5 fabulous birthday parties for kids

Birthday party #5
Theme: Nature crafts

Here's a new twist to the ever-popular arts and crafts birthday party: why not encourage your child to host a birthday party that focuses on nature crafts? If you really want to go all out with the nature theme, kick the birthday party off with a walk in the woods. That way, the party guests can have fun gathering rocks, pebbles, twigs, and other materials that they'll need for the various nature craft projects.

Location: Outdoors -- walk in woods, outdoors -- backyard

Age: School-age

Invitations: Pick up some nature postcards in a nearby stationery store or gift shop and use them as party invitations. Don't forget to remind each guest to wear clothing that is suitable for both a walk in the woods and slightly messy crafts.

Decorations: Since most of the party will be taking place outdoors -- either in the woods or in your backyard -- Mother Nature is handling most of the decorating for you. All you need to pick up is a plastic table cloth to cover the picnic table or other work surface where the party guests will be doing their crafts.

Food: Offer party guests an assortment of sandwiches, veggies with dip, and fresh fruit to nibble on while they're working away. Then, when it's time for everyone to join in the singing of "Happy birthday," bring out a cake that has been decorated with animal tracks.

Fun and games: Depending on how much time you allow for the birthday material and the types of materials you're able to find during your walk, you may want to plan to have your party guests tackle one or more of the following projects:

• Rock Painting: Decorate the rocks using acrylic paints (or, if you prefer, non-toxic permanent markers) and then use spray varnish to seal the resulting creations.
• Bookends: Cover the outside surface of a set of wooden bookends with glue. Then stick pebbles or other small natural objects that you picked up during your nature walk to the bookends.
• Nature Mobile: Twigs, pinecones, acorns, and other items from nature can be transformed into an eye-catching mobile. Simply cross two twigs to form an X" and hang the objects you've collected from the twigs using rope or twine. Then tie a large loop of rope through the centre of your mobile so that your party guests can hang their mobiles from a hook in the ceiling or over a window at home.

Loot bags: Party guests will appreciate receiving some craft supplies that they can use to tackle another nature craft at home -- perhaps a wreath and some ribbon that they could finish decorating with some twigs and pinecones; or a set of blank cards and some clear adhesive sheets that could be used to hold pressed leaves or flowers in place.

Etc.:
Plan to have an assortment of natural materials on hand, just in case your nature walk gets rained out. Otherwise you could end up watching your craft projects get "rained out," too!