It can always seem a bit of a stressful event to organise, as the older your child gets the more there is to plan. Especially if they would like to have a party with their friends invited too. You want them to have an enjoyable day but at the same time, it dawns on you that there will be lots to plan. So here are some ideas on what to organise for your little one’s birthday and how to make it as great a day as possible.
It’s All In the Planning
So the first part of this party planning is going to be writing down a to-do list and establishing first of all what type of party you are going to host, how many children are attending and if there is going to be a particular theme. Then you can really start to get into the finer details of things.
- Venue – Will you host it at home or hire out a location? In which case you would need to ensure you can book the desired location.
- Invitations – Are you going to write them out yourself, or buy ones to fill in or even do digital ones.
- Accessories– Will a trip to the supermarket be needed so that you can stock up on party accessories such as paper cutlery, plates, napkins, balloons, table cloth, candles, party poppers, streamers, party hats and a birthday banner.
- Party bags– Are you going to put together a little party bag of goodies so that each child has something nice to take home from the day as a souvenir of the party/day’s event.
So the best thing to do is write everything down, brainstorm ideas and then create a timeline of when and where you need to get each task sorted by. It will make things a lot easier on yourself if you have everything written down so that you can plan accordingly and try to make it as stress free as possible for yourself.
The Star of the Show…The Birthday Cake!
No birthday would be complete without a birthday cake of course. So you want to ensure that you get your order in as soon as possible, particularly if you want it to fit into a theme that your child is into at the moment. This might be a popular character from a kids tv show or the latest action hero in a film.
Chances are you won’t be the only parent trying to get hold of the latest trend and accessories. So the sooner you organise the cake the better, once you know how many people are attending. Opting for a cake business that specialises in celebration cakes, such as Chummys Bakery is a helpful option when cake is on the agenda.
The Gifts
Your little one is most likely going to have a long list of items that they would like, but when you can’t afford to buy an endless supply of toys, games, clothing and gadgets, you are going to have to spend what you can afford. It will be useful to shop around online first to see where you can get the best price, particularly for the really popular on trend gifts.
You could also get your child to write a list of items that ideally they would like, a bit like at Christmas when you get your children to write a letter to Father Christmas asking what they would like to receive on Christmas Day. This might help you establish which gifts to focus on for your child’s birthday so that they will be pleasantly surprised when they unwrap their gifts to find an item they were wishing for.
Activities to Do
You are certainly going to need some interactive games to keep all the children occupied and prevent them from getting bored. Depending on their age range will help to determine the level of difficulty and how much they need to concentrate on the task. The younger they are, the more simple the games should be. You could try to include a variety of activities.
Puzzle solving- You could write out a list of instructions whereby they need to solve a different puzzle in order to get to the end goal, which is a prize that you have hidden somewhere on site.
Musical- You can’t go wrong with a bit of music, so try to incorporate this at some point. It could be a game where they need to listen to the music and then you stop playing it briefly, so that they can continue with the task you have set them. Or it could simply be an activity where you have music playing in the background and they need to learn the dance routine. The child that does the best routine could receive a little prize.
Creative- A task that involves the children being creative is always a good one to do. It allows them to tap into their inner creativity and express themselves, whilst producing a piece of art for fun. To make it more fun you could set a task for them to do and place them into groups to see who can finish first to make it a little competitive.
Location Activity- You might opt for an indoor activity or a location based one which involves you taking the children to a specific destination, such as bowling, mini golf, rock climbing, go karting or laser quest for example. This will be quite good when they are a little older so perhaps 10 years and upwards. They will be old enough to be able to concentrate on this sort of task and hopefully enjoy it too.
Food and Drink
Now this is also going to be essential, a selection of food and drink for all the children. Are you going to make sandwiches or buy them? You will need to think about providing a selection of food so that all tastes are covered. It will definitely be important to know in advance if any of the children attending the party follow a specific diet or have an allergy so that they are catered for. So definitely keep in contact with the parents of the children who will be attending so that you can prevent any incidents occurring where a child has an allergic reaction to one of the foods.
Entertainment
Another important item on your list will be determining which sort of entertainment you would like to include for the children. Will you hire a professional kids entertainer to engage with the children? Or will you prefer to have music playing in the background and then organise some games for them to participate in. You could also include things like karaoke, a bouncy castle, a scavenger hunt or face painting.
The more creative and fun it will be for the children, the more they will enjoy it and prevent boredom! It will also provide a great memory for your little one to look back on in future when they are older.
Dress Code/Theme
You will want to think about what sort of theme to go for, whether it will involve the children having to dress up to fit into a particular theme or just a general dress code. Your child might have a favourite character that they would love to dress up in, so you can then create a theme around that specific film/tv show.
Themes could be Harry Potter, Peppa Pig, Spiderman, The Greatest Showman, Frozen, Disney princesses, Minions, pirates, animals, lego and many more. The sky’s the limit in terms of creativity really.
Overall it takes a lot of patience and meticulous planning to be able to host a really good birthday party for your little one, especially when it is a big birthday to celebrate. The more organised you are, the less stress you will put on yourself to get everything completed in time. The main goal at the end of the day is to provide a fun, enjoyable day for all the children to enjoy and look upon fondly. So you want to make sure that you are hosting one to remember!
Disclosure: This is a featured post.
