10 Beach Birthday Party Ideas For Kids and Adults
Perhaps this is the year you have your birthday party on the beach. It’s there, it’s beautiful, and the more you think about it, the more perfect it starts to sound. “Beach birthday bash” does have a ring to it.
There are many different ways you can go with it.
Check out these ten ideas to inspire your birthday fun:
Beach Scavenger Hunt
If the person you’re celebrating has a keen eye for nature, maybe a beach scavenger hunt is the way to go. To set it up, make a list of different items you might find on the beach. For example, you might include things like sea glass, sand dollar, crab, polka dot bikini, etc.
If you want to help do your part to keep the beach clean, put something like “three pieces of trash” on the list. Your party will end up tidying the beach up while playing the game — hello, good karma.
You can make a point system, assigning different values to each item, but you don’t have to. To help people keep track of what they’ve found, they can take pictures of the items as they cross them off the list. It’s fun for kids and adults as well.
Truly, a little healthy competition is part of any family gathering. Read on for more on ideas for winners:
Intense, but Friendly Beach Competition
If they’re known to like a little friendly competition, the beach has plenty of space to organize a game of their choice. Ultimate frisbee, beach volleyball, and touch football are a few classics.
There are also some modern favorites, such as spikeball and cornhole, which might take a little more effort getting to the beach than, say, a football, but is well worth it if you do.
Beach Bonfire
A beach bonfire is the perfect way to extend the exciting day into the night and keep the party going! Get a little tunes going on the BlueTooth speaker. If someone has a guitar, even better. Share stories around the fire about the person you’re celebrating.
Make s’mores. Open up a bottle of wine and watch the stars appear in the sky one by one, only if you can keep your eyes off the sunset.
You’ll smell all smokey afterward, but some people actually love it. Probably not an everyday thing to rock the smokey smell.
But, there’s definitely something nostalgic about noticing the smell on your clothes when you finally get home at 2:30 AM. Perhaps it reminds you of camp as a kid; time to pull out the water balloons and make some lanyards.
Rent a Boat
How great would it be if you rented a boat and set sail through the ocean blue for a birthday cruise? Renting a little sailboat, or perhaps something a bit bigger like a yacht, would be appropriate for a landmark 50th birthday.
Get everyone aboard and head out to sea; wear a sailor outfit or a pirate costume if you feel like it. Stock up on plenty of drinks and ice — garnish with a lemon slice (for style and for scurvy).
If a full-on yacht is a bit extravagant for your taste or budget, you can still touch on the idea with an inflatable pool yacht. It’s honestly such fun in itself that you won’t even care that the SS Moneymaker was unavailable.
Water Fight
How about a beachfront water battle? Kids love water fights, and the beach gives you plenty of space (and ammunition) to keep it going all day long.
The only thing you have to keep in mind is making sure that you’re respectful of the other people on the beach. Try to find a strip of shore that’s not quite so popular or busy.
That way, there will be no casualties among people who are looking to sunbathe and enjoy a relaxing day at the beach (and don’t really feel like getting lit up by a SuperSoaker).
Beach Bike Ride
A lot of beaches are great places to ride bikes. Not on the sand, of course, but along the shore somewhere on a path that will take you from one strip of coastline to the next. Strap the bike rack to the back of your car and meet up for a birthday ride before relaxing on the beach and cooling off in the waves.
If not everyone in your crew has a bike, there’s a good chance there’s a bike rental shop nearby for well-known biking locations. They might even be able to give you a birthday group discount; call ahead and ask! Then you won’t even have to mess with the bike rack.
Bike rides are fun for both kids and adults, something that everyone can enjoy together before splitting up for their favorite beach activities once it’s time to slip out of your shoes and take to the sand. Don’t forget to wear a helmet. There’s nothing cooler than safety.
Here’s a list of the best beach bike ridesin the US if you want to scope out the ultimate destination for your beach ride.
Pirate Theme
Pirate-themed birthday parties are popular with kids, matey. If you’re looking for a way to ramp up your pirate party, move it from the backyard to the beach. It will bring everything together for an authentic and salty pirate birthday party.
You’ll definitely want to make a treasure hunt a part of it somehow. There has to be a map– pirates always have maps. And there also must be an X. A red X, you know, the one that marks the spot. Bring red spray paint to mark an X on the ground somewhere and bury a gift. They’ll freak out with excitement.
For the parents, just make sure there’s a bottle of rum somewhere in the mix, and they’ll have a great time as well.
Photo Shoot for the Stars
Beach photos are kinda the best. If you hire a photographer, enlist your photographer buddy, or look over some pro tips for beach photography and take the photos yourself, everyone could go home with great memories and an awesome photo to remind them of your epic birthday party.
Time the day so that the photoshoot goes down at the same time that the sun does. Bring along some props, like a pirate hat, hula skirt, and those oversized sunglasses. It’ll be like having your own photo booth there for everyone to use.
FUNBOY floats make awesome photo ops as well, and you’ll be able to enjoy them on the sand in the water all day long. Who wouldn’t want a picture of themselves riding a giant flamingo?
We mean, there’s a reason our Instagram is so popular. Tag us so we can see your flawless flamingo style.
Hawaiian Luau Party
Set up a little tiki bar (or a few lanterns, at least), pass around some leis, put on Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and make some tropical drinks to fuel the fun. Making fancy drinks with the little umbrellas in them sounds awesome, but it’s not the most convenient thing to do on the beach.
Keep it simple. Bring a few bottles, some mixers, and keep them all cool and an inflatable cooler that fits the theme.
Beach Party Under the Stars
The beach is just different at night. The experience of the day is hot, bright, and energetic compared to the cool, dark, and serene setting the beach makes for once the sun has set.
Perhaps starting your birthday party around sunset is the right move. It comes with a few benefits.
For one, you can watch the sunset while you munch on the birthday food of choice. Then you can get a fire going to keep people warm, set the mood, and have a meeting spot in case people wander off in the dark.
As the night gets darker, watch the stars, see the moon's reflection upon the ocean, and have deep conversations about how small we really are.
Play with glow-in-the-dark toys! The beach should be less crowded at night, so you can launch those light-up rockets into the sky, throw a glow-in-the-dark football, or play with a glow-in-the-dark frisbee with plenty of space to watch them fly.
Just make sure that the beach you’re going to allows people to stay late into the night. Some beaches have a cutoff time when you’re supposed to leave.
Relax Hard, Play Hard
The beach is a fantastic location for a memorable birthday party, no matter what age they’re turning. That’s because the beach never gets old, and there are so many activities and themes.
Ultimately, though, a beach birthday bash is pretty simple to pull off– you’re going to the beach! The best part is the setting and the people you invite to celebrate the day with you.
As long as you have something to snack on, something to sit on, and enough sunscreen, it’s going to be a hit!
Sources:
10Best: Bike rides by the water | USA Today
8 Beach Photography Tips for Beginners | Photography Life
How to apply sunscreen | American Academy of Dermatology Association
