How to Host and Indian Birthday Party

Little boys love to play cowboys and Indians. My boys are no exception. Several years ago, my youngest son wanted to have an Indian birthday party. We already had a seven foot teepee, Indian costumes and a bow and arrow set. I figured that was a decent start for planning and hosting an Indian birthday party.

I went to a local craft store and bought a rubber stamp that had an Indian print on it, some feathers and face paint. This was the beginning of my party planning for the big day. We stamped the Indian pattern on the teepee, painted the stamped designs and added other hand painted Indian designs on the outside. We made colorful invitations with construction paper using the rubber stamp. We also included an Indian feather on the front of the invitation to add a special touch. We let our guests know that they would be learning to shoot a bow and arrow, paint on buffalo skins and making their own headdresses as part of the party fun.

On the day of the party, we set the teepee up in the yard and had the craft projects ready for our guests. As each child arrived, they made their own Indian headdress with the rubber stamp, feather, paints and precut headdresses. Once the squaws and braves had their headdresses complete, they moved to the next station we had set up-face painting! Several of my friends volunteered to help with the face painting table, so it made this part of the party go smoothly. Each child painted Indian designs on their face and then headed out to shoot the bow and arrow with my husband.

As the children waited for their turn to shoot arrows, they helped me to pick flowers, leaves and grass to make paints for the buffalo skins. We crushed raspberries and blueberries to use as natural paints. The children helped me crush the flowers, leaves and grass using a mortar and pestle and while the kids all ate cake and ice cream, I simmered the plant matter in pots of water onthe stove (separated by color). By the time my son opened his gifts, the paints were ready to be used.

The children had an amazing time painting buffalo skins with the paints we made from nature. Prior to the party, I ripped large brown paper bags into buffalo skin shapes. I crumpled them and wrinkled them until they looked like buffalo skins. I had a stack of skins for each child to choose from. I also had several books that included Indian designs to help spark their imaginations. The kids all left the party happy after having a great day pretending to be squaws and braves.