have alot of energy at this age, so the outdoors are great for physical activities.

The party themes at the right of this page, include information for planning your 5 year old's party. To view additional information for an appropriate party theme, click the "Party Planning Guide" button at the top of each theme's page for party planning information.

We have included additional information regarding your 5 year old's party in the sections which follow.

Rules of Thumb

One guest per year of the child's age.

Have one adult for every 4-5 children at the party

Serve drinks in heavy bottom glasses to cut down on spills

Click the"Party Planning Guide" button at the top of the page for each theme shown at the right to see additional planning ideas, decorating ideas, recipes, and activities for each potential party theme.

Themes

The first thing to do in planning your party is to pick a theme around which you will build the party activities. CelebrateExpress.com has great party themes if you don't find a perfect theme for your party here. From a Scooby Do Pirate Adventure with a treasure hunt where your guests perform tasks to get clues to

Dino Dig Theme --Purchase a plywood Dinosaur model kit the size of a large dog from a hobby or toy store. Then purchase six or eight bags of sandbox sand. Count and record the number of dinosaur bones in your kit. Then, find a nice spot in your backyard and spread the dino bones around and pour the sand over them. Give all the kids a brush and send them out on the 'Dino Dig'. Once the kids find all the bones, help them build the dinosaur. Additional information for parties with the Dinosaurs theme can be found by clicking on Dinosaurs and then clicking on the"Party Planning Guide" button at the top of the page to see additional planning ideas, decorating ideas, recipes, and activities for each potential party theme.

Fishing Theme -- A Father and Son Fishing Party is a great idea for a five year old party that gives dad a retreat into memories of their childhood and provides a time for bonding with their sons. Grilled cheese sandwiches in the shape of fishes are great refreshments for this party. Of course, the main activity for this party is to fish with dad. Have each child attending the party bring their dad. Be sure to have life jackets with the kids around the water.

Hello Kitty Theme - Work with your daughter to come up with a narrative for the party based on the materials you choose. Take your daughter shopping and pick up a kit of colored pencils, stickers, stencils, paper, hello kitty purses , pens, pencils, pads, stamps, coin purses, etc.... Make sure you get Hello Kitty and friends logos for each child. Hand them out at the beginning of the party and invite them to decorate paper hats to wear or just make pictures or whatever they want.

Decorations

Party decorations can include balloons, streamers, posters, banners, centerpieces, pinatas, and other fare. Decorations for a girl's tea party could be pink and feminine with a tablecloth, a floral centerpiece, and decorative finger foods (moreTea Party Theme ideas). Click the "Party Planning Guide" button at the top of each theme's page for party planning information.

Food

For 5 year old parties, the refreshments can be finger foods. For instance, at the Father Son Fishing Party mentioned above, you might want to have grilled cheese sandwiches cut in the shape of fish (using a cookie cutter). Decorated cup cakes or tradtional cakes with candles are also part of the party food.

Activities When Guests Arrive

Party activities fall into a number of areas. Arrival activities for the party include things like passing out party hats, name tags,passing out items that will be part of the party theme, etc. Whether you have a jar with a known number of jelly beans and allow each child to guess the number of jelly beans in the jar or have the arriving children all sign a giant birthday card, these activities serve to introduce arriving children to the party..

Once the party has begun and the majority of guests have arrived, you can begin group party activities. These activities can range from pin the tail on the donkey -- to relay races -- to treasure hunts. To ensure all your guests enjoy themselves, you'll want to ensure that all the group activities include things to somewhat equalize the skills between the children so no child feels left out. For instance, if one child has trouble reading and can't relate to clues for a treasure hunt, you might want to help the child read and understand the clues.

Following are a number of Group Activities you might want to consider for your party (you might want to modify the games below to match the theme of your party):

Guess Who has the Marble -- Pass around a bowl filled with little prizes and then stop the music. The person holding the bowl picks a prize and leaves the circle. In the end, everyone gets a prize.

A pull-string pinata -- Pinatas are great game ideas for five year old parties but the thoughts of putting a bat in the hands of a five year old could have some problems. Pull string pinatas are a safe alternative that can be used inside or outside. The pull-string version also has the feature that all kids can open the pinata together with all children having an equal chance to gather a prize. These pull-string-pinatas can be purchased from CelebrateExpress.com or you can convert another pinata to a pull-string one using the following instructions:

To be converted to a pull-string pinata, the pinata must have a flat bottom from which you will cut a 3 inch by 3 inch flap. This flap (cut in the shape of a square "C") will be the door that will opened when the children pull on their ribbons. By punching a small hole in the extreme of the flap where it opens, you need to thread a ribbon through the flap and tie a knot in it so it will not pull through when the children pull on the ribbons. Then, close the flap and tape it shut. Tie a number of ribbons equaling the number of children who will play to the single ribbon from the door and you have your pull-string- pinata.

Pick Up Your Room -- Gather together a jump rope and a bunch of old balled up socks. Lay the jump rope on the ground and form two teams. Put one team on each side of the jump rope. Toss out the socks and have the two teams throw the socks at each other shouting "Clean Your Room". The object of the game is to get all the socks on the other team's side of the rope which will most likely never happen. This game is particularly fun if you put kids on one side of the rope and their parents on the other side of the rope.

Treasure Hunts -- Take a well known story such as the story of xxxx or xxxxxx and slightly reword it to provide clues to where treasures are hidden. Make picture clues (or words, read by one of the parents) leading the whole group, clue by clue, around all over the house, yard, or park. At the end, hide a ''treasure'' (candy, money, etc.) for everyone. Each treasure should have the name of one of the children so all will receive a treasure.

Cooperative Treasure Hunt -- you can give each child a different colored bag as they arrive at the party telling them that they will want to hang onto the bag. Before the party begins, hide treasures wrapped in colored paper all over the house, yard or park. At the party, instruct the children to find all the treasures that are the color of their bag. Let the kids help each other find the treasures that correspond to their colored bag.

Stomp It Hunt -- Put clues into balloons and throw the balloons into an open area. Line the kids up and have them search out three balloons. On the word go, have the kids stomp their balloons and take out the clues that are in the balloons. Each clue points them to a location around the area where you have hidden candy, coins or another treasure.