Moderate

Kids from about 4^th grade and older will enjoy learning about the Middle Ages and participating in a carnival. 

Set Up: This will take a little creativity, but you should be able to set up several carnival “booths” made from toys and games kids already have. Any kind of game of skill will work here, such as throwing darts or a ball at a target or tower of cans. Foot races and jumping contests would be good, as well as sack races and three-legged competitions. Make several different contests in different areas of your party space and recruit a parent or teen to help at each one if you can. 

This is a great party for warm days and provides a lot of entertainment for school aged kids.

Set Up: You will obviously need a collection of squirt guns, balloons and a way to fill them with water. You should set up targets at one end of the yard. Some can be made of colored construction paper that will change color as soon as they get wet so kids can tell if they hit the target. Others can be made of tissue paper stretched over the open end of a box, with the object being to squirt enough water on it to break through the paper. Targets for the water balloons can be buckets or barrels, or holes in containers to aim the balloons at. You should also put marks of some kind at different distances away from the target to offer more challenges. 

Kids of all ages will have fun with this one as long as they have some sort of riding toy. Even toddlers who just push on the ground with their feet can join in 

Set Up: You will need to find a large open field that is smooth enough to ride on for this gathering. You may be able to get permission to use a school or church parking lot at a time when the facility is not busy. Before the party starts you need to establish a start and finish line for several races of different lengths. Bring some chairs or buckets to use for a barrel race and an obstacle course would be fun too. It will also help if you have a stopwatch and some kind of loudspeaker. 

Kids that are old enough to help out in the kitchen will enjoy this party. (Probably 8 and up) They should have a great time preparing their own treats and then eating them. If you’d like to judge the finished tacos and offer prizes for the biggest, messiest, most unusual etc, it will add an element of competition that kids enjoy.

This gathering will be fun for kids from about 3 to 10 and even older if they are fond of drama. You can look forward to a lot of creativity and imagination with this theme. 

Set Up: Before the kids arrive, you will need to provide a space for a puppet theater. This can be as simple as letting the kids hide behind a table covered with a floor-length cloth. You could also hang a sheet on a cord strung across one end of a room at about waist height. This might be a good choice if you will have several puppeteers presenting at one time, because it will allow more room.

Skating, whether on ice or with roller blades, is great exercise and lots of fun for kids. Many ice rinks and roller skating parks will rent their facility for a party, or you can take your group and join with kids already there. 

 If you do go to a public rink, give your guests colorful stocking caps or scarves to wear that will identify them as part of your group. Before turning the kids loose on their skates, tell them you will be judging them for prizes to be awarded at the end of the party.

Every child loves playing in the sand and in the water, especially smaller children who love building with sand and splashing in water. This type of party will keep little ones happy for hours. 

You can have a day of sand and water even if you live miles from a beach. You can even have it if the weather is not good enough to go outside (that is, if you are not too worried about your carpet or furniture.) A sand and water play area can be created fairly easily and will provide hours of fun for toddlers.

Kids usually enjoy a chance to be creative and show off their flair for fashion. That’s why a t-shirt decorating party is likely to be a hit. 

The first thing you will need is a plain t-shirt for every guest. If you buy them in packages of three or four, maybe in the men’s or boys’ underwear department, they are not expensive. You have several options for the decorations. The simplest would be to provide permanent markers and let the kids draw right on the shirts.

This is the greatest of all the parties and girls of all ages love this kind of party, building there own bear and dressing them is a great party for any girl from 3 to 13. 

For this party you will need to buy the teddy bear skins and the filler machine, you need 2 or 3 big bags of cotton and doll clothes, which you can buy wholesale. Then you can let the child build their bear and dress them. Then you can let each of the children come up with names for the bears and take a picture with them and their new teddy.

You will need several blenders for the party, depending upon the number of guests you have. Two or three girls should be able to share one appliance, so you won’t have to borrow too many. You will also need an assortment of fruits, yogurts, and toppings like graham cracker crumbs or sprinkles to put on top. You’ll also want some rubber scrapers and small measuring cups. If you have fancy glasses and colorful straws for the finished smoothies, that should do it.