Entertaining Ideas
leahkate
member
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Need ideas for my son's Civil War themed birthday party.
My son is turning 8 in May and he is fascinated with the Civil War. I am trying to encourage him to learn more about history especially, and he wants to incorporate this into his birthday party. If you have any ideas, I would appreciate it. There will be 10-20 kids, mostly boys under 10. It will be held at our house, outdoors. I mostly need help with food and activities. I have some red, white and blue party supplies I can decorate with, but I'm not finding alot of info online. Can someone give some insight?
Re: Need ideas for my son's Civil War themed birthday party.
I'm not sure how appropriate this might be, but you could buy some Confederate and Unionist caps from a museum or Ebay and let them play capture the flag, or something. The other kids might not be all into the history, so I wouldn't push it.
Also, don't worry about the food. It's unlikely the kids would go for hard tack, anyway. I'd just serve what you would normally serve at a kid's birthday.
Name Tags with Civil War Generals? (That is my history buff H's suggestion)
Also, he says a brown "knapsack" party favor labelled with the General's name and including a couple of lines about that person from history and maybe a compass, some beef jerky and a water gun?
He also contributed that you can find Civil War themed Monopoly at specialty game stores.
Here are some Civil War themed kids activities for 4th graders: http://www.proteacher.com/cgi-bin/outsidesite.cgi?id=10572&external=http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/civilwar/cwar.htm&original=http://www.proteacher.com/090053.shtml&title=The%20Civil%20War%20for%20Kid
Would a trip to Gettysburg as a gift for your son maybe be more appropriate? (This is my suggestion)
Stand up for something you believe in.
You have to know your audience. If the parents in your circle get the theme, then items like Confederate/Union caps could be a good party favor.
Personally, I would freak if I went to drop my kid off at a bday party with Confederate gear...but I'm black and my kids are part black,white & Cuban, so I can see a Civil War themed party taking an uncomfortable turn.
Exactly. OP, I see you're in Mississippi. I'm from SC. The Civil War, especially for Southerners, has a certain romanticism to it. That's not necessarily the case for a lot of other people. There are strong opinions on both sides, and I don't think an 8 year old's birthday is the right venue to open that can of worms.
That being said, I think it's great that your son is interested in it and would encourage him to learn more. Maybe there's a battle re-enactment somewhere close by that he would enjoy? I know that just about every major town in SC has some form of a Civil War museum, and I'm sure Mississippi is no different. I would steer him in those directions and maybe give an age-appropriate explanation of why it's not the best choice of theme for a birthday party.
I'm sorry and I hope I don't offend you but I got a chuckle out of your post.
To the OP why don't you play a game like "Pin the Hat on Abe Lincoln" you can get a photo of Lincoln and cut out some stovepipe hats from black construction paper and use double stick tape to stick it to the picture.
My only other suggestion is to google games children played during that period and have the kids play those.
I like these ideas. Maybe looking at the culture and historical period more so than the war itself may be a way to avoid some uncomfortable situations.
Thanks ya'll. I am not really trying to do a Confederate vs. Union type thing here at all. I think the reason I am so stumped is because I am only coming up with Americana type stuff, whereas the Civil War was really a division. If I go with this, I am going to lean more towards the army parts of it, instead of the politics. I don't think there would be any problems with our guests, but it is kind of heavy for a kid's birthday party. Maybe I can talk him into a pool party instead!
We are taking him to a Civil War museum a few days after his birthday, which is what spurred this idea for his party.
This doesn't really seem like a good idea to me. It's great that your son is interested in history but where I'm from, racism is still very much alive. And not hidden. People here aren't ashamed of themselves being rascist. I wouldn't let my son go to a civil war birthday party unless I knew exactly what they would be doing and if it in any way would talk like southerners were right in their actions.
And to the girl who posted that southerners romanticise the civil war... I'm a southerner and I disagree whole heartedly with you. Maybe where you live things are different but here it goes one of two ways: You're rascist and run around wearing a southern flag on your jacket or hat or You're trying to stay away from those people because of one reason or another.
I might be too stubborn to see the fun in this but having a multiracial son, No. I wouldn't send him to this sort of party.