Kids’ Birthday Parties 101: How to Be the Perfect Host
What kid doesn’t like to feel special on his birthday? You as the parent, have the chance to plan something that will stick in their memories for years to come. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just fun. Kids don’t notice or care about the price tag which can sometimes be quite annoying, but the advantage is that they will enjoy whatever makes them happy, it can be anything.
Maybe your son or daughter has a birthday coming up and you’re feeling stressed about it. That’s understandable since you don’t want to make a bad impression in front of their friends and the other parents.
We’re here to help and guide you towards being the perfect host.
Let’s get to it!
Contents
Start Early
Ideally, you should start planning about two months in advance and send a save the date email to the parents. If a week passes and you don’t get a reply call them since not everyone is tech savvy or reads their emails on a regular basis.
The next thing you need to think about is whether you want to have the party at home or in a venue like a restaurant or a theme park. The last option is more difficult from a logistical point of view but you’re keeping your house safe from any damages.
Most kids’ birthday parents take place at home so we’re going to go with that option in this article.
Pick a Theme
Ask your child what kind of theme they would like their birthday party to have. It could be something more general like fairy tale land, dinosaurs, outer space or mermaids or it could be anything they’re into at that particular point in time, usually related to their latest favorite cartoon or film. Often, young children choose a beloved character as the party theme, simplifying the decoration choices. For instance, if your child adores superheroes, a superhero-themed cake and an inflatable replica of their favorite character could create an exciting atmosphere. Customized character inflatables are available in various sizes, colors, designs, and can even feature printed elements according to your preferences.
Refer to the screenshot below for the exact placement:
Once you pick a theme together you can send out invitations that match. A nice touch would be to have your kid choose the design and sign them. If they’re under five years old the guest list shouldn’t be longer than ten since you’ll need to have at least some of the parents stay as well and help manage everyone.
Figure out Your Budget
Before you do any shopping, you’ll want to figure out how much you can afford to spend on this party. You need to take into account the cost of the cake, the food, the entertainment and goody bags and according to this you’ll be able to choose the best options.
It’s possible to save money in all areas by baking the cake yourself or with the help of your family and cooking some of the food at home. There are lots of DIY tutorials for decoration and likewise for the goody bags.
Go Shopping for Decorations
Your first stop should be a party store for the main items and supplies. This way you can get a better idea of the quality. Whatever you can’t find there you can order online and if you have the time and you want to save some money you can sit down with the birthday girl or boy and try out some DIY ideas.
We recommend you get plastic plates and plastic cups, taking out the fine china is quite a gamble.
Just remember that you want to create a consistent theme so even if some items will only match in terms of color, you still need some decorations that tie it all together. Also, your best go-to for birthday invitations and other party supplies or decorations would be FDP – they pride themselves in providing quality products at unbeatable prices
Plan the Menu
You’ll want to ask the parents if your young guests have any food allergies you should take into consideration. The easiest option is to hire a catering company such as MOSO Catering and then you are free of any hassle. Otherwise you can just order pizza, buy the cake and get some more sweets from a supermarket.
Keep in mind that the adults will also want to eat so even if kids are perfectly happy with pizza and fish fingers you might want to cook something a bit more sophisticated for them.
In terms of drinks you can get smoothies, juice, soda, water and kids’ champagne.
Entertainment
As long as it fits your budget, you can hire a magician to come by and keep the kids entertained. You can also plan some other activities to keep them busy and peaceful.
One idea is to have them make something they can take home along with their goody bags like painting t-shirts and masks or putting together bracelets and necklaces out of beads. If the weather is nice you can have a scavenger hunt and a three-legged race. Other popular options are charades, popping balloons, Simon says and freeze dance. They’ll get tired so you’ll want to set up some crafts tables where they can make drawings or figurines out of play dough.
It’s also a good idea to have some interesting story books handy which you can read to them when it’s time for a break.
Goody Bags
For the perfect goody bags you’ll want a bag that goes with the theme and a small toy, you can add some of the crafts that they made during the party, some of the leftover sweets and drinks and you can give out some of the decorations since next year your kid will probably want another theme so there’s no use hanging on to them.
This way you’ll reduce the amount of clean up you have to do after the party.
The bag should also contain a thank you note written in advance and at least signed by the birthday boy or girl and make sure they also thank every guest in person before they leave.
Child-Friendly Host Etiquette
There will be two hosts for this party, you and your son or daughter so you’ll want to instruct them beforehand on expressing gratitude for all the presents they get, even the ones they don’t like and on making sure none of the kids feel left out.
It will be good training for their social skills and telling them you need their help and you’re both going to share the hosting responsibilities will make them feel important.
