GI Joe Birthday Party Ideas

Featured Party Plan October 2009

GI Joe blasted into theaters with The Rise of Cobra. With its loyal followers and new legion of young admirers this is sure to be a huge hit with birthday celebrations for many more years to come! Go JOE!
Invitations: A neat idea for a GI Joe themed Party Invitation is to fashion it in the form of a draft recruitment letter. Print your invitations using your computer and with some really cool font like "Impact" or "Fighter Pilot" on regular white printing paper. Use wording like: ATTENTION! You have been drafted! Your mission should you choose to accept is to attend (child's name) __th Birthday Party! Follow with the time they need to report for duty, dismissal time, training camp location and the name & number of the recruitment officer. Search Google Images for some realistic army logo clip art to make your recruitment letter look very official! Place invitation into a plain manila envelop and seal. Write "Top Secret" and "GI Joe Training Camp"on the front with red marker. Your invitations are ready to deliver!
Decorations: Whether the party is inside or out, use lots of camouflage print, green and black decorations like balloons, tablecloths, posters and streamers. On a focal wall place a large banner with the words "Welcome to GI Joe Training Camp" beside your Country's National Flag. Hang camouflage tarps and black netting all around to give it an authentic training camp feel. If your child is a huge fan of the GI Joe, Rise of Cobra movie, be sure to incorporate some of the licensed supplies and decorations - they are really fantastic looking! If you are lucky enough to have an Army Surplus store in your area make sure to visit. You will find loads of authentic items at rock bottom prices for game prizes, decorations and even the loot bags!
Guest Arrival: Now that the party area is done, we need to decorate our guests. They will need to sign in as they arrive at camp. Set up a table with chairs where they can sign in, listen to camp Rules & Regulations and be issued their training gear. The training gear can include items like headbands (armband) made out of roughly cut camouflage material, black or green warpaint for their cheeks, plastic gun, tattoos, canteens, binoculars and of course their Dog Tags. Hint- if you are giving out items beforehand, be sure to write the names or initials on them so they go home with their gifts. Since the guests are getting all their party favors at the beginning of the party, have "Training Camp Completion" certificates ready for the little soldiers as they leave. Let them know they are no longer Cadets, they are officially ranked as Soldiers!
Boot Camp Drills: Shooting Range - Set up some plastic army men or empty pop bottles and practice target skills with a Nerf or water gun. Bombs Away- place a round target on the ground about 15 feet away from soldier and have him toss water balloons at the target. Make sure to rig the target with some sharp tacks so the explosion is big! Tug of War - A round of tug of war can be made interesting with a blowup pool filled with water in the middle. Having it indoors? No problem, simply fill a kiddie pool with green "grenade" balloons for effect. Landing Strip - This involves 2 steps. First teach the kids how to make their own paper airplanes and then see who can fly their airplane with the most accuracy onto a designated landing strip. Marine Field Training - Set up an obstacle course made of boxes, ropes, cones and other items that kids can run, jump, crawl and climb through. For example your course can have barbwire (twine) to crawl under, a balance beam (2x4's) to cross, tire run (hula hoops) and a minefield (water balloons) to cross. It is fun to make the "Winner" of each game the Sergeant for the duration and allow him to order the cadets to perform 10 push-ups, sit-ups or jumping jacks. Training Camp is not for the faint of heart!
Menu: Field Rations - Serve Field Rations out of tin cans. Save up all your cans (soup etc.) making sure there are no sharp edges. Serve the guests foods like macaroni & cheese or beans & wieners in the tin cans. Offer foods like beef jerky and dried fruits. Its not my favourite but its what soldiers eat! I would definitely have on the side some regular party food like chicken nuggets or personal pizzas just in case! The cake can be a regular round or rectangle shape - 2 layers or 1. Your choice. Simply add some food colouring to dye the icing army green and cover the entire cake. To give the cake a "rough terrain look", crush up some dark chocolate cookies and apply to top of cake. Finish off with a few plastic Army vehicles. Another dessert option is cupcakes with chocolate icing and a plastic soldier on top. They are certainly quick, easy and can be eaten on the go!