If you are not familiar with the kid craze that is Hatchimals, allow me to introduce you. They are a family of toys made by SpinMaster Ltd. that were originally large and rather expensive toys that were popular gifts at the Holidays. Eventually they began to make smaller toys that were way more affordable and basically egg versions of a blind bag or box. You press your thumb to the heart on the egg and then if you wish hard enough, the egg will hatch and you find out which new friend you have. W loves these and so one year awhile ago, we planned a Hatchimals party for his sixth birthday. I had a blast coming up with the special details and found a ton of licensed products all over to use for the party. Due to several circumstances, we decided to have the party at the local YMCA. It was worth every penny and frankly was inexpensive compared to other party hosting options. (Apologies in advance for the quality of the images, I was rushing and didn’t check how they were turning out, plus there were lots of posters with kid’s personal info and pictures on them, which I needed to blur or cut out.)
The Party Room and Decorations
So we usually host our birthday parties at our house or my parent’s house so I was a bit worried about the strict schedule for set-up, party time, and tear down time; but we were able to fit it all in after all. I would just recommend you have everything staged and ready to go in boxes in your car. Arrive a few minutes early so you can head in the moment your set up time starts and then just set it all up as fast as possible. The room we were able to use was a part of the summer care classroom and had some of it’s own decorations up that loosely went with our party theme. If you can, view the room you will be using for your party ahead of time and find out what decorations will be the same or if they will be different and any rules they may have as far as your own decorations. This can help you decide what to spend your money on to make the most impact. I went for a Hatchimals licensed party set that had several ceiling hangers, small table decorations, and a “Happy Birthday” banner. For the rest of the room I decided to go with brightly colored tablecloths with a few Hatchimals licensed tableclothes for the cake and gift table and for W’s table. The final touch was the favor boxes which I used to help decorate the tables, I had them premade and packed ahead of time in a box so we just needed to put them out on the table. Keeping things simple meant that we were able to quickly and easily pack up the party room before heading to our splash pad time. Just keep your boxes handy under one of the tables. I would also bring an extra empty box for the presents too.
Berry Basket Favors
You can just barely see two views of the favors in the picture above, but I used some very cute kraft paper berry baskets (I got those several years ago at Michaels) with a Hatchimal sticker from Smilemakers on the front. I packed the inside with some colorful basket filler and then each child got a full set of the same stickers, a ring pop (W’s favorite candy at the time), a Licensed Easter egg from Hatchimals (purchased on clearance from Kohls), and two water themed Hatchimals. I was really excited when they released the water themed line as we were having a splash pad party this seemed to tie in perfectly. I did a lot of research into the best places to find them and best prices for Hatchimals and was lucky enough to be able to buy them in large quantities for a pretty decent price. The original eggs were also on the tops of the cupcakes so I needed to find a lot for a good price. We also found a Hatchimals book that was about a water sports competition that I read to the kids after we did cake and presents and before the splash pad. The favor boxes were a great way to add some additional decoration to the tables and everyone liked looking through them and hatching eggs (even some of the adults!)
Let’s Have Some Fun
As I have mentioned, we booked the party at our local YMCA and so we had our time split between a party room and the splash pad. This built in activity made things SO EASY! Once we finished with the cake, presents, and book inside, we all headed out to the splash pad (after packing up the room) where there was shaded seating for the adults and a world of fun for the kids. There were all types of ways to get wet and get each other wet and the kids loved it. The adults were able to sit and chat as the kids tired themselves out and it was a great transition for the end of the party. Because all of the cleanup was already done, we were able to just say goodbye at the end and everyone headed on their way! I have a tendency to plan elaborate activities for parties (if you haven’t figured that out yet) and this was something I was really glad we did. July is a busy month for us and having this party be a little more simple for me while still being amazing for W was the best. We had a choice of several different types of activities the YMCA offered, but I am so glad we picked the splash pad!
Hatch Your Own Fun
(I had to throw in one pun…) I really loved this party. It was so easy to find licensed products and it wasn’t too hard to tie the theme into what the YMCA offered as options for the party. I made the cupcakes myself and found a small edible image cake from our local grocery store with a Hatchimals image on top. The kids had a blast hatching their new friends and playing in the splash pad. The adults enjoyed how busy the kids were kept the whole party and that even outside there was a comfortable place to sit and enjoy the splash pad. And with some simple preplanning my biggest concern of the timing of everything was not a problem at all. Of course, the most important part of any party, W was so so so happy in the end. I will definitely be trying this format for future parties and cannot wait to share them with you. Do you have a Hatchimals lover in your family? Would they like this party for their birthday? Let me know in the comments below.
