Next time, throw a workshop birthday party for your kids

A vise and a few tools will entertain kids for hours at a birthday party.

I've never met a kid who doesn't like to make things, and that's why you should know about workshop birthday parties. They might just save you from a fate that befell me when our oldest guy was a preschooler.

It happened at the first birthday party my wife and I organized, an event that's memorable for all the wrong reasons. It wasn't just that rain drove us indoors right from the start, or that the little birthday boy lapsed into serious party overload and broke down in tears when he didn't win pin the tail on the donkey. No, the real problem was that the whole event was all so predictable.

We had cake and musical chairs and balloons and a cardboard equine, all of which seemed like excellent choices as we planned the event a few days earlier. But as the kids arrived and turned to me as designated director of fun, I felt like a comedian in front of a bad crowd. I know now that there's only one thing worse than feeling foolish in front of a bunch of preschoolers, and that's feeling foolish while also being told by an honest little girl that your party is boring. In the era of rapid-fire Disney-grade video extravaganzas, the cardinal sin of boredom is a distinct and painful possibility for anyone working with young kids.

Recently, it came time for our five year old to have a birthday party, and we didn't invite the donkey. This time we officially made it a hands-on event, and judging by the comments we heard soon after the workshop party invitations hit the streets, it was a wise move. It's a good thing kids still love to make things.

We divided the party into four free-choice craft events: screw driving, bucket decorating, leather working, and wood shaping with a spokeshave. I'm sure you can think of other options, but these four are safe, easy to arrange and certified kid pleasers.

Ordinary Robertson screws are easy to drive into the end grain of 6x6 chucks of wood or fire logs, and that's all you need for this workshop party centre. Kids can drive screws by themselves with a hand driver, or use a cordless drill with help from a grown up. You'll find #8 x 1 1/2-inch long screws work best. They're large enough for little fingers to grab, yet small enough to drive with ease. Spax screws, with their serrated thread design, work especially well because they're so easy to drive.

Instead of the usual assortment of trinkets and bobbles as giveaways to the party patrons, my wife operated a bucket decorating station. A stack of inexpensive plastic beach pails and some peel-and-stick decals kept the kids busy, happy and gave them a container for their high-sucrose take-home goodies.

Working with leather is an under-appreciated way to get kids involved in making things, especially at parties. I precut 3-inch x 8-inch long pieces of scrap leather beforehand, then folded them part way over to make a change purse with the kids when they arrived. Leave enough leather free at the top to form a flap that closes by tucking inside the pouch. The fastest way to secure seams along the sides is with pop rivets, though you can sew them instead using waxed cord if the other fun centres leave you with only a kid or two.

The biggest party hit, at least with the boys, was working with a spokeshave and some clear pine strips they could shape while held in a portable vise station. It's hard to beat the sight, sound and smell of fresh pine shavings, but to be honest, aesthetics probably aren't what JK students think about most. Prepare yourself to convince the little Napoleons that sharpened sticks, adventure, conquest and glory aren't really what you had in mind for a birthday party.

Give them what they need to create, and kids can make their own fun. Show them how to do things right, and you gain twice. You'll raise capable kids who know their way around tools, and you avoid the distinct danger of becoming just an ordinary, boring adult.