Come Fly with Me: An Airplane Party!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012



(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!!
4x8 airline ticket invitation
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.  

signage

We did a “Runway” table with simple black tablecloth and white duct tape.
runway table
IMG_5121  

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.
airplanes fan

#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. 
Black Box

#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!
airport signs

#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:

IMG_5126

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:

Carter and Matthew

30 Comments!:

  1. LOVE IT!! We are an airline family (i'm a flight attendant, dad a pilot, hubby a jet mechanic etc etc) this is all such GREAT ideaS!!

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  2. woo my 32nd birthday is coming up quick (in less than 3 weeks) and after reading your post, *I* want an airplane party LOL. You did an awesome job!

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  4. LOVE IT!! I have an almost 4 yr old that loves planes like your Matthew so I'll probably steal some of your ideas!! :) He is constantly carrying around small matchbox airplanes...usually 2 per hand and sometimes an additional helicopter. I'm a bit worried his hands are going to resemble claws and develop arthritis :) Great ideas!!

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  5. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO creative! Who needs google or a party shop? Just get a McMommy & you're good to go!

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  6. Well I have extremely girlie girls, so I don't see an airplane party in my future, but I had to write and tell you how AMAZING that looked! Great creativity, momma! Your boys are truly blessed to have you.

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  7. What can I say but, WOW!!! Really creative ideas that I never would have thought of. I love the black box idea, sooo clever. Your son looks so happy! Well done!!

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  8. I bow down to your awesomeness. Way to go Mommy!

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  9. Umm, how can you NOT mention that adorable cake???? I mean, everything you did is beyond clever - way too cute! But the cake?! OMG, it's perfection! Please share ...

    :)
    micheller@cinci.rr.com

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  10. Oh My Gosh! How cute is that. Ok now I want to throw a airplane party. Great ideas and I believe I will pass along this post to my mommies network site. Thanks so much!

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  11. This is amazing...you did wonderful things with the theme. I especially loved the runway table -- SO cute.

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  12. OMG ADORABLE!!!
    You don't have to tell me how difficult party planning is. My 3 year old wants a dinosaur party. Good luck finding non-scary dinosaur themed stuff anywhere!!

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  13. You went all out!! All the details are absolutely amazing!

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  14. I absolutely love all of the creative details of this party!!!!BUT WAIT....what's next McMommy? This is your cousin from Washington State and we can't wait to see the next theme! Our son will say....you did this for my sister....what are you doing for my party? Oh yea, that's right! Have fun!

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  15. WOW! THat's awesome. you went all out. I'm taking notes b/c my child is obsessed with airplanes. Thanks for all the ideas!! :)

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  16. How cool! I love the uniform attire for the party hostesses!

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  17. What great ideas you have!!! Love this and am bookmarking for future reference. :)

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  18. Brilliant. I might have to refer back to this one day soon. Thanks!

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  19. This is so creative and I love it! Great job with the theme!

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  20. Fantastic! You are so creative McMommy, I love it!

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  21. I LOVE all the cute decorations - so very detailed!!!!! I cannot wait to have kids and plan parties!

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  22. Amazing!!! You did a great job, that is one lucky little guy!!

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  23. love love love mcmommy. you never cease to amaze me. and more importantly, thanks for not leaving me high and dry. you really got me all nervous when you discussed this whole "quitting" business. glad to hear you made it over that hurdle!

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  24. What a fantastic party! You had so many clever ideas that I never would have thought of!

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  25. dude you out did yourself. seriously. awesome.

    happy, happy bday to our favorite bday date sharing buddy :)

    ps - and i just said at our party on sunday...why are we not drinking?? next year friend. next year.

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  26. What an awesome birthday party! Way to be creative, and I agree the flight attendant costumes are the icing on the cake!

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  27. That is pretty damn terrific! I'm jealous of your party making skills.

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  28. Looks like a great party! Very creative.

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  29. Love the inspiration! I meant to do a baggage claim at my airplane birthday party but accidently typed baggage check. I just improvised and used it as a place to put gifts on the way in! Mine is here: http://diyingtobedomestic.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/airplane-birthday-party/

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  30. You are the best and most clever party giver EVER. Wow. I'm very impressed.

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