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Plan a party for your child that is fun and easy
Birthday party planner
Planning a party involves special one on one time with your child. Your child will already feel excited and special. Begin organizing early. Involve your child. Select the guest list together. Speak to the parents of your child's best friends, before you prepare the invitations. As soon as you know how many children will be invited, plan for one out of every third guest to decline your invitation. Let your child select the theme with you. You child will feel special and will learn some valuable life lessons from the experience.
Guest list
After you have decided upon your venue, activities and supervision, you will know how many guests you can comfortably manage. The younger the group of children, the more supervision you will require. Remember, you are responsible for every guest. Always permit one parent to stay with his/her child and also ensure that you trust your supervisors to be around children.
One week before the party, finalize your confirmed guest list.
Venue
At home parties are generally more expensive when you factor in your time and costs. You will have a tendency to prepare too much or too little if you are not experienced. Most inconvenient, is the task of cleaning and setting up before and after the party.
If your party is taking place at home, clearly define the geographic limits with your guests. If you have a bedroom area, there is no need for kids to go there. They should be under your watchful eye at all times.
Using a community centre or church hall is very cost effective. Make sure that you rent the space in advance. If the space is large, divide it with steamers to make the space cozy.
Theme
Your theme could be echoed throughout the party, from the invitations to the cake and art activity.
I recently attended Anthony's 'Aquamarine green' birthday party. Anthony loves the colour green.
He selected his favourite invitations and thank you notes. They were green. Green decorations adorned his birthday cake. Green feathers, green buttons, green glitter and green cut outs were provided to the group of children, who created an awesome green locomotive with the goodies. We painted a beautiful mural using; you guessed it, blue and green, to obtain the most perfect shades of his favourite colour. The main course included green salad, celery sticks, and pizza with green peppers on top. The punch was served with green straws, green cups and green limes placed on the side. Anthony was full of joy and delight, throughout the entire experience.
Date and time of day
It is best to schedule your party right after a nap or after a meal. If you schedule a party in the middle of a toddler's nap time, you will have a very cranky bunch of guests. Two hours is the perfect amount of time to engage and entertain youngsters.
Activity
A field trip to a party providing centre is a great idea. Entertainers and entertainment centres are experienced with your needs and will provide your guests with ample stimulation.
Hiring an Entertainer
Consider hiring an entertainer. These artists and performers are expert at keeping a flow of activities going with children of all ages. Children require stimulation and rules. Entertainers know how to keep a balance of both, combined with fun and excitement. Be confident that the entertainer is appropriate for your child's age group.
See Canada's Website Directory for a list of the most popular entertainers available.
Invitations
Your child should help with the invitations. Depending on his age, his task could include placing stickers on the card, to writing his name on the invitations.
Invite all of the girls or all of the boys from your child's class. Even at a young age, you will create hurt feelings if you neglect some children. Ask your child's teacher for the class list of names. Write the invitations and ask your child's teacher if she can help to distribute them. You might also mail them or have your child hand them out after school.
Food
Buy the food 2 days before your party. Prepare your food the day before and the day of the party. Keep it simple and select foods that do not require cutting and are not a choking hazard. Be mindful of seafood and peanut allergies. It is always best to refrain from serving peanuts and shellfish to young children.
Birthday Cake
Bake the cake 3 days before the party. Freeze the cake layers. Decorate and ice the cake the day before the party.
Make an ice cream cake. Use crushed cookies as your base, vanilla ice cream as the cake and crushed smarties as the filling. Top with whipped cream, mixed with icing sugar. Decorate with some simple decorations piped on top. There you have it, a treat that will delight every one of your guests.
Your birthday cake should be served immediately after the main course and preferably in the last hour. This is to ensure that any food colouring or dairy allergic reactions don't complicate your day.
Gifts for your guests
Although candy and tiny toys are the most popular party favour to give, a book or a toy is easier and quicker to prepare.
Another exciting option is to prepare a party favour during the party. For instance, during our Thomas the Tank Engine party, we created cake and candy decorated locomotives. At our Bob the Builder party, we created wooden boxes, with the help of Rona. I added a tracer and pencil to the box, for the children to take home.
At all times, your most important consideration must be safety. Buying discontinued toys, from the dollar store, can be unsafe. At a company Christmas party, my children received a fun toy comprised of small foam parts. Unfortunately, my youngest son tried to swallow a piece of this toy. We caught him turning blue and were able to retrieve the part, lodged in his throat. This could have ended badly. A good quality toy will be safe for all siblings.
Thank you notes
The day after your party, write a thank you note to each guest. Include a thank you to any adults, who were helpful throughout the party.
Opening Gifts
It is good manners to open birthday gifts in front of the child's guests. Draw names out of a hat to decide the gift opening order. Opening the gifts just before departure time is a nice way to cool down the excitement level.
Practice your thank you gestures, before the party. Teach your child that appreciation and manners are very important behaviours. It is ok if your child makes a mistake. A party is a learning experience.
Thank you and Good Bye
Your child should be taught to say thank you and good bye to each of his/her guests, as they leave. It is good manners. Do not make the excuse that he/she is too young to do this.
Activities
Schedule the activities in 12-15 minute segments. This is to hold the attention of every child. If every guest is kept busy, you won't suffer damage to your property or physical damage to a guest. In their innocence, children are not always good at assessing their behaviour risks.
If you schedule active activities alternatively with calm activities you will have an increased attention span during the calm activities. Follow your schedule. Refer to it as often as you require.
Games and physical activity
Simon says: Change the name to Bob the Builder says or Thomas the Tank Engine says, if your theme dictates the change.
Musical Chairs: amuses the children with organized activity.
Pin the tail on the donkey; can become pin the whistle on Thomas for a train party.
Treasure hunt: Children follow all clues, written and or drawn, until they arrive at the treasure. This treasure could be their goody bags.
Obstacle course: Set up a series of challenges for your guests to manoeuvre around.
Jumping Castle: Rent an outdoor jumping castle for non-stop fun.
Popcorn: Get a large blanket and spread the blanket on your floor. Have the children sit around the blanket, but not on top of the blanket. Proceed to instruct them to pick up the blanket. They are then requested to raise their arms up and down, while holding the blanket. For added excitement, have them do this while you throw foam balls onto the top of the blanket.
Example party schedule
2:00 PM: Free Play: Free play will keep the kids busy until all of the guests have arrived.
2:15 PM: Physical Activity: jumping castle
2:30 PM: Art Activity
2:45 PM: Story
3:00 PM: Meal
3:15 PM: Cake
3:30 PM: Food Art Activity
3:45 PM: Gift opening
4:00 PM: Thank you and good bye
Food Activity
Decorate cup cake or a rectangular cake using Smarties, M & M's, candies and icing.
Cut and Paste Activity
Make a train, car, picture frame, mask or building box, depending on your theme.
Use cardboard paper, paper bag, buttons, fabric, feathers, glitter, pom poms, letters, magazines, special paper, tape, tissue paper, trimmings, straws, stickers, wrapping paper, old cards, glue, scissors and/or yarn to decorate the object.
Allow the children to be inspired. Have them create their version of the art activity on the cut out that you have provided them with. For small children, you will want to cut out the main shape, in advance of the party. Older children may begin the activity by cutting out the shape independently. They will then be able to paste the odds and ends onto their train cut-out.
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