Power Sport Raceway 2yr - Got Dirt?

PowerSports Raceway Party!!!!  For my son's 2nd birthday, we threw a PowerSports Raceway Party-- focusing on dirt bikes, jetskis, ATVs, motorcycles and race cars. Our family is into dirt biking, and we had a lot of the equipment, so we put it to use. Here is what we did. We invited 20 kids from the neighborhood and close friends. 

INVITATIONS: We sent homemade computer invitations with photos of my husband (in gear-- getting air on the dirt bike), a jet skier, a race car driver and a power boat. The head caption was "Parker's PowerSports Raceway Party". I put race flags near the title, and had the title background as the checked flag as well. The invitation's main section read, "Come join us for fun in the dirt, sand, water and air to celebrate Parker turning 2 years old."  

DECORATIONS: We held the party at our home, and made our backyard and family room into various race areas. I made collages of dirt bikers, motorcycle riders, jet skiers, etc cutting photos from all the magazines that we had lying around. I put the pictures on poster board and placed them around the house and outside. The kids loved looking at the different riders and what they were doing. We used race flag pennants purchased from the oriental trading company and hung them in the entrance to the back yard, and hung white, blue and black balloons as well. Along the grass we stuck little hand held race flags (from oriental trading). 

SELF-SERVE ACTIVITIES: We had a giant race car bounce that had netting on all sides (looked race flag like) with a giant car on the top of the bounce. ALL the kids loved this activity-- our 2 year old didn't want to get out of it. We filled our sensory table with water and placed a sticker nearby that said "Got Water?". In the table we put boats and Playmobil Jetskier action figures. These jetskis are meant for the water and actually float. The kids loved getting wet with this activity. In our sand box, we put the ATV toys and some track/obstacles for the kids to imagine jumping over. We affixed a sticker that said "Got Sand?" to station. The kids really loved rolling the ATV's back and forth over the sand. For the dirt bike scene, we filled a wading pool up with dirt and added ramps and finger dirt bikes for the kids to imagine/play with as well. Of course, we had the "Got dirt?" sticker up for that station. In the house we had the playstation playing "Supercross2000" for the older kids (6-10). We also had the hotwheels selection inside with the hotwheels spiral raceway, fisher-price garage, and another type of raceway with a wind up car. We had other theme based toys (a fix it motorcycle, a remote control truck and car, and more playmobil off road toys). Lastly, we had a dress up station, where we put our helmets, jerseys, gloves, goggles, pants and boots. My son received a helmet, goggles and gloves for his birthday-- and we had a couple of kids jerseys so the kids could dress up in oversized clothes or those that really fit. We had a mirror nearby the dress area. The kids really liked this part of the party for it went well with the craft.  

CRAFTTIME: For the welcome craft, we had the kids create their own 4x6 picture frame, with supplies I purchased at Lakeshore learning. The frame is made of vibrant colored foam, cut with sticky stuff on the back. I wrote the kids' names on the top of the frame (portrait orientation), and the date on the bottom, and left the sides open for decorating with car stickers and other different shaped pieces that come with the frames (spirals, lightening bolts, circles, diamonds, etc). After they decorated their frames, the kids dressed up in the gear, and we had them sit on my husband's dirt bike (firmly stationed), and took digital pictures that we printed before the guests went home. I heard from many of the moms that the kids said they loved this part of the party dressing up, taking the picture and decorating the frame! Even the 6 year old boys-- and the 2 year old girls.  

ORGANIZED ACTIVITIES: We had the kids participate in car races, using the wrap around car kits that I found at Lakeshore (online I saved 50%). The cars are made of soft materials with a velcro'd waist belt that fits all sizes. They come with dress up helmets as well. I had the kids run in "heats" with a 2 year heat, 3 year, and so on. I altered the course depending on the age of the kids. They all loved this game, especially when they were recognized as the winner of the heat. All racers received a hand race flag as a prize. We also played "Pin the helmet on the dirt bike rider". We talked about how we should always wear helmets to protect our heads at all times when riding any kind of bike, and had the kids pin/tape home made helmets (out of paper) that had their name on it to a homemade rider (that I copied from one of the riding magazines). After drawing the rider, I colored him in and laminated him with clear contact paper, so the tape would not take off the ink-- and so my son could have this as a keepsake after the party.  For the kids under 3 we just put the riding goggles on them and turned them around 2 times and hand them try to place the helmet in the right area. For those over 3, I blindfolded them and then turned them around also. We went by age and the 5 year olds were waiting so patiently-- everyone got a turn. Finally, we were also going to play the old stand by, "Red light, Green light" (where the kids are in a line a good distance away from you, and you hold up one hand and say "Green light". They are to run to you on the green light, and stop/freeze when you say "red light". The first child that reaches you -- the color caller-- is the winner. We ran out of time for this one… it was time for cake… 

FOOD: The party was from 1-3:30, so we didn't provide lunch, but we did have snacking stuff around-- pizza squares, watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe, chexs mix (racing kind), M&Ms and juice boxes (I had found the Gatorade juice boxes AFTER the party at a local grocery store-- bummer). The cake was from Baskin & Robbins-- an ice cream cake. I ordered the "construction site" cake and left off the construction vehicles and instead put a finger dirt bike on the cake. The kids loved the cake and decoration. My son didn't even finish his piece of cake, he was too interested in eating the ice cream off the tire of the dirt bike. 

GOODIE BAGS: Since we had 3 age ranges of kids, we had 3 types of goody bags. For the older kids (4 yr and up), we had a hotwheels motorcycle (1/18th the size) that I found at Target for more than 50% off. In the bag, we included a "Winner" medal (that we found at Party city), a bag of hotwheels fruit snacks, a tootsie pop and a mini bag of M&Ms. For the 3-2 year set, the vehicle was a hotwheels car and the medal and food stuff as in the older kids bags. For the 2-1 year set, I found "huggie" cars (soft-- made of 3 parts that are teeth-able) and put a tootsie pop inside as well. 

THE END: The kids left with the goody bag, the frame craft, their picture, the paper helmet that they pinned to the rider, and a hand race flag. Everyone seemed to have fun-- there was something for everyone to do; jump, bounce, ride, create, imagine, test technical skills, and more. It was a fun day-- one my son will remember for a long time-- as he keeps singing "Happy birthday dear Parker" while he points to the  motorcycles on the street! And now the kids in the neighborhood all recognize him as a very cool little guy!! Can't wait for his 3 year when we will get him a mini-dirt bike!!!! Until next year…