Decorations

Use a few rolls of caution tape (found at any hardware store) and decorate the party area. Barricade off areas where the kids should and shouldn't play; designate an eating zone and play zone; and show where guests shouldn't park.

Create yellow diamond-shaped caution signs and orange traffic signs and hang them around the party area:

• Caution, Men at Work!
• Party at Your Own Risk!
• Birthday Zone Ahead!

Rent or buy orange cones and set them around your yard. Place one orange cone at the front entrance to the party and attach black and yellow helium-filled balloons to it.

Add a Construction Zone party sign to the sidewalk in front of your home or to the bottom of the driveway.

Pull out your ladders, building materials, and tools for additional party decorations.

Use sidewalk chalk to draw blueprints on the driveway and surrounding sidewalk.

Take out all the blocks, trucks and bulldozers your kids have and scatter them around the party area. Hang plastic construction tools (or cut out tools from poster board) from the ceiling, banisters, and doors.

For your party table, use an orange tablecloth and offset it with yellow cups, black plates, and orange tableware. Throw crayons on the party table for the kids to create their own construction signs on the cups and napkins while you prepare the party menu.

For a table centerpiece, use a Tonka dump truck and tie balloons to it. In the dump part of the truck, fill it with gummy goodies that the kids can enjoy.

Use yellow, black, and orange streamers and balloons to decorate the party area and party table.

Before the guests arrive, set the stage for a construction project that all the kids can be involved in as a team. If holding the party outdoors, kids love to move dirt. This activity is not possible inside, but you can make a mock construction site indoors with paper, foam, etc. Cut off large sections of gray paper and crumple them up to make boulders of varying sizes. Place the boulders all around your construction site. Cut out pieces of brown craft foam to look like sticks.