Several years ago we hosted a fire truck party for my oldest, then 3 years old. The fire truck came to the house and we played all types of fire truck games and ate fire truck themed food.
Luckily for my middle son, my party planning (and photography) skills have come a long way. So, when we decided to pick up and head to the firehouse for his 4th birthday, I had a better sense of what to do. Founded in 1799, our local company is rich in history. Although they have moved to a new building since their beginnings, the new building still has lots of ambience.
First, the firefighters did an educational workshop with the kids, geared toward their age group. They talked about how firefighters don’t like to play hide and seek, and gave strategies for getting out (and staying out!) of a house if there is a fire. They also put on their full gear with the air tank on so that the children could see what a firefighter would look and sound like if they came into their house.
Next, the kids went outside and got a tour of a pumper fire truck, which included time to crawl around inside the truck.
The truck makes my BIG 4 year old look so tiny.
We had arts and crafts activities set up for the kids, including a decorate your own tool kit craft (tutorial to come), a build a fire truck craft, and a fire hose craft.
The tool kit involved decorating a box with stickers…
The build a fire truck craft had the kids piece together different paper shapes to create a truck.
And the hose art allowed kids to use markers to draw hoses from nozzles.
The firefighters also set up a center with kid-sized authentic-looking fire gear that the kids could try on. This was a very popular activity!
Aren’t my little firefighters handsome?
The firefighters gave the kids a tour of the firehouse before we went home…the kids were so excited to see where real firefighters eat and sleep! We even met a real life visiting “fire” dog – how can you resist a fire pug?
Each child left with a personalized dog favor.
The dogs were bought in the Walmart Valentine’s Day section, and I personalized each with HTV and my heat press.
I added a ribbon for a leash with glue dots and a “thank you for adopting me” tag. The kids seemed to really like them and were walking them around on the leashes. My youngest has been hugging his for days!
After such a “hot” party, we needed some firetruck water bottles to cool off!
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