There are so many fireman birthday parties, but I really think the one my son had for his fourth birthday was truly a hit.
I started by purchasing computer paper that featured a fire pole, water, firehose, fireman jacket, and Dalmatian spots around the border. The invitation read: "Fireman Nicholas is calling on you to be a brand new fire recruit. Get the hoses ready, and plan to douse, the birthday candles at his fire house. Put on your hats, prepare your gear, come help us celebrate his fourth year. Training will last from 2-4 PM. Follow the smoke to fire station #4. Don't forget to sound the alarm and let us know if you'll be there." I chose red, yellow, and black balloons to place around the back yard. I draped red and yellow streamers along our fence. The hit of the decor was fake fire that I fashioned out of red and yellow cellophane sheets that were gathered and stuffed into the end of toilet paper tubes. I placed small wooden dowels in the ground and put the tubes over the dowels. It looked like real flames!!! I also made fake fire hoses out of black foamy tubing from our local home improvement store ( used to insulate copper pipe). I purchased blue and silver metallic strands from the party store, and yellow electricians tape from the home improvement store. I stuffed the strands into the end of the tubing and secured it with yellow tape. I continued to wrap the tape around the tube about 6 inches down from the top. It really looked authentic. The kids enjoyed a relay race in fireman gear complete with pretend firetrucks, an animal rescue, and fire dousing. The prizes were plastic winner medals on a red white and blue ribbon.A piņata shaped like a firetruck was a fun game. I bought fireman hats from Birthday Party Express and all the kids got their own when they "reported" for training. His cake was made by our local bakery and looked like a firetruck not just one drawn on the top. After cake, ice-cream, and gifts, the tired kids headed home with their favors: Red paper handled bags, with a picture of a Dalmatian and the caption "Thanks for coming. Don't forget your firefighter doggie bag." I filled the bags with bubbles, an American flag, a flag pencil, a bag of red hot candies, and wound up string black licorice to resemble a firehose. All in all it was a hit!!!
