10th Birthday Party Ideas

Double digits, dude! Check out our 10th birthday party ideas that are a perfect 10!

Aliens Party
Beam me up! Your 10 year old will say OMG for UFOs! Give every little alien some antennae made from pipe cleaners, pom poms, and headbands. For decorations, set up a dessert table with a black tablecloth, a moon cake, and star cookies. Serve solar system spikes by sticking melon balls onto skewers. Make alien goo juice with grape or lemon lime soda and serve with crazy straws! Get purple and green balloons and paste on pear-shaped alien eyes. Play UFO frisbee or a game of get the rings around Saturn—use a ball as Saturn and have everyone take a shot at throwing hula hoops over it. Or, have everyone beaming and rent a moonbounce! Send everyone off with their own super bouncy moon ball.

Under the Sea Party
This party is sure to make a splash! Bring the sea to life by twisting green streamers and taping them to the wall to look like seaweed. Hang a pink paper lantern from the ceiling, paste on eyes, and hang 8 pink streamers to create an octopus. Use a bright blue tablecloth on the treat table and decorate it with seashells and fishnet. Serve sandwiches on croissants (they look like shells), crunchy cheese stick coral, and blue Kool Aid ocean juice. Create beachy cupcakes with the birthday boy or girl’s favorite cake, vanilla icing, and cinnamon sugar on top to look like sand! Play pin the claw on the crab or have an under the sea treasure hunt! Hide sea-like goodies around the house like mermaids, shells, scuba divers, and more. Have everyone pick an item to find out of a treasure chest, and when they find it, it’s their favor to keep!

Baking Party
Does your kid have a knack for whipping up something sweet? Bake up some fun with a baking party! Give everyone an apron to wear that they can keep when they leave (check online or a craft store for children’s sizes). Create a dessert table with a homemade “bakery” sign above it using the birthday girl’s name, something like “Welcome to Sam’s Bakery!” Set up pedestals with a cake and other bakery favorites. Make sure to leave one empty for the delicious treats you make with the group! Have everyone set up around the kitchen counter as you make a batch of cookies. Let everyone help with the ingredients. As they bake, have a cupcake race! Split the group into 2 teams and give each team a spatula and a cupcake. Each team member has to run down to one end of the yard and back without dropping the cupcake. First team to finish wins! When the cookies are done, set up a decorating station with frostings, sprinkles, or even candy and salty treats like pretzels. Let everyone create their own concoction. Send everyone off with their cookies and a cookie recipe card so they can make them again at home.

Cars Party
Start your engines! A car party will take the celebration from 0 to 60 real fast! Hang race flag pennants and create a refuel table with red, yellow, and green stoplight plates. Get a cake shaped like the birthday boy’s favorite car and create a roadway runner with black construction paper and white paper strips down the middle. Don’t forget chocolate frosted doughnut tires and a jar of nuts and bolts (peanuts and m&ms). Serve fuel juice in gas containers (clean ones of course)! Play a game of red light, green light, or whack a car pinata. Or, if you have a location nearby, bring the party to the go-kart track for some real racing fun! Give everyone their own hot wheels to take home.

Fireman Party
Does the birthday boy want to grow up to be a fireman? Throw him a blazing fireman birthday bash! Make sure the guest of honor has a fire chief hat to wear. Set up a dessert table with paper flames and fire trucks. Serve red velvet cupcakes with flaming yellow and orange frosting. Set up containers of flaming cheese balls, Twizzler fire hoses, and pretzels with one end dipped in red frosting to look like matchsticks! Give everyone a chance to see how they are with a hose! Set up red and orange plastic cups on a table outside, and see how many each guest can knock off the table with the hose in 30 seconds. If your local firehouse does tours, take the group to see a real live truck and fireman pole! Give away fire hydrant shaped sugar cookies. Everyone will stop, drop, and roll for this party!

Penguin Party
Everyone will have an “ice” time at a penguin party! Create an icy tablescape with a bright blue tablecloth, mini paper snowflakes, and white glitter. Use white pedestals to hold a penguin cake, blue Jello icebergs, and penguin-iced Oreo cookies. Make penguin punch with blue Kool Aid and lots of ice cubes! Or if it’s winter, serve hot chocolate with penguin puff marshmallows. Create a game of penguin corn hole by painting a penguin on the platform with his belly as the hole. See how many fish bean bags everyone can feed the penguin! Or, paint large soda bottles black and paint on penguin bellies and eyes. Set these up as bowling pins and use inflatable penguin beach balls to knock them down. If you live near an aquarium, see if they offer group tours of the penguin exhibit!

Soccer Party
This soccer party is sure to score with the birthday boy or girl. Have the guests wear their favorite soccer jersey or t-shirt. Use astroturf or a grass-like material to cover the treat table. Buy a small soccer goal to stand over your pedestal of chocolate soccer cupcakes—ice them with green grass frosting and stick a mini candy or plastic soccer ball in the middle. Complement them with soccer ball cake pops and a chips and dip display with the dip shaped like a soccer field! Set up a soccer camp outside and test everyone’s skills at dribbling the ball or scoring a goal. Get a soccer ball shaped pinata but instead of using a stick, kick it! Hang it from the ceiling so it hits just above the floor. Give everyone a shot at kicking the candy out of it! Hand out soccer water bottles to fill with candy and take home.

NYC Party
Does your little one love NYC? Bring the city to you with this cosmopolitan celebration. Decorate with paper cutouts of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, or Freedom Tower. Create a treat table with a red tablecloth and city street signs, subway signs, and mini taxis. Serve NYC food like pepperoni pizza, bagels with cream cheese, and hot dogs. Get a Big Apple shaped cake, or a cake with the Statue of Liberty on top! Have everyone pick their favorite NYC baseball team—the Yankees or the Mets. Set up a button station with logos from each team and let everyone create their own button. Then head outside for a rival game of wiffle ball! Send everyone home with their own I

Karaoke Party
Does the birthday boy or girl have a solid set of pipes? A karaoke party is sure to hit a high note! Create a tablescape with a black tablecloth, paper stars, and glitter confetti. Forgo the cake for microphone cake cones! Bake chocolate cupcakes in a bright colored cake cone. Frost them with chocolate frosting and add silver sprinkles on top. Don’t forget rock candy and guitar-shaped sugar cookies! For the karaoke stage, use metallic hanging garland to create a backdrop. Use a black roll of paper to create the stage and a small runway. Before the party, create a list of your child’s favorite songs they want everyone to sing! Have a box of rockstar accesories by the stage with feather boas, sunglasses, and wigs!

Harry Potter Party
Everyone will say “holy Hogwarts!” for this Harry Potter party. Decorate your front door with paper bricks and a platform 9 ¾ sign. As each wizard arrives, give them a wood wand (that they can take home later) and have them pull a piece of paper out of the Sorting Hat to find out which house they belong to! Set up a dessert table with a banner made of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin symbols. Have a cake made with the birthday boy or girl’s favorite house colors, with an owl on top! Serve butter beer (cream soda) or birthday potion made from green Kool Aid. Make gold cake pops with wings for a Golden Snitch you can eat! Play a game of Quidditch outside with the guests split up into their chosen houses. Attach hula hoops to sticks and plant 3 in the ground on each side of the court. Use a deflated soccer ball as the Quaffle, dodgeballs as the Bludgers, and paint a golf ball gold for the Golden Snitch. Look online or at your party store for costume brooms for everyone to ride around on!

Beach Party
Surfs up dude! This beach party will be a wave of fun. If the weather permits, have everyone wear their favorite bathing suit or beach gear. Set up a beachy treat table with a blue tablecloth. Serve beach-friendly food like watermelon wedges and fish and chips (goldfish and potato chips) in beach pails. Get a beach ball shaped cake with cinnamon sand and beach umbrellas on top! If you prefer cupcakes, bake vanilla cupcakes and frost them with red icing. Place on candy eyes and 10 Twizzler legs for sweet little crab cakes! If you have a pool, take the party for a swim. If not, get a few kiddie pools and fill them with sand. Break out the sand toys and have a sandcastle building contest! Send everyone off with a pair of bright sunglasses for their next beach trip.

Perfect 10 Gymnastics Party
10 years is something to celebrate! Your little girl will flip for this Perfect 10 gymnastics birthday party! Set a backdrop with bright balloons and create a banner made out of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ribbons. Get a gymnastics cake with bars or a beam on top, and complement it with cake pops or star-shaped sugar cookies. Have each guest wear her favorite leotard and have a bucket of scrunchies to pass out when everyone arrives. For a fun craft they can take home, decorate cinch backpacks that they can use for all their gymnastics gear! Supply fabric pens, glue, and glitter to snazz them up. If you have a gym nearby, take the party there and have the group learn some gymnastic moves!