Birthday Party Ideas for Kids with a Shopping Theme

Small kids love mimicking even the most mundane adult tasks. Young girls and boys love pushing kid-sized vacuums, strollers and shopping carts. If your child is one of them, consider throwing a shopping-themed birthday party.

A shopping themed birthday party idea works both indoors and out, as long as you've got enough space to accommodate the activities. For your shopping themed party, you'll need room for shelves, commodities (gifts), shopping carts, a checkout stand, and the money earning activities.

A shopping themed party offers more than just a fun way for kids to feel like a grown-up for a day. The activities involved are a great way for kids to learn the value of work and money.

Supplies

A new, kid-sized shopping cart costs about $20. You may be able to find cheap used carts by perusing local thrift stores, Craigslist.org, or garage sales. Another idea is to use wagons (for an outdoor birthday party) or cheap baskets. You'll also need commodities for your shopping themed birthday party. For about $10, you can find dozens of gifts at your local dollar store. Party favors, stuffed animals, erasers, pencils, coloring books, little cars, wands, and fairy wings are a few ideas for what to stock at your birthday party. Candy is another idea. You'll need to affix each item with a price tag. Unless you intend to use change, whole dollars from 1 to 9 would be best. Find free, printable fake money online. You'll also need a cash register. If you don't want to buy one, you can always make one out of cardboard. However, in that case, you'll need to provide the beeping sound effects.

Activities

What child hasn't heard the phrase "money doesn't grow on trees?" The kids need to work for their dough via a fun birthday party activity. Some money earning ideas include having the kid's race or toss bean bags or balls. Another idea is to have musical chairs with an envelope taped under each chair with $1 to $3 in it. Or spray paint gravel or small rocks gold and hide them around the house or yard. Kids can then trade them in for dollars. You can even give the kids $1 upon entering the party to start them off.

Once the kids have finished the activities and earned their money, they can come into the store and purchase their goods, which they will be able to keep once the birthday party's over.