Planning the perfect birthday party for your child, including who to invite, how long it should last, and what to do when everyone shows up.
Throwing a birthday party may seem like a daunting task, but if broken down into several manageable steps, it is quite easy. The first step in throwing a birthday party is to decide on the guest list. Although the rule of thumb is to invite one more guest than the age of the birthday child, this is not always realistic, especially with very young children. A more workable formula is to invite one more of the childs friends than years of age. Feel free to invite all the aunts and uncles, doting grandparents and wild cousins that you want, but you probably should not invite the entire pre school class to your three year old's birthday party.
Once you have pared down the guest list to a number that you feel comfortable with, you are ready to pick a date, a place and a time. Most parties work best on a Friday evening or Saturday afternoon, although your schedule may dictate another day. As far as time goes the younger the children present, the earlier in the day you should go. As the day wears on most children's good attitudes evaporate, so for the two, three, and four year-old age group you may want to stage a Saturday morning "brunch" party, at around 10:00a.m. Of course if this is not feasible you may want to schedule a 2:00p.m "after nap" party.
The most obvious choice of locations for your party is, of course, your house. There are many other choices. Most pizza parlors, fast food restaurants and even some skating rinks and movie theaters are available for parties, and may be worth the expense when you realize the time you will save in setting up and cleaning up the party.
Once you have decided on the logistics of the party, it is time to send out invitations. It is usually best to get the invitations mailed out two weeks before the party, and if the birthday is around a holiday, three weeks would be even better. Simply feel out the invitations and do not forget to add your telephone number before dropping them in the mail.
About one week before party time you should go shopping for all non-perishable items and paper goods. Be sure to have plenty of drinks, as well as some snacks that can be handled by younger siblings that may come to the party (graham crackers and animal cookies are usually very popular). When the time comes to buy paper goods and decorations, you have several choices. You can go for broke and buy every theme plate, napkin balloon and cup available from what ever cartoon or movie is popular right now, or you can stick with solid plates and cups, and maybe add some theme napkins and a centerpiece for contrast. Not only will you save quite a bit of money, it is doubtful your kids will even notice the difference. No matter which method you choose be sure to have plenty of paper towels on hand to clean up the inevitable spills.
Now that you have your shopping done, you are ready to think of some games. The atmosphere at a birthday party is usually exciting enough to keep the kids occupied for a while. Once they start to get restless, you will need some diversions. There are traditional games such as musical chairs and Simon says, that work well with kids once they reach Kindergarten age. For younger kids you can try something simpler such as a balloon bounce. Everyone gets a balloon and they try to keep it in the air as long as possible. The last one remaining wins. You can also have several containers of Play Dough available, or some art supplies. You should only plan on keeping them occupied for around one half-hour. After that, it is probably time to cut the cake. Now that you have your shopping done and know what games you are going to play you are ready to party.
Once guests start to arrive, you have two choices. With very young children, you may want to let your child unwrap his gifts as each guest arrives. This allows the giver to see him open the present without causing things to slow down so much as to bore the other children. Once your kids are school age, they will probably enjoy watching the birthday child open his gifts at one time. Kids this age have such fascination with toys and friendships that they find it "very cool" to see what the birthday child receives. You will, of course, want to mention to your child before hand not to mention if someone does not bring a gift, or gets him something that he already has. Even children with wonderful manners can forget themselves in the excitement of a party.
If you decide that the gifts are going to be opened at one time, you may want to do that last, so that the party can reach a natural conclusion that way. A typical birthday party would run something like this:
10:00- 10:30 a.m. Guests arrive, either watch as gifts are open or place them in designated area for later. Have music going and be playing a low-key game that can be joined easily as guests arrive. The hokey pokey is always a favorite.
10:30- 11:00 a.m. Structured games
11:00-11:30 a.m. Cake and refreshments
11:30 until noon Open presents, be certain to thank everyone for coming.
Give yourself a day or so to recover, and then help your child write thank you notes to his guests.
By following these tips, you should have a winning birthday party, and still be reasonably sane at the end of the day.
