Outside Birthday Party - questions/advise

For DS's 6th birthday I'm having it at the house in our backyard. We have a pool and big playground. He wants a Spider-man theme so just doing cake and some red and blue balloons around, but not going nuts.

Inviting family and close friends with kids so the ages are 2 - 15 (my 2 nieces are 15 so I don't know if I really need to include them as kids, but for some reason my sister gets all huffy if they aren't included even though they either don't go or they sit with their phones the entire time which is fine too).

Anyway... here's my question since the last time I had a bday party at the house was when they were 1. I usually have it at a place then have people come over after for more food, drinks and swimming. We have more fun at the house and it's less chaotic.

Here's some questions...
Do I need any entertainment besides the pool and playground? I figured that's enough, but figured I'd ask. I know it could be bad weather and just have the kids play in the basement if that happens. Maybe water balloons?

Any ideas for favors? I like to do 1 good favor that the kids and parents can use. Here's some ideas I've done in the past -
hooded towels
big water shooters
pail and shovel with book and sidewalk chalk

Anything else? I got the big water shooters from Five Below last year for his 5th birthday which was superhero theme. That was a hit.
I want to do Silly String, but DH doesn't want to clean it up in the backyard and if it rains I don't want it in the house.

Thanks! Sorry so long. I've been to house parties a ton and we always have fun along with the kids so don't want to stress over it. We have people over all the time, but want to make it fun for DS since we're not inviting his class this year. There's 21 kids in his class, 6 in his K enrichment and that doesn't count our friends with kids we're very close to.

Message edited 5/5/2015 7:36:31 AM.

Outside Birthday Party - questions/advise

I love house parties, we do them a lot. Stressful, but the kids have fun, and we aren't limited to 1.5 hours.

I would get some water balloons, kids LOVE those! I filled up about 200 for our end of year water party last year. I just attached them to the faucet outside and filled them up quickly. Then after they are done, have a race to see who can pick up the most pieces.

As for favors, I would do something Summer themed. Maybe a pool float/noodle (Walmart has monster noodles for 2.50 I believe), another towel (can never have too many), boogie boards from 5 below, pack of water balloons, etc.

Outside Birthday Party - questions/advise

I dont think you need more entertainment.
Im having a backyard party for my daughters 3rd and im doing a craft table but because there will be a lot of girls and they love to color.
Im also putting out bubbles and I have different balls (soccor, football and baseballs with bats from dollar store)
Im with dh on the silly string. I thought of it at first then thought oooo def not cleaning that up lol

What about a beach towel?
Art supplies?
Coloring book/crayons?

Re: Outside Birthday Party - questions/advise

Thanks ladies! I love the float or boogie board idea. Def going to Five Below and checking it out.

BTW - if you ever need a superhero theme favor go and get those water shooters from Five Below. FOr $3 each they are big and I printed different hero signs on each with a saying about squirting the bad guys. The kids loved them.

Outside Birthday Party - questions/advise

We just did a backyard party for DD's third and the kids had a blast. I planned a few activities but I had a hard time even tearing them away from playing to do them! We did tattoos, sand art, and we planned a treasure hunt (we had a pirate and mermaid theme) but we didn't even get to the hunt. Obviously it wasn't warm enough yet for water stuff and they had plenty to do between the swing set, bikes, chalk, bubbles, sand box, etc. You can always put the 15 year olds in charge of filling water balloons and applying tattoos! A pinata would be fun too.

Re: Outside Birthday Party - questions/advise

No to everything , lol.

Keep it simple. Kids always entertain themselves. Maybe a soccer ball and that's it. Water soakers, kids start to fight over.

Davors, I stopped giving out and nobody will ask for them. I felt guilty, but I stopped.

As far as your neices, I would have assumed they are automatically invited if you invited your sister. Did she think differently?