Birthday Party Ideas for Your Future Pilot

A special little guy in my life is madly (fiercely!) in love with everything airplanes. With his birthday coming up at the end of the month, I couldn’t resist sharing these great party-planning ideas with you from my blogging buddy Stephanie, from Spaceships and Laserbeams. In fact, if you’re looking for ANY kind of party theme ideas for boys, Stephanie is your gal!

**********

Taking off on the planning for a high flying plane party doesn’t have to land you in the loony bin!  With these top plane party planning ideas you won’t even have to fasten your safety belt because airplane parties can be full of adventure without even gaining altitude. Hop aboard with us as we fly through some simple suggestions for boarding pass style invitations, decorating your party hangar, setting up in-flight snacks and refreshments, entertaining flying aces and planning top-notch take-home favors.

Nothing excites guests quite like a themed invitation.  Ramp-up the fun by sending out boarding pass style invitations.  You can include personalized details by using the guest of honor’s name as the airlines (i.e., “Carver Airlines”) and his/her age as the boarding gate.  Add fun party details with phrases like “departure time” and “landing time” and a teaser about the in-flight snack that will be served.  Another clever plane invitation idea could be attaching a sky banner style invitation to a small toy plane. Or, how about cutting a simple airplane shape from cardstock and handwriting the party details?

Decorating for a plane party requires planes and a lot of them: think high and low! Toy planes and gliders can be hung from the ceiling with fishing line.  Paper or vinyl planes can be attached temporarily to walls.  How about creating a runway out of electrical tape and plastic tablecloths or sheeting for guests to practice their take-offs and landings all party long?  Other ideas for decorating your party space could include adding homemade clouds and various airport style stations such as boarding, in-flight snack, in-flight entertainment (activities) and a baggage claim for favors.

Add to the experience by serving in-flight snacks and beverages just as they do on real commercial flights.  Things could be kept simple with individual bags of peanuts or pretzels and several choices of beverages or could include a full dessert table with a fondant plane topped cake and cupcakes, cloud cookies and propeller cake pops.  Play up the airplane theme by serving items out of paper suitcases and creating a runway style table runner.  If time and budget allow, add custom tags and labels with the custom airlines included on the snacks and beverages.

Petite pilots will want plenty of flight time.  Be sure to allow for free play with planes.  Little ones may enjoy simple games such as pin the wings on the airplane. For an older crowd, how about a paper airplane contest or pilot training exercises?  A craft activity could involve assembling simple model planes. To really wow, take a trip to a small local airport or make arrangements to see a real plane.

Treating guests to take-home favors prior to departing is always a great idea.  Setting up a baggage claim station with thoughtful favor bags for guests to claim is sure to delight flying aces at your party.  Toy planes, model gliders, pilot wings or plane themed cookies will help spirits soar and end your party on a high note.

With these ideas in mind, take your plane party planning to new heights!

P.S. Looking for more birthday themed-party ideas? Check out Max’s Pirate Party and Pokemon Party!