October Birthday Party Ideas

I absolutely love October. Living in Connecticut, we are graced by mother nature every year with the beautiful fall season. Trees are wrapped in red, orange and yellow leaves and cool breezes push through the afternoons. It is my favorite month not only because of the gorgeous scenery, but because it's my son's birthday month. You thought I was going to say Halloween, didn't you? Well, I do love Halloween as well - and because his birthday is so close to the holiday, I like to the wrap the autumnal theme into the birthday festivities, with a dash of Halloween goodness in there.

This upcoming October is going to involve my entertaining a small group of kindergarten and pre-school aged children over the course of three to four hours, so here are my ideas as to how I can keep the pumpkin patch happy with lots of October themed games and activities.

Pumpkin Hunt. This is like an Easter egg hunt. Easy enough, right? Pumpkins aren't hard to come by around here, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Get small enough ones so that the kids can pick them up on their own, but large enough so that they can decorate them for party project number two (coming up next!) Hide the pumpkins in somewhat conspicuous places, to create a challenge but eliminate the threat of children getting upset because they can't find the pumpkin you hid in the chimney sweep. C'mon now.

Time to Decorate. Once all the kids have gathered their pumpkins, create a decorating station for them to personalize their treasure. It's pumpkin decorating time! Because the age group I will be dealing with is still young, we provide sticky appliques, water soluble markers, stickers - fun things they can easily just stick on or be drawn onto the surface of the pumpkin. No painting or carving (or messy glitter and glue).

Hot Pumpkin is next on the roster, or Pass the Pumpkin - much akin to the ever popular game Hot Potato! Basically the children will sit in a circle and pass a small pumpkin while some fun Halloween music is being played. Once the music is stopped, the child holding the "hot" pumpkin is out! Another musical game that can be segued into from this activity is none other than musical chairs. Most people know how to play this game but if it's totally new to you, the concept is simple: put chairs in a circle, leaving one less than the number of children you have actually playing. (i.e. 7 kids playing, put out 6 chairs) Begin the fun Halloween music and have the children walk around the chairs, and then after a few moments quickly stop the music - they must leap into the closest available chair! Whoever is left standing without a chair, is out of the game. So on, and so forth. If you don't have any Halloween music on hand, check out Amazon.com for the classic Halloween hits or some affordable Kidz Bop Halloween. On with the festivities!

Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin is a variation of pin the tail on the donkey. Get a real pumpkin or a big cardboard cut out - whatever you prefer. You will provide the children with black paper or felt noses (black triangles) they can either pin or tape onto the pumpkin, but only after being blindfolded and spun in a circle.

If you're willing to spend a little more time on setting up an activity, something I highly recommend is creating a scavenger hunt. Divide the children into teams and give them a "clue card" that will lead them to designated locations you have selected. For example, start the children off with a card that says, "Will you find the clue, no one knows. Try looking where we wash our clothes..." and so they head off to the laundry room for the next clue card! The clues can be adjusted to be more or less difficult, depending upon the age range you are dealing with. Once they head to the location indicated by the first clue card, they will find another hint you have created which will lead them to another location. Each team must meet all the checkpoints and get to the final clue, resulting in a victory for the team who finishes first. It is something you can get creative with and personalize for your child and their friends.

There are plenty of ways to incorporate the holiday and the season into the party plans, let your imagination unfold. Take something you used to love doing as a child and put a little spin on it. Enjoy recreating your memories and making new ones for your children, with you own twist on some classic games and projects.