Taking the Stress out of Planning your Child"s Birthday Party at Home
Throwing your child's birthday party does not have to consist of agony.
The first rule of thumb is to keep it simple.
Decide if you are going to have some underlying theme.
These days it is easy to go to a store and purchase all that you need in paper goods and invitations.
It's been said that the age of your child is the appropriate amount of children.
So, if your child is 3, then you should invite 3 children.
However nice that might be, it never happens.
Today's children are so networked with school, after school programs, neighborhood friends, clubs, and activities that they all lead to longer guests lists.
Planning the guest list can sometimes be the hardest part to planning a birthday party.
It's best to decide if you'll limit the list to certain groups, class friends only, or take the children that your child has the most daily contact with.
Once you have the guest list it's important to give ample time for the invitations to be sent and people to RSVP.
Repondez s'il-vous-plait, from the French basically meaning Please Respond, does not always happen.
Often times it is better to put Regrets Only.
Hopefully in your invitation you gave thought to what time you are having the birthday party, this is important and can either add stress or alleviate some issues.
The earlier the party, before the lunch hour, then you might be able to avoid having to serve any food.
Once you get to about noon then you're running into the issue of to serve food or not to serve food.
Once you get back to around 2:00 pm then you are clear of the food issue, but then the later you go in time your back to the food debate.
The best source of food to serve at any party is pizza.
It's easy to order and liked by the majority of children.
Well, you figured out the theme, created the guest list, planned food or no food, now what do you do with all these kids in your house? There is a wealth of information on the internet for activities and games for children.
Some might be included under the search of party games, others you might be able to find under a general search of the age level of the children looking for crafts, games and activities.
The trick is to know what exactly the craft, activity, or game is going to entail.
It is always good to do a test run of whatever activity you plan on doing.
You never know what snafu you can encounter and it is best to get all of the glitches out before the party.
When choosing your activities, keep in mind the age of your birthday child and friends.
Only you know your child best and you can best determine the level and success of any activity.
Keeping it simple is the best way to go.
Stay away from activities that call for glue guns, or other items that really should have adult supervision.
These type of craft activities will only slow the children down and will lead to the children having unstructured time leading to chaos.
Games are always an easy thing to add or create at a party.
It is best to not have the games be real competitive in nature.
If working in groups, you should always try to let both teams accomplish something, then ultimately calling the birthday child's team the winner.
Be prepared with more games than you might actually get to.
You never know how long a game can take, or how long a child's attention span might last.
So it is always better to be over prepared then under prepared.
You can have prizes at the end of each game or just wait till the favor bag at the end for the children.
After all the crafts, games, and activities it is time for cake.
Best advice is to save the cake till it almost time for the children to be picked up.
Once you cut that cake the party is all over.
You will have lost any and all control that you had over the children once that sugar rush kicks in.
If you decide that you are going to open presents at the party with the guests in attendance then following the cake is usually a good time.
Favor bags...
why children get these at a birthday party is a mystery, yet none the less, anticipated.
What to put in a grab bag?You can fill it with some candy, items that relate to your theme, pencils and things for school, and a good place to find items would be at a dollar store.
These are best to hand out as the children are being picked up and leaving otherwise items tend to get lost, children want different colors of things, or an item might break.
Once the party is over let your child play with all his/her new birthday presents, kick your feet up, have a glass of wine and take solace that a birthday only comes once a year!
The first rule of thumb is to keep it simple.
Decide if you are going to have some underlying theme.
These days it is easy to go to a store and purchase all that you need in paper goods and invitations.
It's been said that the age of your child is the appropriate amount of children.
So, if your child is 3, then you should invite 3 children.
However nice that might be, it never happens.
Today's children are so networked with school, after school programs, neighborhood friends, clubs, and activities that they all lead to longer guests lists.
Planning the guest list can sometimes be the hardest part to planning a birthday party.
It's best to decide if you'll limit the list to certain groups, class friends only, or take the children that your child has the most daily contact with.
Once you have the guest list it's important to give ample time for the invitations to be sent and people to RSVP.
Repondez s'il-vous-plait, from the French basically meaning Please Respond, does not always happen.
Often times it is better to put Regrets Only.
Hopefully in your invitation you gave thought to what time you are having the birthday party, this is important and can either add stress or alleviate some issues.
The earlier the party, before the lunch hour, then you might be able to avoid having to serve any food.
Once you get to about noon then you're running into the issue of to serve food or not to serve food.
Once you get back to around 2:00 pm then you are clear of the food issue, but then the later you go in time your back to the food debate.
The best source of food to serve at any party is pizza.
It's easy to order and liked by the majority of children.
Well, you figured out the theme, created the guest list, planned food or no food, now what do you do with all these kids in your house? There is a wealth of information on the internet for activities and games for children.
Some might be included under the search of party games, others you might be able to find under a general search of the age level of the children looking for crafts, games and activities.
The trick is to know what exactly the craft, activity, or game is going to entail.
It is always good to do a test run of whatever activity you plan on doing.
You never know what snafu you can encounter and it is best to get all of the glitches out before the party.
When choosing your activities, keep in mind the age of your birthday child and friends.
Only you know your child best and you can best determine the level and success of any activity.
Keeping it simple is the best way to go.
Stay away from activities that call for glue guns, or other items that really should have adult supervision.
These type of craft activities will only slow the children down and will lead to the children having unstructured time leading to chaos.
Games are always an easy thing to add or create at a party.
It is best to not have the games be real competitive in nature.
If working in groups, you should always try to let both teams accomplish something, then ultimately calling the birthday child's team the winner.
Be prepared with more games than you might actually get to.
You never know how long a game can take, or how long a child's attention span might last.
So it is always better to be over prepared then under prepared.
You can have prizes at the end of each game or just wait till the favor bag at the end for the children.
After all the crafts, games, and activities it is time for cake.
Best advice is to save the cake till it almost time for the children to be picked up.
Once you cut that cake the party is all over.
You will have lost any and all control that you had over the children once that sugar rush kicks in.
If you decide that you are going to open presents at the party with the guests in attendance then following the cake is usually a good time.
Favor bags...
why children get these at a birthday party is a mystery, yet none the less, anticipated.
What to put in a grab bag?You can fill it with some candy, items that relate to your theme, pencils and things for school, and a good place to find items would be at a dollar store.
These are best to hand out as the children are being picked up and leaving otherwise items tend to get lost, children want different colors of things, or an item might break.
Once the party is over let your child play with all his/her new birthday presents, kick your feet up, have a glass of wine and take solace that a birthday only comes once a year!