Today let's talk about the fun part of the Gold Rush Miner Birthday Party! The part that's all about the kids! Because lets be honest, the banner, invite and cupcake pics aren't "fun" to them!
Since we were having a "Gold Rush" party, I figured there had to be some sort of gold finding activity... so we decided to let the kids pan for gold!
Such an easy and fun activity! I purchased some aluminum pie pans from the Dollar Tree, spray painted some lava rocks gold and filled 2 plastic tubs with sand, hiding the golden nuggets in the sand. Big A punched holes in the pans so the sand could shift through and I made some cute Gold Loot bags for the Miners to carry their gold in!
Now, I know I said I was going to focus on the kid activity part of the party, but I have to take a quick turn and just say that I made my Gold Loot Bags with my Silhouette Cameo, the Silhouette Stamping Supplies and a Staz-On Ink Pad! I formatted my image, cut it with the Silhouette Stamping Material and then stamped it onto some muslin bags I purchased at my local craft store! So easy! I LOVE the stamping material! Maybe I'll do a tutorial on it soon...
Okay - back to the fun!
Of course, half of the fun of finding gold is getting rich and spending the gold!
We set up our store with different containers from the Dollar Tree filled with fun kids toys and candy. We had kits, batons, necklaces, Matchbox cars, puzzles, bouncy balls, Army Men and so much more!
I made the store sign using contact paper from the Dollar Tree, some patterned paper I had on hand became the border and the letters were formatted with my Silhouette software and cut from solid cardstock which I then glued to the covered foam board. We hung the sign from our patio cover with bakers twine (my Crop-a-Dile had no problem punching through that foam board!!) and the Miners were able to come in and trade their gold for goods! I loved this - so much more fun than just a goody bag!
We also set up some fun booths with activities for the kiddos. My friends and I all see to go over-board when planning our kids parties - all of the booths I used for Lil A's party were actually made from my friends Halloween party! We just covered them with butcher block paper and decorated them to represent our theme!
The Sharp Shooters booth was my favorite. The kids used a rubber band gun to shoot down cans and bottles - and since I'm crazy, I covered the bottles in cute paper because I just couldn't leave it alone.
Another booth was a bean bag toss. We used some small tin buckets I already had on hand (I think I got them from the Dollar Tree or Targets Dollar Aisle for a past party) and some corduroy bean bags on a wooden stool and let the kids aim and through!
We did end up taping the tins to the stool with duct tape - otherwise they were getting knocked down more than they were getting bags in them!
And last, we had a Gold Ore Toss! It's similar to the Bean Bag Toss, except the kids were tossing gold coins into ore carts!
My nerd flags going to fly for a minute - my favorite part of the whole thing?? The Gold Rush educational posters/pictures that we found online (hello, Google!), printed off on regular printer paper in various sizes and glued to the covered booths!
The kids loved the fun activities, Lil A was thrilled with everything and he keeps finding gold in the backyard that he wants to trade in! Oops - guess I should have disposed of the extra gold nuggets from our panning center better!
I hope this party inspires you with a difficult theme! Have a great weekend! And make sure to check back in next week - the WeR Studio Team Blog Hop is Tuesday for National Scrapbook Day... and you'll have a chance to win something HUGE on the WeR blog!
Andrea
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