The day after his birthday parties, my son already has the next birthday party theme in mind AND thank the Good Lord, he never changes his mind. This party planning mama appreciates that BIG TIME. So after his 5th camping birthday party, Ethan declared his 6th birthday party would be police themed. I’m pretty sure there’s a direct correlation with his obsession with Chase from Paw Patrol.
With a winter birthday and a growing list of friends to invite, we knew we needed a location that was large enough for activities and indoors in case it rained. Yes, it does rain in Southern California! But of course, it was literally the warmest day in a LONG time on his birthday party day.
Ethan loves bowling so that group activity was a no-brainer and luckily, there is a really hip gastropub that offers eight lanes of bowling in a separate space. This was seriously a win-win for kids and parents!
Since we weren’t at home or at a true “event space”, I kept the DIY party decorating simple and focused on a few things.
Bowling Area:
The day before, I purchased mylar balloons in my son’s favorite colors (blue and black, because you know, they’re police colors) from Dollar Tree. TIP: these mylar balloons hold up for DAYS so save your sanity and get them ahead of time! I set these balloons up in our bowling area so guests can easily find us.
Since I figured the kindergartners would be so focused on bowling, the only decorative thing I set out was the letter E (for Ethan) made out of Legos. I saw something similar on Pinterest and thought it was a clever way to personalize an event. Ethan and I made these the week before his party and had fun creating little scenes with the Lego people. I bought a Lego baseplate (link) and used the Legos we already had at home. Super easy DIY!
Another fun DIY to go along with the theme was giving each partygoer a personalized police badge! You can read about that DIY tutorial here. It was a super simple way to reiterate the theme, especially in my situation where I couldn’t visually/physically deck the space out.
We had a lot of younger siblings join the celebration, so I set out various activities to keep them busy.
- Playdoh (link) – These party size tubs are great for little hands and come in a ton of colors to make fun Playdoh creations.
- Coloring Sheets – I found free police-themed coloring sheets online to keep with the party theme.
- Books – I picked up several children’s picture and board books from our neighborhood library that had stories about police officers. I saw some parents read to their kids which I thought was super cute.
Party Tip: Bowling for one hour was the right amount of time for 5/6-year-olds. Also, if you’re able, program the bowling console to just one frame per bowling kid (versus the traditional two frames per bowler). This is way easier for the kids to keep track of.
Celebration Space:
After bowling, we headed to the outdoor patio to celebrate with snacks and of course cake!
I intentionally did not set out food/snacks in the Bowling Area to A) keep things simple/organized and really B) G-E-R-M-S! Dirty shared bowling balls and finger foods…NO THANK YOU! If I can avoid getting sick during the winter germy season, I will!
For snacks, I set out individual bags of goldfish (per birthday boy’s request). I got super lucky because this time of year, valentine party packs are already out. I’m sure you can find something similar at Costco. Other snacks included some popcorn, string cheese, and juice boxes. I also ordered some pepperoni flatbread and asked the restaurant to cut into sharing sizes for the kids and parents.
As for cake, we ordered a ginormous cake for a not-so-ginormous price from Costco. It still blows my mind their cake is less than $20 and it’s delicious AND you can order with just 1-day advance notice! #costcoFTW
On the cake, I added two police-themed stress reliever toys as “cake toppers”. Party Hack: I requested these as “free samples” from an online promotional/swag store and covered their logo. Promo shops are also a great place to find theme-specific items that could work for party favors.
Speaking of party favors, if you don’t know by now, I reaaaaaally like making these super special. I set out the police-themed Lego party favors on a separate table with a little sign thanking our party guests. We had so much fun celebrating Ethan’s 6th birthday that we are already planning our return for more bowling fun!!