I am a fan of having birthday parties at home (or at a park). We have done the crazy "Chuck E. Cheese" parties and they are not as personal and memorable as fine tuning a party to suit the interests your children. So here are some simple tips to creating a fun, easy, memorable at-home bash!
1) Decide on a BUDGET and STICK to it!
We desire to please our kiddos so much and sometimes financially over-extend ourselves to make their dreams come true. Start saving money every month for a year (put it in an envelope or something so you won't spend it) then you will have plenty of money to create your child's party with CASH and not feel like it is a big chunk of money at one time. I usually spend $150-ish on each party (including invitations, decor, food, drinks, favors, and activities). Once the "Birthday Party Budget" envelope is empty...it is empty! I stop purchasing things. I find I enjoy my kid's parties more when I know I did not go into debt for them. And when you plan ahead you can still make their dreams come true!
2) Your Child Needs to PICK a THEME!
Did you see I said, "Your Child"? This means you do not pick the type of party you want your child to have...regardless of how cool you think it would be (unless they are too young...but even when my daughter was 2, she could tell me she "loved" Yo Gabba Gabba). It is actually fun to see what kids come up with! You might be surprised what your child really thinks would be a fun party!
3) Start EARLY!
I am not kidding....my kids start thinking about their next party the day after their current birthday party is over! Starting at about 6 months in advance they start really figuring out their theme choices (i.e. I have son with an October b-day, in April he told me he wanted to have either a tennis, lego batman, or snake party). Three months in advance they pick their theme (my son has decided on snakes). I give them a couple of months to think about their desires, process what they really want, change their minds, etc.. However, once they choose their theme...that is it! Changing their mind after the three month mark is not allowed. The reason is, I start buying things for the party almost immediately! By planning so far in advance, I am able to purchase things on clearance, at discount stores, and in $1 bins, as I see them. If I wait until the week of my kiddo's birthday to get things for the party I will end up spending WAY more than I need too...and WAY more than I can afford to. As soon as I purchase things, changing the theme for the birthday bash is not an option.
Here are some examples of how this has worked for our family:
-My daughter wanted to have a "princess" party for her birthday in April. I knew this in January and started planning. She really wanted to have a Candy Buffet, so when all of the candy was 90% off after Valentine's Day I scooped up a bunch. We had a Candy Buffet with over 8 different types of candy and it cost me less than $10! I got most of the candy for .25 to .70 a bag! Also for 90% off at Target, I found glittery heart-shaped plates for the "royal feast" for only .20 each. In March, I browsed the "Less Than Perfect" section of the Oriental Trading website and found large batches silk flower pedals that were considered "imperfect" because they did not have droplets of dew on them (who cares) for .99...great deal! I got adorable 2-packs of heart shaped goblets for the "royal feast" at the 99Cent Store in February too. They made the Royal Table (my transformed dining table) look especially fancy!
-My other daughter wanted a "bee" party in June (this theme was a request that I was not expecting...I said, "Huh"? when she told me). However, because I knew this in March, I was at Target in mid-March browsing the $1 bins and there to my wonderful surprise was LOTS of cute bee things! I got bee hats, bee books, bee masks, mini-bee flower pots, bee balls....for only $1 each! The items were gone by April, so I would have totally missed cute stuff at a great price if we did not start early. I also found some cute bee decor items at Michael's on 75% clearance at the end of April.
-My oldest son (October b-day), wanted an Indiana Jones party for his 6th bash. In August I found some really COOL, real scorpion bracelets on clearance online for $1 each...they were a great part of a scavenger hunt we had and got many "ooohs and aaaahs" from the boys impressed by authentic creepy-crawlies. Also, because Halloween is close to my son's b-day we found all kinds of great skulls, spiders, spider webs, etc. at the 99 Cent Store....perfect for an Indiana Jones expedition.
4) The COMPUTER is Your FRIEND!
You can Google anything...kind of scary....and find all kinds of great ideas online. One website I "borrow" birthday party ideas from is www.birthdaypartyideas.com. They almost every theme imaginable. Here are a few other must-have websites for getting things for your child's party.
-www.orientaltrading.com
-www.familyfun.go.com/magazine/
Also, don't be afraid to ask for ideas and specific items needs (i.e. a fake fire light and drop cloths for the Indiana Jones party) on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. You would be amazed at the great ideas and great stuff your "friends" have!
Another reason the computer is your friend is you can create soooo many decor items, invitations, tags, etc. for your kids parties on a simple computer program like Microsoft Word. I will post more about this specific issue in another post. If you consider yourself computer-inept, I know there has got to be someone in your life who is computer-saavy! Ask them to help you....for the sake of the children! :0) They won't say, "no" and would actually enjoy helping you!
5) Keep Your CHILD'S Party SMALL!
Make sure the people/children invited to the party are truly people your kiddo wants there. You do not need to invite everyone who as ever laid eyes on your child to their party. Make sure you are not inviting people because you feel obligated to (yes....I have upset people about this issue in the past). Make sure you are not inviting the friends of your child's other siblings. Keeping the guest list small allows you to focus on making the party special by focusing on the small details and helps keep the costs down.
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