Birthday parties are great fun for everyone involved, especially kids. Planning an outdoor party gives you more freedom to choose themes and gives more space for guests to enjoy themselves. Here are six outdoor birthday party ideas that can bring a smile to the birthday boy or girl and create a memorable day for all.

A pool party goes over big on those hot days of summer. All you need is a few inflatable palm trees, some tiki torches, and beach balls to go with your already standard streamers and balloons. Serving drinks in pineapple glasses adds great fun. There are plenty of games to choose from with this kind of theme. The rubber duck race where players push a rubber duck with their nose from one end of the pool to the other, squirt gun fights, and volleyball in the pool are just a few to keep in mind. And, what is perfect about this idea is that it can be for all ages.

Another summertime fun birthday party idea for all ages is the Luau. You can create a tropical paradise in your backyard with inflatable palm trees, tiki lights, grass tablecloths or runners. Have your guests dress in grass skirts and Hawaiian shirts and put a lei around their neck when they arrive. Games are easy as you can have hula dancing, limbo contest, and even a hot potato game using a coconut.

Extreme sports are in today, especially kids with their BMX's and skateboards, which can be incorporated into a fun and safe outdoor birthday party. Renting a skate park and letting everyone use their skateboards, bikes, and skates will provide a day of great fun and activity. If renting isn't possible, use skateboards for relay races and scooter races between two or more teams. Setting up a TV and game system, you can have contest using video games of extreme sports, adding excitement, competition, and fun for the guests.

Have a birthday party circus for the day. Decorating is easy with lots of colorful balloons, streamers, and maybe a little trapeze with a stuffed monkey on it to decorate. Have the guest of honor dress up as the ringmaster, hire some clowns or ask some friends to dress up like clowns. Making animal balloons is always fun for the kids and someone can make them or teach the kids to. Setting up some carnival type games like the bean bag toss or even horse shoes with prizes for winners will have everyone laughing and enjoying themselves.

Who said you had to sit around during a birthday party? Create an Olympic style day, which is great for the young and old. Obstacle races, bean bag tosses, relay races, and long jumps can all be scored, everyone's score tallied and winners at the end of the day. Complete the awards show with medals to wear around the neck like real Olympian winners. With kids, making sure each goes home with some kind of medal will make them feel special.

A theme that isn't used so much today but is still great fun is a Wild West birthday party. This is especially fun for kids although adults have a good time too. Have everyone dress up like cowboys and cowgirls, complete with hats and cowboy boots. Red tablecloths, horseshoes, and some hay will create the atmosphere of a real rodeo, and don't forget some western music. You can have everyone square dance, pin the tail on the horse, a rope throwing contest, and if possible a pony will bring everything together.

Creating the right atmosphere and fun for a birthday party can be easy if you use one of these outdoor birthday party ideas. You can make the day memorable not only for the birthday boy or girl, but for all the guests that help celebrate the day. So go ahead and host a luau or a rodeo, get everyone's heart pumping with a mini Olympic day or some extreme skateboarding fun. The choices are endless and the fun never stops.