Welcome to “DIY” Birthday Parties! On a budget! The idea is to be able to throw an awesome Cartwheels and Cookies: A Gymnastics Birthday Party – without having to hire someone or break the bank!
When my daughter requested a gymnastics party for her 6th Birthday Party, I was beyond ecstatic! She already had a hand-me-down bar set and beam from my niece’s friend, so I thought this would be the perfect “setting” for the party. We finished our basement a few years ago due to water damage and made a dance room for her. This is also when Covid hit and her dance class went virtual. We thought what better way to use the space than to paint the walls pink and hang some mirrors! Anyway, let the party planning begin!
I always start by making a list For Gymnastics Birthday Party: Invitations, Activities, Favors, Cake, etc.
My go-to stores for inspiration: Dollar Tree, Walmart, Amazon, and Target- Most reasonable prices!
Invitations– I created my own invitation on Canva. I have ordered digital invitations before and thought why not just create my own? It was a little time-consuming, but they came out perfect! On Etsy, there are a lot of “Cupcakes and Cartwheels” options but I knew we wanted to decorate cookies, so I took it upon myself and created “Cartwheels and Cookies.” FREE PRINTABLE! CLICK HERE for the invitation and it will bring you to CANVA to edit!
Before the Gymnastics Birthday Party, I got confirmation that all the girls had leotards and wanted to wear one. At one point I thought about getting all of the girls matching ones, but who can afford that? This was just easier. I hung all of my daughters’ leotards as decoration!
For this Gymnastics Birthday Party I decided on the following activities- with a self-made sign, in Canva as well, and called it “All-Around Events” and a gold frame from Dollar Tree was the perfect presentation!
Cookie Decorating, Obstacle Course, Hula Hoop Contest, Limbo, Decorating a water bottle, Medal Ceremony, and a Dance Party!
1. Cookie Decorating For Gymnastics Birthday Party – My Favorite!! And a crowd favorite as well! It’s really simple to set up once you have everything- Need- Table Cloth, Plates, Trays for Sprinkles, Little cups for Icing, knives (or something to spread the icing), different types of sprinkles (theme related of course! – gold stars for this one⭐), Cups and straws (because what are cookies without some milk!) Below are my favorite recipes if making the cookies and icing homemade. For a quicker option, you can always buy premade dough and jarred icing!
Icing Recipe: Wilton Best Homemade Vanilla Buttercream Frosting | Wilton Sugar Cookie Recipe: The Best Cut Out Sugar CookieRecipe | Wilton (I prefer to use Vanilla Extract instead of Almond – but that is a personal preference!)
Each girl got a homemade chocolate square to bring home as well! I love this mold! It takes a little effort to make but the best part is they can be made weeks ahead of time! (Linked below)
2. Obstacle Course For Gymnastics Birthday Party– this was an easy one- the girls took control of this one- moving from the Bars to the beam, to the cheese mats, and somersaults on the floor mats (from IKEA)!
3. Hoola Hoop Contest For Gymnastics Birthday Party – Say no more! You can see who lasts the longest, do it to music with a stop-and-go! Who can do the fanciest trick? The possibilities are endless!
4. Limbo For Gymnastics Birthday Party – Put the music on and see- how low can you go? How low can you go? (my daughter needed a rules refresher that you can’t use your hands 😊)
5. Decorate a Water Bottle For Gymnastics Birthday Party – I find the best place to get water bottles for parties is Dollar Tree. The only issue is if you want the same color, you may have to visit more than one for matching bottles, but let’s face it, these stores are everywhere!
6. Medal Ceremony For Gymnastics Birthday Party – Hodges Badge– I am very proud of myself for finding this one- real medals for only $3 and I made my daughter her very own personalized 6th Birthday trophy- She was so excited about this! The podiums were just 3 storage bins I had flipped upside down and I wrapped purple wrapping paper around them. The gold stars are from the Dollar Tree of course and the numbers were cut out of construction paper. I have yet to master the Cricut so a little messy, but FUN!!
7. Dance Party – turn up the jams and let them go! I had a strobe light for this part but I didn’t get any pictures, unfortunately!
Setting up for the party:
My gold bow chairs! I went to 4 different HomeGoods to get 10 of the gold bow chairs! They were on clearance at my local store and had 6, I had to call around and travel to get the additional 4 for a set! I have used them for my daughter’s parties for 2 years now! They do have the similar one on Amazon (link below) and would be so cute for a vanity chair, etc. Pending $100+ on 10 chairs for a party doesn’t make much sense! I initially thought I would list them to “rent” locally, but haven’t done that yet~
Dessert- I am fortunate enough to have an amazing sister who has been making cakes for years! I find my inspiration usually on Pinterest and send it on over. This one I knew I wanted some sort of medal with the number 6 on it for her age and I found the most adorable cake topper on Amazon- easy peasy!
My mom uses an alphabet punch board to make all the letters for the banner- for every party we have actually!
My mom also makes this vanilla glazed sugar cookies. The Icing is just water and confectionary sugar and they taste amaaaaazing! (Cookie Recipe Link Above!)
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Gymnastics Birthday Party Gift Ideas:
- Nike Pro Shorts
- HMTAOLIFE Gymnastics Mat Air Tumble Track
- Gymnastics Stickers
- Under Armour Headbands
- Kendra Scott Elisa Pendant Necklace
- Nike Fleece Crop Hoodie – Coconut Milk/Black
- Gymnastics Kip Bar
- Pink and Gold Airpods Case Cover
- Gymnastics LED Light
- Destira Gymnastics Leotard
- Pink Lululemon Athletica Everywhere Belt Bag
- Live Love Gymnastics Pillow
- Stanley Quencher 40 Oz- Cream
- Athletic Chalk Ball
- Ugg Cozy II Slipper Girls
- Foldable 7ft Gymnastics Balance Beam
- Peace Love Gymnastics Tshirt
- White and Pink Under Armour Shorts
Favors For Gymnastics Birthday Party – I was lucky enough to find the scrunchies, jump ropes and “shine on” hand sanitizer at the…. Dollar Tree! I believe the jump ropes are seasonal and I haven’t seen the hand sanitizer there since but they always have new items- so I would just look for anything that has “stars” etc. They probably always have scrunchies! The hoola hoops were from Walmart and each girl got to bring one of those home as well.
I love using theme Quotes for decoration for parties. Printing a quote and putting in a frame can be the perfect (free!) décor- Dollar Tree has gold frames that are perfect!
Example For Gymnastics Birthday Party Quotes:
Each girl got a backpack as well (dollar tree) to put all of their goodies in. I included the below tag in the bag as well:
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*Gymnastics Party Supplies*
Amazon
- Birthday Girl Leotard
- Sprinkles Tray
- Gold Sprinkles
- Stickers for Water Bottles
- Strobe Light
- Chocolate Mold
- Cake Topper
- Cookie Cutter
- Dance Ribbon
- Gold Bow Chair
- Inclined Gymnastics Mat
- Gymnastics Bar
- Gymnastics Purple Beam
- Alphabet Punch Board
Walmart
Five Below
Hodges Badge Company
IKEA
Dollar Tree
- Pink Bookbag- I find these are only available during fall for the school season but only $1.25!
- Jump Ropes- Seasonal
- Star Hand Sanitizer- may have been seasonal
- Scrunchie – Seasonal
One more “Prepping for the Party” Pic!!! I sure LOVE planning a party!
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