Fireman Theme -6yr Fireman Dress-up Relay

My son wanted a fireman theme for his sixth birthday this year.  I drew a picture of a firetruck on white paper and printed "You are invited to a red-hot birthday party" on it along with the appropriate info about the party.  I made copies on computer paper and sent the invitations out to family and friends. 

I decorated our family room with orange, yellow and red streamers and balloons.  I hung plastic fire hats from the ceiling.  I painted a picture of a house on a large piece of cardboard and cut out the windows.  I taped colored streamers to the back of the cut out windows to look like fire in the house. 

I painted a picture of a fireman from the waist up on cardboard and made a tagboard badge for pin the badge on the fireman.  I painted a kid-sized fireman on cardboard and cut the face out. I drew a picture of a dalmation puppy on white paper and left off the spots. 

I made twelve copies of the puppy. The day of the party, I set up an obstacle course in the room.  I placed a piece of tape on the floor for the starting line.  I brought in the kids small slide from outside and set up the cardboard house.  I placed several stuffed animals on a blanket on the floor to be "rescued" by the kids.  When everyone arrived, they made fire hats that I had cut out of construction paper ahead of time.  They glued paper badges on the front of them with their names written on them. 

We played the first game which was Pin the badge on the fireman.  I used a black winter headband for the blindfold since some children don't like things tied around their heads. I set up an art easel with the puppy pictures on it.  The kids used black bingo markers to make spots on their dalmations.

After this, we ran the obstacle course!  The kids lined up behind the starting line.  The first child put on a firemans coat and hat(I found a hat at the dollar store that made a siren noise when the badge was pressed) and raced a toy firetruck to the ladder of the slide.  The child slid down the slide, grabbed a balloon out of a basket and popped it by sitting on it.  He then ran to the "burning" house and threw plastic balls through the windows to put the fire out.  His final stop was at the "pet shop" to rescue the animals from the fire.  He had to place two stuffed animals in a small laundry basket and run back to the finish line.  The kids had a great time with this game and each one had at least three turns being the fireman! 

After the games, we had cake and icecream.  I had had an edible image made from a picture of a firetruck at a local bakers supply shop and placed it in the center of the cake I had baked.  I decorated the rest of the cake with a yellow shell border and wrote Happy Birthday Ryan on top with a writing tip.  I also made a brownie icecream pizza for the kids.  I baked a large brownie in a pizza pan and when it was cool, I spread a half gallon of vanilla icecream on top and decorated it with colored sprinkled.  I cut it into pizza slices to serve. 

When the snacks were eaten, we piled into our cars and drove to the firestation for a tour.  This was arranged ahead of time and was free.  The kids saw a 12 minute movie about fire safety and then got the run of the fire station!  They sat in every truck in the building and got their picture taken individually and as a group.  They had a blast.  Back at home, I took each childs picture with his face in the firemans "body" that I had painted.  I gave each child his picture to take home with him. 

The party favor boxes were my biggest expense.  I ordered firetruck shaped boxes from Birthday Express(4 for $2.99) and needed three sets of them.  The goodies inside included plastic fireman figures, firetruck puzzles, whistles, badges, suckers, lifesavers and stickers all purchased from the dollar store and fire hats and coloring books given to the kids by their fire station guide. 

I made thank you notes for my son to send to everyone by drawing a fire hydrant shape on red construction paper and helping him write his thank yous on the front of them.  I included a picture taken of each child in a fire truck with the thank you note so the child could have it for his photo album. 

My son and his friends had a great time and are still talking about his party!  I loved every minute of the planning, preparation, and the party itself.  Since I did the decorating, baking and art work myself, the grand total for my son's party was a whopping $31.00.  I tell my husband that we may not have the money for big fancy parties for our children but I do my best to make sure they have priceless memories of their secial day to last a lifetime!