Water Battle Party -7yr- Water Balloon Toss

Water Battle Birthday 

INVITATION: The invitations were white with five balloons in the same pattern and colors as the Olympic rings with a stick pin pointing to one balloon. 

DECORATIONS: Put beach towels along the fence and had the guests hang their beach towels along the fence also to keep things organized and brightly colored.  Had 10 beach balls around the yard to serve as decorations and something to play with.  Table covers and crepe paper were Olympic colors: red, blue, green, black and yellow. 

ACTIVITIES: As each child arrived at the party, he picked a card showing a flag and the name of the country out of a bag that he would represent and wrote his name and country on the score board.  The birthday boy picked America as his country before the party.   The birthday boys older sister would record the event results on the board.  We put out the slip n’ slide and small pools around the yard for kids to play in during free time. 

GAMES:  Played Water Balloon Volleyball, divided the boys into two teams and gave each team a full size bedsheet.  We turned our hammock sideways to be a net.  Each team earned a point from getting the balloon over the net and and the catching team earned a point if they caught it in the net.  It took awhile for the kids to learn how to launch, we started them off with practicing with one of the beach balls. 

The second game was Bucket Fill.  We had a bunch of soaker balls purchased from from the Dollar Store floating in the largest pools.  The kids were divided into two teams again for this relay race.  One a time a team member would grab a ball from the pool run to the teams bucket to wring out the water.  After four minutes, I called time and them measured with  a ruler which team was able to get the most water into the bucket. 

The third game was Water Balloon Toss.  I assigned the boys into pairs and called each round for the water balloon toss.  After each round, everyone would take a step back.  The fourth game was Wet Balloon Pop.  One at a time the boys stood in the pool with one wet balloon filled with air.  I timed how long it took to pop the balloon.  Some were able to pop it in less than five seconds, but I did have to put a cap at two minutes for the boys who couldn’t pop it.  I also had planned for Hose Limbo, but we didn’t need it. 

COSTUMES:  Everyone wore swimming suits.  The birthday boy had a t-shirt with a copy of the balloon graphic from the invitation.  The balloons read: Eli’s Birthday Water Battle 

PARTY SNACKS: We rented a cotton candy machine from a local rental company, Rental Max.  The kids loved making the cotton candy with the birthday boy’s dad and most kids went back again between events.  This was a huge hit. 

CAKE: I made a chocolate sheet cake with white icing.  The top had an American flag made out of blueberries and sliced strawberries.  I wrote in yellow icing Happy 7th Birthday on the top and Go For the Gold on the side.  I decorated the edges with red, blue and yellow dots and firework explosions. 

FAVORS: Each boy was given a copy of the book Summer Olympics, a soaker ball and Swedish Fish.  I heard back from a mom the next day that the books were a big hit.  Boys this age seem to love non-fiction books.