Birthday Party Ideas for Boys

Every July, I go searching for birthday party ideas for boys. That’s because our son has a birthday that month. This year he celebrated his fourth birthday monster truck style.

It wasn’t a big fanfare with many decorations. In fact, like most people, we threw a pretty big shindig for his first birthday. A slightly smaller party on his second birthday. And even smaller parties on his third and fourth birthdays.

What I mainly mean by smaller is fewer decorations. I am not into creating and making a lot of decorations. I am perfectly fine with buying them online or at the local party store.

What I have realized the last couple years is that toys make the best decorations. You can decorate with them and then give them to your child as a gift after the party. Dual purpose! I am all about that!

In this article, I am going to show you just what I mean by the parties becoming smaller each year. I will show you how we decorated and celebrated our sons first, second, third and fourth birthdays.

 

Disclaimer #1: I am NOT a professional cake decorator. I just had fun experimenting with the cakes each year. While I definitely realize they wouldn’t win any cake decorating contest, I am pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish as a novice cake decorator.

Disclaimer #2: This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link and subsequently make a purchase from the linked website, I may receive a commission.  Please read my affiliate disclosure for more information.

Tractor Themed Birthday Party

We live in the country on a farmstead my husband’s great-grandparents first bought more than a hundred years ago. My husband loves tractors and we happen to have a couple even though we don’t farm ourselves.

One of the tractors we have at our place belongs to my brother. It is a red 1951 Farmall tractor that my husband loves to drive around as often as he can.

We decided to use that tractor as part of the decoration at our son’s tractor themed first birthday party. We also used another tractor that has an attached bucket to hold the ice and sodas for the party. Did you notice? Dual purpose!

I decided to make a cupcake birthday cake shaped like a tractor. I used red icing so the tractor would resemble the Farmall.

We set the food on a trailer hooked to the wagon. We added hay bales to give the trailer more of a rustic farm look and to help hold the birthday banner I made out of burlap and bandannas.

I also made a small banner for our son’s high chair.

We set bandanna covered hay bales around for people to sit on while they were eating. Everyone loved the farm and tractor themed birthday party!

George (Peppa) Pig Themed Birthday Party

Somewhere between the ages of one and two, kids discover Peppa Pig. Our son was no exception. He fell in love with the fun-loving pig and her brother George. You guessed it! He wanted a George Pig birthday party for his second birthday so I didn’t have to think very hard about boys birthday party ideas that year.

I had difficulty finding any George Pig themed party ideas online, so I used some Peppa party ideas and adapted them to fit a two-year-old boys party.

I found a George Pig template online that I used to form the birthday cake. Then I added the dinosaur, balloon and other elements to the cake after making George.

We bought our son a Peppa Pig Grandpa Pig’s train. It included characters from the TV show that we used to decorate the cake table at the outdoors party.

We also bought some other Peppa characters to help decorate.

My brothers helped me make a large George and Peppa house out of poster board and we hung it on the side of our shed for a backdrop.

Our two-year-old was totally enthralled with this party. Now we have a daughter that is starting to love Peppa. Who knows? We may be reusing some of those decorations at a Peppa themed party when she turns two in a few months.

Paw Patrol Themed Birthday Party

By the time our son was three, he had moved on from George and Peppa (although he still enjoys watching the shows with his sister) and was totally enamored with Paw Patrol. Especially Chase! When I searched for birthday party ideas for boys it was for suggestions for a Paw Patrol themed party.

He was old enough to help pick out what he wanted his cake to be and he picked one that was shaped like a bone. It ended up bigger than it should have been, but no problem! Just more cake for everybody.

This time, I used toy Paw Patrol water squirters as decorations on the cake. Our kids still use the squirters in the tub during bath time.

This celebration was inside and didn’t have near as many birthday party decorations. Our son didn’t care. He just loved that he could celebrate with Paw Patrol.

 

Monster Truck Themed Birthday Party

My husband and son both love monster trucks and monster truck videos on YouTube. Our son wanted to give his daddy a monster truck for his birthday.

I told him we couldn’t get daddy a real monster truck so he picked out a couple t-shirts on Amazon instead. Daddy loves them mainly because his son picked them out.

It was no surprise then when our son wanted a monster truck themed party for his fourth birthday.

I searched for cake ideas online and finally created my own from looking at a couple other ideas.

I used four toy monster trucks to decorate the cake. Our son loved licking the “mud” off the tires when we removed the trucks.

He now enjoys playing with those four trucks along with the other monster trucks he received as gifts.

We used some balloons and Blaze and the Monster Truck party decorations to make our dining room look a little more festive. Not near as much decorating and planning as the years before.

The small group of family and friends who came had a good time, proving that you don’t need tons of decorations to have a fun birthday party.

To Make it Easy, Keep it Simple 

I am not sure what theme my son will want for his fifth birthday. I do know that I will be looking for toys when I search for birthday party ideas for boys. They make neat decorations and can also be used as a gift.

I also know that I will be keeping the decorations as basic as I can. I have learned that the best way to throw a fast and easy party is to keep it simple.

Have you had a similar experience with your child’s birthday parties?

Did you start out by having a big celebration for your child’s first birthday?

Was your child’s fourth birthday just as large or had you tamed it down by then?

What are your thoughts on using toys for kids birthday party decorations?

Let me know in the comment section below.

Best of luck if you are currently planning a child’s birthday party!
I hope it is easy, simple and fun!