Musical Instrument Birthday Party Ideas

by Victoria S.
(Rochester, New York)

Musical Instrument Birthday Party ideas for kids (i.e. from 7-12 year olds)Party Theme: Make Your Own Musical Instrument Party. A musical instrument theme birthday party for young children is a great way to inspire interest in music at an early age, and have a lot of fun using everyday items from around the house to come up with unique instruments. On a side note, this party is a great idea for those on a budget, as most of the supplies are very inexpensive.

I threw this type of party for my son who loves music, when he turned 8 years old. He was excited for weeks planning and testing out instrument ideas. We came up with three different instrument ideas that wouldn’t be too difficult for anyone to make, drew sketches of each, and used those drawings to make the invitations.

The idea was that all the kids attending the party could decide which of the three they wanted to make, and customize and decorate the instrument. The easiest instrument was a shake rattle/tambourine type of instrument, using empty coffee cans & yogurt cups (with secure lids), which were filled with a handfuls of noisy items such as uncooked rice, beans, pebbles, and small sticks we collected from the park.

Another option was wind chimes. In the week leading up to the party, we collected strong sticks of about a foot length from the forest near our home. The first part of this project was to paint and decorate the stick. The children then tied varied lengths of string along the sticks.

My son had gathered a variety of items to tie on each string: metal bottle caps (which we had bore holes through), small shells, old broken CD’s, and little stones (shaped in a way that were easy to tie securely to a string). Once everything was secure, they used another stick to tap against the “chimes” and make music!

The final option was a classic- make your own guitar. Of course, this was the most popular choice. All you do is take an empty box (shoeboxes work well), and stretch some thick rubber bands across lengthwise to create the guitar strings. We used empty paper towel cardboard rolls to make the arm. It was a little tricky for the kids to cut neat holes for the cardboard roll to fit in and secure it with tape, so that part needed some adult help.

The kids were very enthusiastic to decorate the guitars with glitter glue, stickers and color shapes cut from magazines.

The party was a huge hit. Fifteen excited children showed up (I wanted to keep the numbers down, since it required a lot of supervision to help guide them with making the instruments), and spent the better part of an hour and a half mixing and matching supplies, coloring and sticking on decorations to their own personal musical instruments.

To celebrate, we had a jamming session (which got a little loud!), followed by a huge musical themed birthday cake (which I made). The kids were all reluctant to leave when parents started showing up, and most of them were still making their own music as they headed out the door.

Editors Note: Combine this idea with a birthday parade around the block after the instruments are made! The kids will love it.

Categories: Music Birthday Themes, All Birthday Party Ideas

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