Transformers Party -9yr- Silly String Target Maze

We are planning a Transformer themed party for my son's 9th bd next week. I decided to not do loot bags this year, as I feel that the kids are getting too big and the party should be mostly about the bd child.  It's his day, so I wanted to honor him. 

I bought the Transformer invites, paper cups, a special Transformer plastic cup just for my son, napkins, and plates at Party City, along with a few mini Allspark cubes for decorations.  I bought a yellow table cloth, some extra red plates, and red forks at the $1 store for the rest of the supplies.  I have some left-over party balloons from previous bd parties, so I plan on re-using those for decorations. 

I also have some left-over silver balloon weights that give that extra sparkle without being too girly!  If the weather is good, I plan on eating outside on the deck.  So, again at the $1 store, I bought glow-in-the-dark lighted necklaces for the kids, and glow-in-the dark lanterns that they now make!  I'll put the lanterns around the deck.  I'll also re-use a Happy Birthday banner that we still have.  If the weather is bad, we'll just do everything indoors and still get the same effect since the party will be in the evening and we can always turn the lights down a bit. 

For food, we are planning on serving sloppy joes, chips, and Aqua-Pod water (the bottles look like spaceships!)  My son wanted me to make his cake, so we are making a Hershey's chocolate cake (from the box), I will use white icing mixed with yellow dye to turn it yellow, and add red and blue sprinkles.  I bought some transformer type autobots at the $1 store, which I plan on putting on top of the cake.  I may try to use icing gel to make the Transformer insignia as well. 

At Target, we found a Transformer stamp/tattoo kit.  I plan on stamping/tattooing the kids faces with the kit, letting them choose their own designs. 

I went online to Party Central games, and found some fun outdoor game ideas.  We will be playing... Balloon Battle (tie balloons to ankles, and try to burst opponents balloon), Human Whip (Form a line holding on, and swing around until the one on the end goes flying!), Fruit Roll Up Race (attach to clothespin that is attached to a line of string, first to eat roll up to the clothespin wins - or use licorice), Build a Robot (using old plumbing parts, boxes, etc..), and a Robot Dance Competition! 

Finally, after the kids have their glow necklaces on, I will give them all neon silly string ($1 store).  They are going to then enter into my son's go-kart maze (we have a huge backyard which my husband let some weeds grow up and then he mowed out a really cool twisty maze that goes up and down hills for my son to ride his go kart thru).  I'm making the maze into an obstacle course using boxes, and Transformer posters that I got at Walmart that I plan to attach to cardboard, a wooden stick, and then place in the ground.  These will be scattered throughout the maze.  The kids can shoot their silly string at the posters when they come across them.  (I even thought about having some of my older nephews hiding out in the maze to shoot water guns or more silly string back at the kids!)  After climbing over and crawling thru boxes, and running thru the maze, they must find a big cardboard box that will represent the Allspark, and bring it back to homebase. 

We'll then eat, and open presents.  If we have time, we may remove the boxes from the obstacle course, and let the kids ride my son's go-kart thru it!  (Other options:  Freeze Tag, Robot Command - command child with bandana over eyes to get an item and bring it back, dodge ball, make origami or paper planes, watch cartoon version of Transformer movie, which I got on sale at Walmart for a little over $3!).  I find that it gets harder coming up with ideas as kids get older. 

Since my son's birthday is later in the year, he has already been to so many pirate-themed parties that he was ready to do something different.  However, it has been very difficult finding Transformer themed ideas, and I've been searching since August!  So, I hope this helps!  Several of the guests are excited about the theme, and my son can't wait!  It's going to a blast!  God Bless!