Kids Will Go "Hawg" Wild for This HIgh-Octane Party

It's late July, and by now we've all heard our kids whine, "Mom, I'm bored." If you happen to have a child between the ages of four and seven, here's the ultimate summer boredom buster-a themed party I call "Biker Tykes on Trikes."

The fun begins when each child receives a laminated driver's license at the door. It's their ticket to ride in a pint-sized road rally on your driveway that's actually a bicycle obstacle course and craft activity rolled into one. Before the party, your kids will love teaming up with you to create the obstacle course's roads, paths and bridges using washable paint or sidewalk chalk. You can create road and safety signs using blank paper and magic markers and attach them to orange plastic cones.

Crafty kids can exercise their creative licenses at the party, where they can decorate their trikes and bikes with handlebar streamers, decals and washable paint. Afterward they can dress up as biker chicks and dudes at a table stocked with pendants, iron-on biker patches and zany spray-on temporary hair colors. Now that they're dressed for the part, they'll feel revved up for full-throttle fun as they maneuver their trikes or bikes around, over and through the obstacle course.

After their fuel tanks hit empty, it's time to belly up to the "biker bar" for a menu that's purely "hawg" heaven: "hot dog hawgs," "chip-seal potato chips" and an "oil-change" chocolate pudding. If you happen to be celebrating a special birthday, bring out a themed cake. Now this is a party that will get your kids' motors buzzin!

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