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By Shelly Radic
 Do bulldozers, dump trucks, and cranes excite your preschooler? Give him or her a Construction Party to remember.
Invitations: Cardboard blocks with party information printed on one side, mailing information on another. Above the party information, write, “Caution: Children Working at Carter’s Birthday Party.” (50-piece block sets available on E-bay for under $15.)
Food: Build your own sandwich bar with simple sandwich fixings. Feature “Dirt Cake” (see sidebar) in a clean dump truck, served with a new plastic shovel.
Decorations: Toy construction vehicles, building toys and tools, architect plans, Caution tape, flags, orange cones, and signs that say “Children at Work.”
Costumes: Plastic hardhats and orange vests. (These are available at many party supply stores. The orange vests can be made using orange plastic table clothes and duct tape.)
Games and Activities:
Building Time. As guests arrive, provide a selection of building toys. Take Polaroid or Digital pictures of guest with their buildings.
Construction Frames. Cut a yellow piece of poster board into a rectangular picture frame. Provide guests with construction stickers. Duct tape picture onto frame back, and attach a self-sticking magnetic strip for refrigerator display.
Dig for Dump Trucks. Create a pile of sand, mulch, or dirt and hide little dump trucks throughout. Let guests dig for trucks with plastic shovels. This is messy, but fun. Use a big plastic tarp if playing in a garage or on a patio.
Builder’s Obstacle Course. Create an obstacle course challenging guests to push a dump truck filled with blocks under a sawhorse, around orange cones, across a 2x4 board, through the dirt pile to a “construction site.” As players reach the construction site, they incorporate their blocks into the construction project, while the next player takes the empty truck to the beginning of the obstacle course to collect more blocks.
Building Challenges. Using large cardboard building blocks, challenge guests to build the highest tower, use the most blocks without tipping the structure, or build the silliest house. Videotape, and then watch during guest pick up time.
Party favors: Hardhat, vest, small dump trucks, picture frame.
So the party is planned, but who do you invite? Check out Shelly Radic’s tips to Build a Better Guest List.
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Shelly Radic is the Director of Group Life at MOPS International and also the author of The Birthday Book: Creative Ways to Celebrate Your Child’s Special Day. Having hosted more than forty children's birthday celebrations, and attended countless others, Shelly is delighted to provide parents with a wealth of birthday planning ideas.
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