Children with winter birthdays might have the good fortune of sharing their special day with classmates, but they also get the short end of the stick when it comes to outdoor activities. If party guests trek over snow and ice to help celebrate, reward them with a spectacular time. Don your hats, your coats and your sense of adventure!
Games and such
If it snows:
1. Snow angel competition. Indicate on the invitation that party guests should dress for the outdoors. Divide the party into two teams and see how many snow angels each group can make on their side of the yard for a designated amount of time.
2. Snowman creation competition. Provide a variety of accessories for kids to use as they build their snowman. Items include winter coats and scarves, hats, rocks, sticks. Adults and siblings judge each snowman’s appearance on elements including speed of construction, creativity, use of materials, which is the largest, etc.
3. Snowy day obstacle course.
Set up an obstacle course with:
balance beam walk (line is drawn in the snow where children have to walk as if they were on a balance beam)
somersault station - do a somersault in the snow while wearing bulky coats and hats
angels obstacle - make three snow angels on the ground before running to the next obstacle
snowball bounce - make a snowball and try and shoot it through a basketball hoop or in the centre of a hula hoop on the ground
sled station - push yourself on a sled (while lying on stomach and using hands)
Snow a no-show? No problem!
4. Paper snowball fight. Wad scrap paper or newspaper into snowball-sized balls (about 10 balls per child invited), and put in a box or bucket. Use a large space outdoors, or indoors with furniture moved aside. Line up chairs or boxes across the room to create a barrier and scatter the paper snowballs, about half on each side. Divide kids into two teams. For three to four minutes, let kids throw snowballs back and forth over the barrier. Whichever team ends up with the fewest snowballs on their side wins the game.
5. Winter bingo. Have popcorn and hot chocolate available during the game. Search online for age-appropriate ‘winter bingo game printables’ and print out on card stock. Make sure to have enough game cards for each participant, and don’t forget to print and cut the game cards out ahead of time, too. Save these game cards in a large zipper storage bag for future snow days.
Party activities
6. Play a game of Twister with children wearing all their winter accessories: hats, scarves and mittens.
7. With adult supervision, let children follow directions for making a cup of hot chocolate - while wearing mittens.
8. For younger children, read aloud from The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats or other favorite winter-themed books.
9. Serve popcorn and show a winter-themed movie.
Snack/Treat ideas
10. Have kids thread large marshmallows on short kabob sticks.
11. Serve apple cider with cinnamon sticks.
12. Let the guests help make snow candy. Jobs include gathering the snow, mixing syrup or sugar on the stove with supervision and pouring in the snow.
13. Cut angel food cake into large cubes to look like blocks of ice.
14. Let party guests make snowmen using large marshmallows, pretzel sticks for arms, miniature peanut butter cups and cookies for hats, and licorice pieces for faces.
15. Serve up winter snow cones from snow outside and grenadine syrup or snow cone syrup.
16. Pass around apple slices with small bowls of caramel dip.
17. Hot chocolate bar. Provide guests with a variety of toppings to customize their hot chocolate with a variety of choices: whip cream, sprinkles and ground cinnamon.
Goodie bags
18. White cake pops.
19. Craft kit for children to make their own snowman at home. Include round construction paper pieces for the body and craft materials for the face, hat, buttons and arms.
20. Include a kit in zipper storage bags for kids to make an edible snowman at home (just like the one they made at the party).
21. White gumballs.
22. Cocoa packets and small mugs.
23. A pair of mittens or gloves.
A winter party library:
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner
Snow by Uri Shulevitz
The Mitten by Jan Brett
Winter movies for children and families (make sure you let parents know what movie you will be showing at the party ahead of time):
March of the Penguins
Happy Feet
Frozen
Rhonda is a writer and educator, and lives with her husband and three children - one of whom has a birthday in the dead of winter. Last year, in her neck of the woods, they had 16 snow days.
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