Rock Climbing -6yr- Paper Mache Rocks

Rock climbing party. For my son's 6th birthday we decided on a climbing party, after all, boy's love to climb! His birthday is in February so on the invites, which were on gray parchment paper (to represent stone) we wrote on the front, "Does the weather have you climbing the walls?" And on the front inside it read, "Come climb them with us at ________'s 6th Birthday party!" With the opposite page including the time place and details. 

The indoor climbing gym offered a great birthday package for a reasonable rate and plenty of staff to supervise and instruct! They also played games with the children. For instance, on one wall they taped a dollar bill to a difficult spot and challenged the children to capture it! They loved this. The kids had a great time running off some winter steam, (I also provided small water bottles for them during the climbing hour). 

The gym provided us with a party room where we had "rocky road" ice-cream cones and "dirt" cupcakes. The dirt was just crushed Oreo's with gummy worms poking out.

For the favors, my son and I made paper maiche rocks filled with themed novelty items, such as an aluminum clip key chain, extreme sport tattoos and stickers, mini compass, light sticks, rock candy, bandanna's and bouncing rock balls. We made these by blowing up balloons in various sizes, surround with paper maiche strips and let dry. Be sure to leave a hole large enough for your favor items to enter. When dry paint with different colors to simulate a rock. When dry pop the balloon and fill with treats! Cover hole with more paper maiche or gray painters tape. The kids enjoyed breaking open there "rock" when they got home! 

For thank you notes, I used a digital camera at the party to take a group photo, and used it with my computer program to create a thank you note. Also, because of my son's age, I had him write a sample thank you note leaving the child's name and gift presented spot blank, scanned it, incorporated it with the card and this way, he only had to fill in the appropriate spots and not have to write the note repeatedly. If you do not have this equipment you can take a traditional photo print and sample note to your local copy store who can provide you  with the needed assistance. This was a great party to have in the winter, it provided a place to run off pent up energy and celebrate! Have fun! I hope these ideas have helped.