Come Fly with Me: An Airplane Party!

(This post circa 2010 is being re-published by special request....enjoy!)

This post is for every parent out there who is googling “airplane birthday party” right now.

Hello, and welcome!

See, I was in your shoes about two months ago.
We always do family birthday parties but when my soon to be 6 year old son asked me for a birthday party with his classmates, my heart got all kinds of guilty.
And so I caved.  (Sucker.)
He wanted to invite all the boys from his class over to our small house.  (Gulp.)
And he wanted a birthday all about AIRPLANES!  (Someone fill my wine glass and then get me to Google.)

Well you know what I quickly found out? 
Good luck with that airplane theme.
BECAUSE NO ONE HAS AIRPLANE ANYTHING! 

Humor me and try going to Party City or some other birthday site right now. 
Toy Story 3 theme? 
You got it!  Buzz Lightyear to the birthday rescue!
Star Wars? 
Sure thing! How many Darth Vader masks do you need? 200? No problem!
Airplanes? 
SOR-RY. You lose.

But not today, my friends.
Today you do not lose. 
Because today? You found this blog.
Today you get all my airplane birthday theme ideas.  TODAY YOU WIN!!!!

#1—Invitations
What’s a better invite for an airplane party than an…AIRPLANE TICKET!!

Invites were made for me by this Etsy shop I found.  For a fun finishing touch, I mailed in an Air Mail envelope.

#2—Decorations
I kept the decor simple. 
I made airplane signs such as “Check-in”, “Baggage Claim”, “Ground Transportation”, etc.  This website with common airport travel signs was extremely helpful.  



We did a “Runway” table with simple black tablecloth and white duct tape.

  

Here’s a super fun decoration idea!  Hang inflatable airplanes from the fan.
Then turn the fan on the slowest speed. Watch the airplanes “fly”.
And now watch your kid’s face light up from the awesome-ness that is your party decoration.


#3—Games
My games were old school with an airplane twist.  There is a reason old school games stand the test of time….they are so simple yet the kids LOVE them!

Some airplane games we played were:
- “Pilot, Pilot, Plane” (aka Duck Duck Goose)
- “Air Show” The kids put together gliders and then everyone lined up and flew theirs.  We made sure each kid “won” for something—best loop de loop, longest flight, best nosedive, etc.
- Airplane Piñata
-Red Light, Green Light  (Use red and green glow sticks things…so you look like a ground controller guy!)

Another game we played was similar to Hot Potato, but we played with the “Black Box” instead.

I had the boys sit in a circle and then I explained that the black box of an airplane holds all the important information about their flight.  (Um…I’ll just downplay the part where my son announced “AND THAT’S WHERE THEY FIND OUT HOW YOU CRASHED!”) 
Our black box was filled with all sorts of fun prizes.
So when the music starts (may I suggest “Come Fly With Me” by Frank Sinatra??), the kids pass the black box. When the music stops, whoever has the black box gets to open it and pick a prize out. 


#4—Goodie Bags
I purchased these cloud favor boxes on Amazon:



We printed a label for the front of it that said “Thank you for flying Matthew Airlines” and obviously filled it with fun airplane-related stuff.  Hang a “Baggage Claim” sign for good measure!


#5—Airplane shirt
My son didn’t want to wear his pilot’s uniform.  YEAH, GO FIGURE. 
But he did wear this airplane shirt, purchased from an Etsy shop called Bella Mia:



Well, I think those are the basics of a successful airplane party.  If you follow the above guidelines, I guarantee you will end your “flight” with some extremely happy passengers: