With the Disney movie Planes showing in cinemas, it’s a great time to think about having an airplane-themed birthday party for your little frequent flyer.
I have a guest post on the Mommy Points blog about airports and airport museums that host children’s birthday parties. Check it out!
If you prefer to have your child’s party at home, you can have a lot of fun with this great airplane theme!
When our daughter was younger, we had a successful formula for hosting theme birthday parties. Oriental Trading Company and Dover Publications were our go to resources for inexpensive party favors and decorations. No matter what the theme, the parties all followed the same basic plan.
Here is an easy ten-step guide to planning an over-the-top airplane birthday party. Naturally, pick and choose from these ideas and adapt the party depending on the age of your child.
To save on shipping costs, it makes sense to order your supplies from one vendor. Most of the party supplies pictured here come from Shindigz online party store (promo code VCJGCY gives $10 off on $85 purchase), but there are a few irresistible items from Oriental Trading, Amazon.com, and elsewhere.
1. Invitations
The invitation sets the tone for the party.
If you want to keep it easy you can order a complete party package including invitations, plates, and decorations in the Disney Planes or Airplane Explorers theme, but its more fun to do it yourself!
A ticket or a boarding pass excites the imagination and builds anticipation.
There are some great free templates for an airplane and a boarding pass invitation available from coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com.
2. Decorations
The birthday child can let off steam the morning of the party by decorating the sidewalk or the driveway as a landing strip, using sidewalk chalk.
There are lots of inexpensive options for decorations:
- Inflatable airplanes hanging from the ceiling
- Wall stickers or posters
- Stencils for decorating the table covering
- An airplane piñata
- Crepe paper and banners
3. Costumes
Costumes are always fun at a birthday party.
Parents can dress as flight attendants. Spiff up a business suit with a conservative scarf or tie, and some flight wings. (If you want, you can give the safety instructions for take-off.)
A adult-size pilot hat can come in handy for the games.
If you want to splurge, you can get a pilot costume for the birthday child. Felt aviator hats are also cute.
4. Warm up activities
We like to make a prop from cardboard boxes and photograph each child in it when they arrive.
If you don’t want to make your own airplane prop, there’s a cute alternative!
You can welcome each guest with some aviator wings.
A less expensive option is a temporary tattoo. You can’t go wrong at $2.99 a dozen. Kids love these! (Note: Some of these links are not working properly. In the meantime, uyou can use the link to Shindigz in the sidebar to find these items online. When you get to the site, search for planes, airplane, or pilot.)
5. Craft
Want a no muss, no fuss craft activity while you are waiting for all the kids to arrive? Make paper airplanes!
I like these American Lung Association Delta Fighters. Instructions and a free template are available online.
Oriental Trading offers lots of craft kits for kids.
You can choose this cute clothespin airplane craft kit (12 for $6.95).
If you are prepared for a bit of a mess, paint your own wooden airplanes.
6. Music
You will need a sound track for some of the games, like musical chairs.
Mix a CD with songs like:
- the BBC Airport theme song;
- Up, Up, and Away; in My Beautiful Balloon;
- end credit music from the movie Airplane;
- I’m leaving on a Jet Plane;
Help me out here, please!
7. Games
Traditional party games can easily be adapted to the airplane theme.
- Musical chairs? Line the seats up like a jet plane.
- Pin the tail on the…. airplane.
- Captain may I?
- Pilot Says do this!
- For an outdoor activity, investigate aerodynamics – with bubble blowing!
- Relay races can be great fun – run the luggage to security and back again.
8. Refreshments
To keep things mess free – consider passing a basket of snack-sized bags of peanuts, pretzels, carrots, or cookies.
If the kids are flying in first class, hot nuts are always popular. No offense to One Mile at a Time.
Some hostesses have set up drink carts stacked with mini cans of soda or juice boxes.
If you want to offer something more nutritious, here is a recipe by Moms Who Think for an airplane made of a banana:
Cut a banana in half lengthwise. Place one half; cut side up, on a plate. Spread with peanut butter. Place a whole graham cracker in place for each wing, and use a quarter rectangle for the horizontal part of the tail. Put the other banana half on top. Cut a slit at the tail end of the top half, and put a rudder piece in place to finish the tail. Stick on raisin windows with little dollops of peanut butter.
The birthday cake is the main thing!
- These airplane candle holders are the sweetest thing, and easy to do.
- There are cake pans shaped like airplanes.
- Alternately, cupcakes topped with tiny plastic planes would be cute.
9. Prizes and Goody Bags
You have lots of things to choose from:
- Foam gliders are a classic prize.
- I’m a sucker for these airplane lollipops!
- The San Diego Airport Explorers program offers some pins, which are great for backpacks.
- Dover Publications’ little activity books with airplane stickers are available for pennies from Amazon.com.
10. Thank You Notes
A personalized touch is to include a picture of the kid posing in the airplane with the thank you notes.
Some of the links included in this post are affiliate links. I may receive a small commission if you choose to buy something.
Maybe you can plan my next birthday party. I am not quite still a child, but…your parties sound like so much fun.
Do you have a theme in mind?
Loved your post! Sharing links of the vendors is great. I did not look beyond Amazon and now there is Oriental and Dover and Shindigz. I am even more excited about my lil guy’s first birthday’ Come fly with me’ party. Thank you ever so much for sharing these wonderful ideas and great resources .
Have fun planning the party! It’s a great theme!