Bluey Birthday Party in the Park

Wackadoo! This summer, I threw a Bluey birthday party in the park! Planning and executing this Blueyriffic party was a bit different than anything I had done before. I am used to hosting at my home where I have all the time and control to set up, but this year, we needed a bigger space to meet the needs of a larger guest list, so we rented a large gazebo in a quiet, clean park.

Hosting a Bluey birthday party at the park made some of the prep easier and some of it harder. Did everything go as planned? Absolutely not! Did my kid and her friends have a great time? Absolutely. Here's how I pulled off the Bluey park party for my daughter's 5th birthday.

Bluey Party Decorations

Normally when I decorate for a party, I go all out. I obsess over fonts and spend too much time adjusting and readjusting decorations inside and outside of my house. But for Bluey party decorations at a park, I scaled way back. I wanted our large gazebo to look nice, but I knew there would only be so much time to decorate and only so much space in our vehicles to transport everything. In the end, I had even less time than I expected (unloading the cars took longer than expected) and the windy day fought against us every step of the way.

For Bluey table decorations on the six 8-foot park picnic tables where guests would be sitting, I alternated navy and light blue plastic tablecloths (purchased in 3-packs for around 80 cents per tablecloth from Walmart) and DIY Bluey balloon centerpieces. I price-compared before my purchases, and Walmart beat Dollar Tree, Amazon, Target, Michaels, you name it. I don't even like Walmart as a business, but they are the way to go for party supplies.

DIY Bluey Balloon Centerpieces

• Jars (washed and repurposed food jars)
• Rocks (from my garden)
• Flower Foam Blocks (Walmart)
• Balloon Sticks (Walmart)
• Balloons (Walmart)
• Tissue Paper (randomly found at Raley's)
• Ribbon (had on hand)

For my DIY Bluey balloon centerpieces, I chose to go with solid Bluey colors rather than printed Bluey balloons. Although Party City did sell Bluey-printed latex balloons, I am too thrifty to pay $3 for just 6 balloons when I can pay $3 for all 18 balloons I needed for the centerpieces, plus balloons for Keepy-Uppy, thank you favors, and have a ton left over. 

I opted to include red balloons because they matched the red balloons on the Bluey tablecloths and napkins I purchased from Target. I used the official Bluey tablecloths on the smaller folding tables we used for gifts, cake and food.

To make the balloon centerpieces, I filled jars with rocks (for weight/stabilization), and flower foam blocks. I inflated the balloons using an electric balloon pump (worth it!) and attached three balloons to each balloon stick that I stuck in the flower foam. A single sheet of orange tissue paper wrapped perfectly around each jar, tied in place with a red ribbon. 

I tested the centerpieces on a table in my backyard on a windy day, and they held up. Unfortunately, the wind went bananas right before the party start time and my centerpieces were not safe on the guest tables. In a panic, I set them along the gazebo supports and attached with fishing wire. It wasn't what I envisioned, but it still helped jazz up the plain gazebo. 

Bluey Party Games

The great thing about a Bluey-themed birthday party is all the Bluey party games you can pull right from the show. (Musical Statues and The Floor is Lava are easy-peasy classics.) My niece had a Bluey party and played Pass the Parcel (NOT Lucky's Dad's rules), and my daughter loved it, but she also wanted a pinata, and I didn't think there was time and money for both. 

As kids arrived for the party, we let them run around on the two playgrounds directly off our reserved gazebo. Once everyone arrived, we kicked off our Bluey party games. The kids played Keepy-Uppy (a great ice breaker for the shyer kids) and Pin the Ice Cream on Bingo. We did the rainbow pinata last, right before cupcakes and presents. 

Pin the Ice Cream on Bingo

For Pin the Ice Cream on Bingo, my mom painted Bingo on a poster board and painted two ice cream cones. I made copies of the cones, cut them out, numbered them and added double-sided tape so they would stick. I taped the poster board to the side of the playground over the rock climbing wall. In a group of 12 kids, only one got anywhere near the designated spot. Crikey!

Bluey Birthday Party Foods

One of the more challenging tasks of hosting a Bluey birthday party in the park was selecting Bluey-themed foods that could sit out in the warm weather and be appetizing to a group of mostly preschoolers and their parents. Of course, sausages was an obvious choice -- and one that was served at my niece's Bluey park party -- but we just didn't want to mess with grilling hot dogs for an unknown number of guests (lots of invitations passed out, very few responses). We stuck to foods we could set out without much fuss. 

I found these Bluey Food Labels and printed them on cardstock to create Bluey food label tents that I taped to the food table.

Our Bluey Party Food Menu:

• Pasta Salad (Isn't ANYONE going to mention the salads?)
• Watermelon (Fruit Bat Fruit)
• Carrot and Celery Sticks (Maggic Veggie Sticks)
• Bluey Fruit Snacks (Because what kid doesn't love these)
• Potato Chips (Get your chippies here)
• String Cheese, Sodas, Waters and Capri Suns (in the ice chest) 
• Bluey cupcakes with a small Bluey cake (homemade with Bluey toppers from Amazon)

Bluey Invitations and Thank You Cards

I printed my own Bluey invitations and thank you cards on cardstock and chased down parents before and after preschool to hand them out. For Bluey invitations, I personalized a Bluey template from PosterMyWall.com. For thank you cards, I printed a cute image of Bluey and Bingo, typed Thank You, wrote my personal thank you note to each kid and included a red balloon party favor for a game of Keepy Uppy at home.