Are you looking to throw an awesome birthday party for your child?
Putting together a child’s birthday party can be a lot of fun. But, if you don’t know what you’re doing, it can also be super stressful.
So, how do you put together a party that your child will love without going crazy with stress?
Check out this guide to learn how to throw a children’s birthday party.
1. Budget Your Time and Money
It can be easy to get carried away in the fun of planning a child’s birthday. Before you know it, your whole weekend has gone by and you’ve thrown hundreds of dollars out the window.
To make sure things don’t get out of control, we recommend budgeting your time and money before you dive into the planning. Set a budget on exactly how much you’re going to spend on the party. This budget should include everything from venue rental space to invitations to decorations to presents.
You should also set aside specific hours in the day for planning the party.
If you are able to prepare well in terms on saving on time and money, you will be able to dedicate the same to other areas. For example, if you select the best party catering Brisbane, you can rest assured that the food and service is going to be great.
This means that you do not have to micromanage this aspect of the party. You can rather entertain the guests, look after the children and have a great time on your own.
2. Pick a Theme
Kids love a good theme party. If you want to take your kid’s party to the next level (and make choosing decorations and invitations easy), then we recommend choosing a theme for the party.
While choosing a theme may feel like a daunting task, there’s a good chance that your child will already have a few ideas up their sleeve. If they don’t or if they’re too young to decide, here are some great birthday theme ideas:
- Disney
- Pirate
- Superhero
- Princess/prince
- Sports
- Unicorn (you can check out Gear Unicorn if you choose this theme)
- Tie-dye
- Adventure
- Rainbow
- Camping
- Sesame Street
- Winter Wonderland
- Dr. Seuss
- Outer space
- Harry Potter
- Glow in the Dark
As you can see, there are a lot of excellent themes to choose from!
3. Choose a Venue
Once you’ve chosen a theme, it’s time to choose a location for your child’s party. The main thing you need to decide is whether you want to throw the party at home or book out a venue.
While booking out a venue obviously costs more money, a venue means you won’t have to deal with cleaning up a mess at the end of the party. It also means you don’t have to worry about any of your valuables being broken.
However, throwing a party at home means you’ll have more control over the flow of the party, and you’ll save some money.
4. Send Out the Invites Early
Nothing puts a damper on a birthday party more than a low attendance rate.
To make sure as many people can come as possible, make sure you send out the invites early. Of course, to send out invites, you first need to choose a date.
While your first instinct may be to plan the party for your child’s actual birthdate, sometimes, this isn’t the best idea. We recommend scheduling the party the weekend before or the weekend after your child’s actual birthday.
If your child’s birthday falls on a holiday weekend (like Memorial or Labor Day weekend), then we recommend pushing the party out a week, as a lot of families skip town these weekends.
We recommend sending out your invites about 4 weeks in advance so that parents have plenty of time to buy a present and arrange their schedules.
While you shouldn’t feel pressured to elaborately decorate your invites, try to keep them somewhat on-theme. Also, make sure your invites contain all of the relevant information. In addition to the date and time of the party, your invitation should also mention how to RVSP, what to wear to the party, and any other special instructions parents may need to know.
To make things super easy, you may even want to consider sending out an e-vite, as this will allow you to keep all of the RSVPs easily organized.
5. Keep the Food Simple
When it comes to party food, the simpler the better. Trust us, kids don’t know the difference between store-bought cupcakes and gourmet bakery cupcakes, so there’s no need to hire a catering company or whip up a bunch of elaborate recipes.
Instead, we recommend serving simple finger foods and snacks that the kids can munch on throughout the party. Here are some simple party food ideas that you can easily whip up (or buy at the store):
- Taco in a bag/walking tacos
- Pizza
- Cupcakes
- Pretzels and potato chips
- PB & J on a stick
- Fruit and cheese kabobs
- Cheesy quesadillas
- Sandwich pinwheels
- S’mores
- Fruit pizza
- Ice cream sundae bar
Additionally, we recommend keeping beverages simple by serving things like lemonade, soda, and fruit punch.
6. Don’t Forget the Goody Bags
While it may be your child’s big day, the other kids attending the party will still want to feel special. This is why we suggest creating goody bags for every child to take home.
Don’t worry, filling up party bags doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg. Bite-sized candies, toys, kazoos, and other small trinkets all make great additions to goody bags. Your theme can also help you decide what to put in your goody bags.
For example, if the party is princess-themed, you can fill goody bags with toy tiaras, wands, or princess coloring books.
7. Keep a Gift Log
In keeping with tradition, most kids are probably going to bring gifts to the party.
While it can be easy to get wrapped up in watching your child joyously open their gifts, you need to remember to keep a log of all of the gifts your child is getting. This way, it’ll be easy to send out thank you’s after the party is over.
8. Go With the Flow
While it’s a good idea to have a general plan for your child’s party, don’t expect everything to go off without a hitch.
When you get a group of children together, things tend to go off the rails pretty quickly. As long as everyone is having fun, don’t stress too much about plans changing on the fly.
Are You Ready to Throw an Awesome Children’s Birthday Party?
Now that you know how to throw an awesome children’s birthday party, it’s time to get started with your planning. With these tips, you’ll be able to throw your child a party that they remember for years to come.
Be sure to check back in with our blog for more party-throwing tips and tricks.