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How to plan a party the kids will love without breaking the bank. Joint parties Why not share the cost and work involved in a party with the family of one of your child’s friends who has a birthday at nearly the same time? As long as their friendship groups are roughly the same, you’ll nearly halve the cost. How many guests? Children up to the age of four can feel overwhelmed in a group of 20 or more, so don’t feel pressured to invite more guests than your child will feel comfortable with. Each guest of this age is usually accompanied by at least one parent and sometimes a younger brother or sister as well, so take these extra numbers into account when considering space and seating needed and how much food you would have to provide. Hold it at home Children aged five and over are usually dropped off by parents so, depending on the type of party, you might well be able to run the party at home and save the cost of hiring a hall. You don’t need a table large enough for them all to sit at. Children love the idea of a “picnic” and are happy to sit on the floor (suitably protected against spillages, of course) to eat. How much food and what sort? This might well depend on the time of the party. At parties held from 11am-1pm, children usually eat very well because they’re eating at their normal time. Hot food can involve less preparation time and cost than a wide variety of finger foods. At mid-afternoon birthday teas, the children generally eat less and there’s a risk of more wastage. The cake! Making and decorating the cake can be part of the birthday build-up. Basic sponge cakes are cheap and lots of fun to make. In fact, make two cakes! The first is the “practice” cake, which you slice and wrap ready for party bags before the party starts. The second cake, is decorated in the same way, only better, because you'll have learned from your mistakes on the first cake & this is the one you'll carry to the table with candles ablaze. Easy cake decoration ideas Dartboard cake (two colours of butter cream icing with numbers formed from chocolate matchmakers). Seaside cake (blue buttercream icing for the sea, brown sugar for the sand, deckchairs from the dolls house and cocktail parasols, sweets shaped like fish on the top). Games and activities. Only you know if you’d be comfortable leading the activities for a group of children rather than hiring an entertainer. If you are organising the children's party entertainment yourself, PREPARE, PREPARE and PREPARE some more! The parties that run smoothly and look easy are the ones with the best preparation. And ENLIST FAMILY or FRIENDS TO HELP. Don’t try to organise both the food and activities yourself. It’s hard work. Share it out. Have a dry run. Try out each activity before the party day with your own children and one or two friends to check that you have all the props you need. If you’re planning “Musical Chairs”, for example, have you enough chairs for the guests and will they fit into the space available? Is there somewhere for the children who are “out” to sit? Is your CD player jog-proof, or will the movement of the children make the CD jump? Plan more activities than you think you’ll need. If an activity such as “Musical Statues” lasts too long, the children who are “out” might start to get restless, particularly if you have a lot of guests. Try to remember the party games you enjoyed as a child and ask the birthday child and friends which games they’ve enjoyed playing at (play)school parties. Simon Says, team games with balloons, Musical Bumps, Drop the Handkerchief, Pass the Parcel – traditional games are just as popular today as ever. Consider including a craft activity. This provides something special to put in the party bag to take home and keeps everyone busy (enlist some other adult helpers). Beware of fancy dress! Think carefully about setting a theme. Children whose costume includes a toy “weapon” might really enter into character and want to use the “weapons” on other guests. Check testimonials. If you decide to book an entertainer for at least part of the time, check that testimonials offered are actually for the person who’ll be running YOUR party and not just for someone else from the same company. Prizes. Collect a “party prize box” throughout the year. If you see something that's inexpensive and attractive, buy it, even if your party isn’t for a couple of months. Your kids will love keeping a lookout for prizes when you are shopping and there won't be a mad panic the day before a party to find suitable items. Age-appropriate multi packs (e.g. pencils, colourful rubbers, notebooks, model animals, hair clips) are ideal – a colourful pencil that a child has actually won is valued because he/she earned it, not because of what it cost. Offer a choice of five or six prizes, laid out on a windowsill; a prize that a child has won and chosen is especially valued. Write names on the party bags before the party, so prizes can be placed in them as soon as they have been won. Good Luck and Happy Partying! Article reproduced by kind permission of Gail Mayhew, MusicMusique Children's Parties www.musicmusique.vze.com
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Children’s
parties the DIY way