Is your child lucky enough to have a late spring, summer, or early fall birthday? Skip the party room and take advantage of the beautiful weather with a birthday celebration right in your own backyard.
Hosting a birthday party at home gives you a lot of flexibility. You can invite a small group or the whole class, choose your own food, plan activities around your child’s interests, and keep the party going without watching a two-hour party-room clock. Even better, Central Indiana has tons of businesses that will bring the entertainment directly to you.
From foam cannons and mobile laser tag to pony rides, game trucks, live animals, backyard movies, and good old-fashioned water fights, here are 30 fun backyard birthday party ideas for kids.
30 Fun Backyard Birthday Party Ideas
Foam Party
Be the coolest family in town and host a foam party! Foam parties can be set up right in your backyard. The vendor does all of the setup. A high-energy host blasts the foam cannon as the DJ plays high-energy music. Best of all, clean-up is minimal as the foam is completely safe and biodegradable and melts right into the grass. Foam Happy and Indy Blast both offer foam party packages.
Bubble Truck Indianapolis
Bubble Truck Indianapolis brings the party right to your driveway or backyard with a giant mobile foam experience. Their Bubble Bash includes 60 minutes of foam-filled fun, making it an easy way to create a memorable outdoor birthday party without planning a bunch of separate activities.
Silly Safaris
Bring the zoo to your backyard with a birthday visit from Silly Safaris. Their live-animal shows give kids the chance to meet fascinating creatures up close while an entertainer keeps the group laughing, learning, and engaged.
Ripple Mobile Arts
With a mobile art party from Ripple Mobile Arts, your backyard, patio, or home can become a creative birthday studio. They bring the art experience to you, giving kids a hands-on activity and a finished creation they can take home after the party.
Mobile Mini Golf
Turn your backyard into a miniature golf course with a portable putt-putt party setup. Mobile mini golf is a fun option for mixed-age groups because guests can play at their own pace, compete with friends, and keep coming back for another round throughout the party.
Silent Disco
Older kids will have a ball at a silent disco. I’ve never known anyone who didn’t love the experience. Hire a private company to set everybody up with their own light-up headphones to rock out at the dance party. It’s a silent dance party for everyone but those wearing the headphones. Those who participate will forget where they are and have the time of their lives dancing to the music. This party is great at night!
Make a Fairy House or Terrarium
Abby’s Garden Parties can bring a charming garden-inspired celebration right to your backyard or home. Their at-home party experiences make it easy to create a whimsical birthday with hands-on activities, beautiful details, and a memorable theme without having to leave the house.
Bumper Ball
If you’ve never seen bumper balls, they’re giant inflatable balls that your body fits into so you can roll, crash, and smash into one another. It’s like a sumo suit, but your whole body, except your legs, is covered. You can play a soccer game with the suits on, race across a field, roll down a small hill, or just let the kids smash into each other. This is one of those backyard birthday party ideas that’s best for much older children. Hit the right crowd, though, and they’ll have the time of their lives!
Water Balloon Fight
Bunch O Balloons has made preparing for a water balloon fight a breeze! Prepare wagons full of balloons in minutes and then – ready, set, go! The kids will have so much fun launching balloons at each other or targets. Parents can easily fill up refills with these self-sealing balloons. How did they ever do it before?
Indy Blast Backyard Laser Tag Party
Take your backyard birthday up a level with Indy Blast, the mobile laser tag crew that brings the arena to you! They roll in with glowing inflatable bunkers, Falcon LUX laser tag gear, a live scoreboard, tunes, and a fun-loving game master who keeps every round fresh and fast-paced. It’s perfect for spring, summer, or early-fall parties, especially for older kids like tweens and teens, but the whole family can play along too, without ever stepping out of the yard. Indy Blast also brings Nerf, gel blaster AND foam parties to homes and other venues around Central Indiana.
Grill Your Own Hot Dogs and S’mores
Kids love doing things for themselves. Let them grill their own hot dogs over a campfire. Get some extra-long skewers, and they’ll love grilling their dogs and adding their condiments. If you’re feeling extra sweet, you can also offer s’mores for dessert! What kid doesn’t love s’mores?
Rent a Pool
Did you know you can rent out someone’s pool for the afternoon? There’s a new company called Swimply where you can search for private pools in your area to rent. It’s like Airbnb for swimming pools. I’ve looked into it, and the rates are very reasonable. The one closest to me had a very nice seating area under a covered patio for entertaining, in addition to the large pool, slide, and basketball hoop.
Carnival
Host your own carnival! Set up bucket toss, balloon pop, ring toss, rubber ducky pull, milk jug throw, and more. You can get a roll of tickets to give the feel of a real carnival experience. The dollar store is perfect for little game prizes. You could even hire a circus performer for additional entertainment. This is one of the best backyard birthday party ideas for elementary-aged kids!
Bubble Party
Transform your backyard into bubble land! Have several bubble machines going all over the yard. Offer different types of bubble wands and bubble guns to each child. Then amaze them all with giant Wubble Bubbles. The kids will love chasing and popping bubbles together. This is one of the best backyard birthday party ideas for toddlers!
Sensory Party
Little kids love sticking their hands and fingers into things. It’s the weirdest thing. Give the preschooler in your life an hour or two of sensory activities that they enjoy but never really get to experience. Fill up bins or small plastic pools with rice, sand, or kinetic sand. Kids may run their fingers through the rice or make sand angels with their whole bodies. For really little ones, you could substitute with a stuffed animal pit or a ball pit.
Camp Out
Spend a night under the stars or an evening watching the sunset. Set up a bunch of tents in the backyard and let the kids create their own make-believe games and tell stories with flashlights in the dark. For a fancier affair, rent glamping tents, which are cute individual tents that can also be moved inside in case of bad weather or in case the kids get scared outside.
Splatoon Water Gun Painting
Make art using water guns and food coloring! Fill up water guns with various colors of water and have the kids spray at hanging canvases. They could also collaborate and spray a large hanging sheet with all the different colors together. Little ones can do finger painting or even blow-dyed bubbles onto paper. Older kids could all wear white shirts and run around spraying each other. The possibilities are endless! This is one of my favorite backyard birthday party ideas!
Backyard Cinema
Buy, rent, or borrow a movie projector to screen a special movie for your next party. You can use a fancy projection screen or just hang up a white sheet for the screen and have an outdoor movie party. Set out lawn chairs or blankets and offer movie concession favorites. Popcorn, candy, soda – the kids will love it!
Tacos and Piñatas
Host a themed party complete with a make-your-own taco bar and piñatas! Everybody loves tacos, and kids love making them on their own. End the night with a fun piñata or two for the kids to whack at. Prepare cute bags for candy collecting. Consider these treats your party favors!
Game Truck
What would be more exciting than having a giant game truck pull right up to your home as kids scream and jump for joy? If you have a child who loves video games, you’ve got to let them experience playing inside a game truck with up to 36 of their friends on 8+ screens. These trucks have an extensive library of games and several types of consoles. Game trucks like GameTruck North Indy, Gamestar Indy, and Elite Game Truck run rain or shine, so there’s no worrying about bad weather!
Mr. Daniel Concert
Musical performer Mr. Daniel always has a way of getting kids up and dancing at his concerts. He plays the guitar and sings songs the kids love. He always invites kids to join in and recommends songs. Sometimes he busts out a giant bin of musical instruments for everyone to try. You can now book Mr. Daniel to come to your home for a private concert; he’s actively booking private birthday parties and currently uses a pay-what-you-want fee for birthday parties.
Prancing Ponies
Give your horse-lover a pony party! Invite Prancing Ponies to your next party, and everyone gets a pony ride. Depending on the size of the party, they will send one or two ponies and will let each child ride a pony right in your backyard. You may even be able to dress the pony up to look like a magical unicorn!
Nerf Gun Fight
Every child brings their own Nerf guns, and they can battle it out all over your backyard. Scatter the yard with things to hide behind, like hay stacks, cardboard boxes, trash bins, etc. You may want to stock up on hundreds of extra Nerf bullets and protective eyewear. Don’t want to shoot at each other? Set up targets to knock down. Get extra creative and make moving targets with remote-controlled cars!
Hedgehog Hannah
Bring ALL of the animals to your party! Hedgehog Hannah offers professional kids’ birthday party entertainment, giving children the opportunity to touch everything from tarantulas to alligators and lizards to arctic foxes. And, of course, a hedgehog. The show’s highlight for me is always the Burmese python they set across the laps of all the kids sitting in a line. Don’t miss this photo op!
Bounce House
Bounce all day long with a bounce house rental. There are simple square castles for the little ones, giant slides, sports courts, race courses, and slides that shoot into a pool of water. Many companies rent the bounce house for the whole day and handle all of the setup and take-down. They are a great way to burn a ton of energy!
Scavenger Hunt
Send the kids on an adventure searching for items around the yard. Create a list of things already found in nature, like different colored leaves or types of insects. You can also scatter your yard with random items for them to find. Maybe birthday-themed items? Make it a contest or a collaborative team effort. They’ll love running around with a purpose.
Karaoke Party
Who’s got talent? Have the kids belt it out to their favorite tunes with a karaoke machine. They may know all of the words to the songs, or they might need a screen to show the lyrics. This is one of the best backyard birthday party ideas to get adults involved, too! The event can easily be turned into a dance party afterward!
Food Trucks and Kona Ice
Invite a local food truck to join your party! There are taco trucks, bagel trucks, Cajun trucks, and burger trucks. It’s a fun way to serve dinner, and you may get to have input on the menu for the day. They usually bring all of the utensils, napkins, and plates you need. All you have to provide is seating and a trash bin! For dessert, how about Kona Ice with do-it-yourself flavoring?
Magic Show
Hire a performer to entertain your crew. Magic shows always go over great with guests of all ages. There’s usually a lot of audience participation as well. After the show, you can have a couple of magic tricks set up that the kids can all learn and try out on each other.
Ninja Zone
Set up a ninja obstacle course in your backyard! Tie rope ladders from tree to tree. Make a rock climbing wall out of a tree or playset. Set up an agility course. You can do time trials of the course and have each child attempt to beat their high scores. They’ll have a blast while burning energy!
Tea Party
Host a pretty princess tea party or a Mad Hatter-themed party! Little ones love the elaborate setup of fancy teacups with saucers, tiered trays of mini sandwiches, scones, and desserts galore! They can add milk and honey to their teacups. Look for the little wooden spoons with honey on the end that they can stir into their tea! Tea parties are one of the most popular backyard birthday party ideas for girls!
Get Creative or Be Relaxed with these Backyard Birthday Party Ideas
Take advantage of a summer birthday and host a party outdoors. These are just 25 backyard birthday party ideas, but you can make it your own by combining ideas or getting creative and adjusting for age. You can be as unique and creative as you want to be.
Kids love running around outside unstructured and just hanging out together. Don’t worry too much about the itinerary and enjoy the fact that you are able to celebrate outside, as casually or as structured as the group calls for. Some of the best memories your child can have are made at home, outside, and surrounded by friends and family.
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What are your favorite backyard birthday party ideas? Share your comments and pictures of backyard birthday party ideas with us below or tag us on social media using #PLAYindy. Follow Indy with Kids on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest for all of the best ideas and things to do with kids in Indy!
