Army Party
~Military~

Invitations: Outside: ~Attention Troops!! We are on a mission to celebrate "name" birthday Inside: Date: Base:  Use your last name i.e.: Boardman Army Base Time:  use 24 hour clock RSVP:  Base Commanding Officer Wear your camouflage clothes and be prepared for troop training.

Camo Gear

Decorations:
Green, black, and tan balloons and streamers.  Hit the surplus stores or your garage for netting, tarps, ammo boxes and other interesting things.  Cover the table with a canvas tarp.  Serve the cake on tin plates.  Serve other foods out of helmets and drinks from an aluminum coffee pot.  If you have one, use an old canvas tent or a canvas tarp to shade the food area.  Use canvas cots for seating.

Food:
Serve MRE's available in military surplus stores.

Cake:
Can't See Me Cake:  Sheet cake decorated in camouflage.  Use splashes of dark green, tan and black.
OR
Decorate a sheet cake with a terrain type look.  Add Army men or other troops.

Goodie Bags:
To hold the goodies use camouflage bandanas, green bags or plastic helmets.  Put in Army men, compass, toy binoculars, canteen, paper airplanes, dog tags (make with string or yarn and tag board covered with foil, add their names with permanent marker).  If not too much, you could even purchase olive colored shirts.

Games and Activities:
For the games have this be like a training course.  With each activity the kids gain points and rank.  They will all start out as privates.

Rope climb:  From a tree or swing set.  Time the kids going up.

Tug of War:  Make two teams, kids will get the same amount of points for the winning team.

Pack up relay:   Find or borrow full size backpacks and things that would go inside (canteens, compass, pack of food, plate, etc).  You will need one pack per team and one item per person.  Have the teams line up with their pack.  The first person must run to the pile of item #1, with the pack on, put it into the pack, put the pack back on and run back to their team...continue through teammates.

Agility Course:   Set up a small course.  Plank to walk/run across.  Tires or inner-tubes (could also use pool type ones) to step / run through.  5 gallon buckets with poles taped across to crawl under.  Thing to climb or jump over.  Time each child.   Could even do this with the pack on for the older kids.

Army Men Hunt:   Hide plastic Army men outside and let the kids find them.  Can score by how many they get.

Other Ideas:
Arm Wrestling Competition
Water Fight to cool off - Use the grenade water balloons.  Put up barricades for the kids to hide behind.