This is a Guest post from Melissa at ThePartyWorks.com. Thanks Melissa!
The Perfect Kids Birthday Party
If you’re struggling to come up with a great idea for your child’s next birthday, welcome to the club. Planning a birthday party is stressful stuff. When the kids reach their teenage years it’s enough to simply rent a movie and order a few pizzas, but when they’re in that 4-11 age bracket, there can be a quite a bit of pressure to host a great party for your child. Here are a few tips for how to make it special, but avoid breaking the bank.
Budget
First of all, consider your budget. This will affect just about every aspect of the party, from how many guests to invite to the venue to the type of food you serve, you’ll want to have a target number in mind. Budget accordingly and figure out how much of each item to buy, what venues fall within that budget (my favorite parties have always just been hosted at my house) and how many guests to invite.
Activities
Plan on having at least three different activities planned for the party. Young kids aren’t necessarily to the point where they are ready to have conversational social interaction with each other so provide some games for them. Pin the tail on the donkey is a classic as are charades and tag. If you decide to throw a themed party using Super Mario party supplies and video games, make sure there are enough controllers for everyone.
Food
Talk to the parents of the guests in advance and figure out if there are any food allergies you need to be aware of. I was at a party for one of my boys a couple of years ago when a girl bit into a cookie not knowing that there were peanuts in it. Her peanut allergy flared up and she had to go to the hospital. It was an unpleasant ending to the party and a reminder that if you’re going to invite kids over, you need to be 100 percent certain the menu you’re serving fits within their dietary restrictions.
Party Favors
For party favors, it can be tempting to just stuff plastic bags full of junk from the dollar store but more often than not, those items just end up in the trashcan. Instead, you should try to think of creative goodie bag options. I gave away bags that had a recipe and all the ingredients for homemade cookies at my daughter’s last birthday party. Those seemed to be a huge hit. Get creative and have fun with the party favors.
Leave a Reply