How to Plan a Birthday Party that will be Remembered

Birthdays come only once in a year, and when you have children at home this means only one thing: party! Here are some ideas on how to organize your child’s next birthday party.Think of a theme
Organizing any party takes time. Ideally, the first thing that you should think of is the theme. Once you have that, everything else will follow.
Ask your child for ideas. After all, it is his party. If he’s too young to have an idea of his own, that’s okay. Just think of a theme that best suits your child. It could be anything from animals to cartoon characters or superheroes.Choose a venue
You can set up the party either at home or at an off-site venue like the park, a community center, or YMCAs. Having the party at home means that you don’t have to spend on reservations or bookings. There won’t be a time limit so you can start and end as early as you wish. The only caveat to this is that you need to do most of the cleanup on your own.
If you plan to have plenty of guests and games, you need a bigger setting to accommodate everyone. This is when an off-site venue becomes convenient and practical. If the venue allows, decorate the area with balloons, streamers, and birthday banners to make it festive.
Whatever you decide, make sure to have a backup plan in case of rain.

Prepare the invitations
Invitations should be sent out at least a week before the party. Make sure to double check each one for the correct information and specify whether the party is for kids only or if parents are allowed to stay. If it’s children-only, indicate the drop-off and pick-up times on the invitation. Include other relevant information, such as bringing swimsuits and towels, if it’s a pool party.
If you’re feeling creative, you can personalize the invites by hand. Ask your child to help out. Not only will this get him excited about the party, you also get to spend quality time together. Otherwise, just purchase or print out pre-made invitations to save time and effort.

Arrange the table setting
You can’t expect children to stay still during a party. Keep the children occupied by arranging a fascinating table setting. For the centerpiece, place a balloon bouquet or a couple of your child’s old toys. You can also decorate the edge of the tables with candy garlands. To keep children busy while waiting for their food, provide paper placemats and crayons for doodling and coloring.

Serve kid-friendly fare
Save yourself the trouble of agonizing over what to serve by going for tried-and-tested recipes. Children wouldn’t mind having pizza and burgers. You can also serve sandwiches that are cut into cute shapes. Finger foods are ideal since they are easy to prepare and eat. Children don’t eat a lot at parties so keep the servings small so as not to waste any food.

Purchase party favors and supplies
If you’re going with a theme, choose party favors that match with it. If you can’t find any, just get party items that complement the color scheme of the theme. Choose a dominant color and use that for your party supplies.
Save the fancy china for sophisticated dinner parties and use disposable or recyclable plates and cups instead. For loot bags, use brown bags. They’re environment-friendly and easy to decorate. Ink-stamp them with your child’s favorite cartoon character and fill them with goodies.

Entertain the children
Mascots and clowns are party staples but if your budget is limited, entertain the kids for less by organizing games and party crafts.
Create a list of games and prepare prizes for the kids. For party crafts, you can ask them to design their own masks, toys, or jewelry. Face painting is another great idea to keep the kids entertained during the party.

Planning a children’s party is exhausting, but it’s also a lot of fun. Some people think they cost a lot but that’s not always true. With a little bit of party planning know-how and some frugal creativity, you can pull off a successful children’s party that your little ones will enjoy.

Thank you to Jessica for this lovely guest post.  Jessica Phan is a designer for Balsamhill.com a purveyor of high-end artificial Christmas Trees. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area is perfect for her because she has a wide range of interests, including Art & Design, Fashion, Photography, Painting and Thrift Store Shopping.