Cheerleader Party Ideas

Bring it on! If your little girl has dreams of pom poms, megaphones, graceful stunts and team spirit, what better way to celebrate her birthday than with a cheerleader birthday party?

The cheerleading party is a wonderful kid’s birthday theme that is inexpensive, easy to plan and filled with music, action and fun for girls of all ages. Read on, because we have some helpful suggestions sure to make your guests cheer!

Gather your little cheerleading squad with the perfect birthday party invitations! Choose a great design with cheerleader imagery and complement with an attention-grabbing whimsical typestyle. You can also send a hip and trendy personalized photo birthday invitation with an actual picture printed of your daughter posing in her cheerleader’s outfit.

Adapt popular cheers when writing the cheerleader birthday invitation wording, like spelling out “Party” (“Give me a P! Give me an A!”) or “Hip, Hip, Hooray, it’s a special day!” Or, use a festive invitation verse such as Two, Four, Six, Eight – Come on Girls let’s celebrate…We’ll chant, jump, and kick real high – Let’s cheer loud, (Your child) is turning 5!

For an extra touch of glamour, sprinkle some confetti and glitter in the envelope before you send it!

Cheerleaders are part of a team and you’ll want to encourage the girls to dress in matching outfits. One way is to coordinate with their parents beforehand to make sure their clothes are identical, like gymnast leotards with skirts in matching colors or identical shorts and t-shirts. Or, make your own cheerleader t-shirts with iron-on sheets printed on the computer and distribute them to your guests as they arrive.

You may also like to set up a makeup station where the girls can have their faces painted with kid-safe costume paints and do their hair in cheerleader styles like ponytails with colorful ribbons. You may want to have another adult or two help with this; it’s a good way to enlist the other parents!

Pom poms are a necessary cheerleader party favor. Fortunately, they’re inexpensive and easy to find. You’ll want to have at least two for every guest and quite a few more for decorations. You can also make a craft of making megaphones. Simply roll up large pieces of card stock or poster board, tape shut and let the girls decorate with stickers, plain and glitter.

It’s easy to show your spirit with cheerleader birthday party decorations. Balloons, streamers and party supplies should be in the colors of your favorite team, or simply two bold colors that work well together like red and white or blue and yellow. Hang sporty pennants and put up large poster board signs painted with poster paints and glitter glue, with sayings that you’d see in school before a big game like “Go Team!” as well as “Happy Birthday!” wishes for the birthday girl. Sports equipment and memorabilia like posters of team logos, felt pendants, footballs and basketballs are also good ways to set the mood.

Megaphones, spirit sticks and pom poms make a great centerpiece for the party table. Turn the megaphone over and have a weighed-down balloon bouquet coming out of the end! To make a clever cheerleader table cover, sprinkle confetti, glitter, sequins and shiny ribbons on a tablecloth in one of your cheerleader colors.

Play Top 40 songs or the Jock Jams soundtrack to give some high energy songs to cheer along to. If your party is indoors, be sure you have plenty of room and lay down padding or gymnast mats for the kid’s cheerleader games and activities.

A wonderful way to make your cheerleading party something special is to ask a real cheerleader to come and give cheerleading lessons. Ask a friend or relative, or contact the local high school if you don’t know someone who fits the bill. Build up her arrival as if she’s a star cheerleader and kids will think a real celebrity is at the party!

Start your little cheerleader camp with cheerleader training exercises, like cartwheels and somersaults. Follow with cheerleader training; if you don’t have an instructor then research popular cheers on the internet or buy a cheerleader training video. Don’t forget to stretch beforehand. When your guests are ready, hold a competition where the girls come up with their own original cheers! Award prizes in categories such as the loudest, the funniest, the highest jumper and the most original. Make sure every cheerleader walks away a winner!

Your guests may also like to play classic children’s birthday party games with a cheerleader twist. For example, play “Pin the Pom Pom on the Cheerleader” instead of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” Do the “Hokey Pokey” or dance under a limbo stick. Or play a musical game where the children dance and cheer along with a popular song, then freeze in place when the music abruptly stops. The last one to freeze each time is “out,” and continue until you have a winner.

If your cheerleader party turns into a slumber party later, gather the girl’s sleeping bags around your big-screen TV at the end of the night to watch age appropriate cheerleader movies.

A cheerleader birthday party menu doesn’t have to be too complicated. If you wish to fit the theme try concession stand treats like pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs and nachos. Cheerleaders tend to eat healthy, so you may want to go with light items like veggies and dip, cheese and crackers and fruit kebabs.

The girls will be getting a workout during cheerleader training so you’ll want to have snacks available throughout the party. Trail mix, goldfish crackers and pretzels are good finger foods. Don’t forget coolers filled with Gatorade, bottled water and fruit punch.

Bake a cake with a birthday cheer for your daughter written in frosting, along with cheerleader cake toppers. Or, cut a sheet cake in the shape of a megaphone or pennant. Cupcakes can be covered with colorful sprinkles or coconut to look like pom poms or decorated with cheerleader phrases like “Rah Rah Rah!” and “Go Team!”

You’ll want to send your guests home with goody bags to thank them for their pep and spirit! Stadium cups or megaphones wrapped with cellophane and ribbon make nice containers, or use paper sacks covered with cheerleader stickers. Fill with colorful candies and little gifts and trinkets like plastic sunglasses, patterned shoelaces, barrettes and hair bands, temporary tattoos, lip gloss and cheerleader stickers and sticker books.

Before the party is over, take group cheerleader photos of your little cheerleaders posing together and in formations such as the pyramid and print them out for each guest to take home. Encourage them to sign each other’s photographs as a party memento they’ll treasure for a long time to come. You may even record video of their best cheers and watch together at the end of the party, or to send burned on DVD with personalized thank you notes later!

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