Birthday Ideas for Kids 6 to 9

If you need birthday ideas for kids 6 to 9, we have answers. For perfect party planning, explore food, games, themes, locations and gift ideas. Aaah, the final birthdays of sweet, blissful childhood — before the: “Double Digits” and “Tween-dom”.

Ya know, I was about to suggest not throwing big organized parties every year. But the more I research and write about birthdays for the different ages the more I realize how truly important birthday celebrations are.

Birthdays mean so much more than just “getting presents” and giving a nod of acknowledgment. They are much like those little white wooden (at least in Oregon) mile-post signs showing how far you’ve come and the distance to your next destination.

Birthday Ideas for Kids 6 to 9: It’s more than Cake and Presents

Birthday parties are for celebrating the day your child made his grand entrance in this world and that should never go unacknowledged without great fanfare.

We tend to let the magnificent significance of that momentous moment (try saying that 5 times fast) be clouded over by the obligatory party planning. Compound that with life’s other daily demands, and it can be pretty overwhelming. I know, because I have done that very thing.

So I would remind all of us busy parents to focus on this amazing person for these next few days and celebrate him or her for all they are worth. It is the most significant way in the entire year that you can express to him his immeasurable worth.

Okay . . . off my soap box. Just wanted us to take a breather in the midst of your planning that perfect party for your perfect baby.

Kids 6 to 9 Take Note!

Between the ages of 6 and 9 you’ve noticed your amazing child has matured and developed markedly. Isn’t it exciting to see what hobbies, interests and friendships our elementary kids are starting to develop? And, they can read now! How exciting is that?

During these years your child might:

• Be able to read to herself
• Be able to tell time ( 7 to 8 years)
• Know left from right
• Take the training wheels of his bike
• Begin to get a grasp of (not on) money
• Start thinking and planning ahead
• Understand that YOU have been Santa all this time 🙁

10 Fun Birthday Ideas

Here are 10 ideas to getcha’ goin’

1. Because your child’s circle of friends has more than likely grown, keeping the guest list manageable may be a challenge.
   
   Here are a few options to consider especially if your child is involved in different activities:
   
   • Invite all kids from one particular group i.e. girl scouts, soccer team, etc.
   • Make the party an “all girls” or “all boys” party.
   • Limit the invitation to the closest one or two friends from each group.
   • Go by the”number of years old plus one” rule.
     
2. Have an arrival activity ready to engage guests as soon as they arrive with an adult or teen helper supervising the activity so you are free to greet guests:
   • A craft activity – make a party hat
   • An open ended sport or game arriving guests can just jump in and join
     
3. Upper elementary kids don’t really require a structured party. Plan some organized games and activities but also give older kids open-ended time to fill as they wish:
   • Have card games, board games, sports equipment and art supplies available.
   • Have a camera or video camera available for kids to tape themselves, take group shots; then during refreshment time let them have a laugh watching themselves.
     
4. At this age kids love a fun party location as opposed to a home birthday party and the fact they need less supervision makes this option even more desirable for the party giver! (take a look at the birthday party locations listed below or visit the kids birthday party locations page for even more great ideas).
5. Birthday ideas for kids 6 to 9 must include food. Plenty of food! (see more Eats ‘n Treats ideas below) School-age kids have varying appetites. Provide a snack station near the activity area so guests can grab a quick drink or snack. Offer:
   
   • Vegetables and dip
   • Apple or melon slices
   • Fresh berries
   • Cheese and crackers
   • Chips and salsa
   • Popcorn
   • Set out water bottles, juice boxes or soda (place sharpie markers near the drinks so kids can put their names on their beverage containers).
     
6. If your party takes place during a traditional meal-time consider themed food such as shaped pizza or sandwiches cut with themed shaped cookie cutters. For more creative ideas visit our recipes page.
7. We all hope accidents will never occur but it is wise to make like a boy-scout and be prepared! Ask parents where he or she can be reached in the event you need to get a hold of them. Or have the parent at least leave contact information with their child.
8. Always have at least one other adult or teen assisting you especially for the off chance there is an emergency. This enables you to effectively take care of the situation while the helper supervises the other guests.
9. Check camera and video camera batteries ensuring they will last as long as the party.
10. Birthday ideas for kids 6 to 9 may include your child’s campaign for asleep-over party. These are more popular with girls but boys have been known to enjoy them as well. Some helpful guidelines:
    
    • Invite guests to arrive around 7pm (earlier if you will be serving a meal).
    • Plan the first 1/3 of the party like a traditional birthday party: games, activities, food, gifts, favors lasting until 10 or 11pm.
    • The 2nd segment (the overnight part) should begin with guests donning their pjs packing dirty clothes, rolling out sleeping bags, and generally preparing for the night which will undoubtedly not include sleeping.
    • Plan a few activities or videos for the next hour or so. Let them tell stories, watch videos, play cards or video games, play games such as: Wink, or Telephone, etc.
    • Set parameters for the wee hours of the night such as:
      • Lights out at 1am (or time you designate)
      • Remain in the house
      • Keep voices, giggling, screeching, screaming down to a minimum
      • Allow grown-ups to sleep until at least 7am!
    • The 3rd segment of the party begins as the guests wake-up and ends around 10am typically.
      • Plan breakfast about 1 1/2 hours before pick-up time.
      • About 45 minutes before pick-up help guests roll up sleeping bags, gather belongings, etc.
      • Provide open ended activities for the final half hour.

Need more age-specific birthday party ideas? Here are a few of the more popular options:

• 1st Birthday Party Ideas
• Toddler Birthday Party Ideas (2s and 3s)
• Preschool Birthday Ideas (4s and 5s)
• Tween Birthday Party Ideas (age 10, 11 and 12)
• Teenage Birthday Party Ideas

Eats ‘n Treats for Kids 6 to 9

Now that our kids have graduated from the baby and toddler stage with the chances of choking significantly decreased, your choices of birthday party food just opened up like a rain cloud in Oregon.

The food served will be largely determined by the chosen birthday theme. For example: Let’s say your theme is The Olympics . . . Your menu might look something like this:

• Hot dogs
• Hamburgers
• Fries or onion rings
• Soda
• Water in sports bottles
• A sport, Olympic rings, or torch shaped birthday cake and of course, red, white, and blue ice-cream

An “Under the Sea” theme might include edible items such as:

• Fish-sticks with dip
• Clam chowder
• Tuna-fish sandwiches
• Fish-burgers
• Goldfish Jell-O Bowl, fish, octopus, or crab shaped cake with blue ice-cream (link takes you to the birthday food ideas page).

You get the idea. Your menu is only limited by your imagination (and budget).

Birthday Games

These are the precious last years when our kids get to be uninhibited before being bit by the self-conscious bug, so let’s go all out whacky. More often than not these kids like competitive games and cooperative play. Here are some ideas for ya:

1. Face Painting (mostly girls like this one)
2. If your child is in drama, dance or choir break up the drama queens or kings into groups of 2 or 3 and have them stage a play or scenes from a play picked from a few suggestions drawn from a hat. The other guests have to guess the play, movie, or tv show (Okay, so it’s charades).
3. The more popular games I’ve done at my son’s parties have been scavenger or treasure hunts, and,
4. “Olympics” or obstacle course games which included:
   1. Horse-shoes
   2. Various kinds of challenging races such as:
      1. Balloon race
      2. Raw egg/spoon race
      3. Gunny-sack race (What, no gunny-sack? just use a plastic garbage bag)
      4. Broom pony race
   3. Sharpshooter – a game played with shaving cream coated balloons; with water guns in hand cowpokes shoot shaving cream off.
   4. Lawn darts
   5. Water balloon toss
   6. Bean-bag toss: they go for hours (or at least a lot of minutes) just trying to get a bean bag or ball in the designated hole. This is also called the cornhole game and it is a lot of fun.
5. Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey is still kickin’. I always make or purchase a theme related “pin” game.
6. Spaghetti Challenge:
   1. Children form 2 lines, ears attuned for the word “GO!”
   2. The first player races toward a bucket of cooked spaghetti, attempts to scoop up a handful, and races back to his team.
   3. Other players on the team then pass the wet noodles hand-over-hand to the end of the line.
   4. The last player deposits whats left into a plastic bowl.
   5. The event can be timed or can continue until all spaghetti in the bucket is gone.
   6. OBJECT: Whichever team has the most spaghetti in their bowl, wins!
7. Balloon Bust
8. Bingo
9. Blind Man’s Bluff
10. Costume Relay:
    1. 2 piles of clothes are heaped on the floor, such as hats, ties, shirts, pants, socks, shoes and gloves.
    2. There are 2 teams and each team member must run to the pile, don all the clothes, run back to his team, take the clothes off and give them to the 2nd player who puts them on.
    3. The 2nd player runs to the pile, takes off clothes, then runs back and tags the 3rd player.
    4. The 3rd player proceeds like the 1st player.
    5. The game continues until every team member has put on and removed the clothes.
    6. OBJECT: First team to finish, wins.
11. Memory Game
12. Wrap the Mummy
    1. Split the kids into pairs: one child is the “wrapper” the other the mummy.
    2. Using toilet paper, the wrapper must wrap the mummy up the best he can in a set amount of time.
    3. Once the timer stops, the best wrapped mummy team wins.
    4. This is great for an Egyptian birthday party theme!

Plan 8 to 10 games of 10 to 15 minutes each, but let’s be flexible. If the kids are having a great time with a particular game – let ‘em play!

Find more instructions and more fun game ideas on the Kids Birthday Party Games page.

Birthday Themes for Kids 6 to 9

Ready for some birthday theme ideas? You may see signs of maturing in this list as your small-fry graduates to tator-tothood. See the table below for lots of fun ideas.

BONUS IDEA: Backwards Birthday Party.

Take a look at the picture at the top of this page. See how the boys are all wearing their clothing backwards?!

Now take a look at the “awesome” cake to your right. Do you notice anything “special” about it? If you said it is upside down, you would be right!

Other backwards ideas:

• Bring presents wrapped with the birthday paper design inside where you can’t see it.
• If you are serving a meal, serve the cake and ice cream first (you may not need as much “real” food!)
• Serve ice cream cones upside down
• Serve pineapple upside down cake
• Have the kids walk backwards everywhere they go, with a small penalty if caught walking forwards.
• You get the idea!

For detailed instructions and lots of crazy ideas, visit the backwards birthday party page.

If you don’t feel like walking backwards or baking upside down, take a look at the list below. You are bound to find something fun and exciting for your 6 to 9 year old.

Birthday Party Locations

Looking for birthday party locations for kids age 6 to 9? Before we get to the list, here are a few things to remember:

• Remember to make reservations 4 to 6 weeks in advance.
• Ask what the venue provides: Decorations? Cake? Entertainment? Invitations? A host?
• Ask about the costs. That’s plural for a reason. Sometimes there is a base cost with lots of “optional” extras. A boys’ birthday bash at the bowling alley, for example, may include bowling and shoes, but not food. Maybe the cake is included but not the beverages. Become a birthday party detective. It may save you a little heartburn later.

On the the list!

Birthday Gifts for Kids 6 to 9

Don’t be shy. Include your child’s birthday wish list in your invitations.

If you are searching cluelessly, work through the following list. Keep in mind, too, that many birthday ideas for kids 6 to 9 will work for the birthday boy or girl, but some are very gender specific:

What are your birthday ideas for kids 6 to 9?

If you have any other ideas for Birthday themes, food, games or gifts for our 6 to 9 year olds I would love to hear about them – please share in the form below!