Birthday party tips for kids
By: kelly
TAGS: activities kids party tips
Whatever time of year, there are always birthdays to be celebrated. Kids love parties and sharing their birthday celebrations with friends and family. I have four children (what WAS I thinking?) so I’ve organised my fair share of birthday parties. I’ve done the park party, the home party, the mass family birthday party, the dress-up party, the jumping castle party, the bike-riding party and the restaurant party to name a few. I believe the key to hosting a successful birthday party is to be organised, keep it simple, stay flexible and remain calm. This way, I can enjoy the party with my child rather than miss out on all the birthday action.
Planning
A little planning goes a long way when you have a group of children together for a birthday party. However, stay flexible because children can be random and sometimes you have to go with it. There’s beauty in that.
Party food
I only choose four food items to serve. Here are some combination ideas:
- Fairy bread, fruit, cheerios, lollies
- Birthday cupcakes, fruit, crackers and dip, sandwiches
- Scones, fruit, vegetables and dip, iced biscuits
- Pikelets, fruit, cheese and meat platter, chocolate crackles.
The cake
The cake is the centrepiece of the party. And choosing the cake is half the fun! I have the Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book and my children pour over the pages in the weeks before their birthdays.
Cake tips:
- Internet sites, blogs and books provide plenty of birthday cake inspiration.
- Decorate your cake on a large board covered in aluminium foil.
- Sponge slabs can be purchased at bakeries ready-made. This is ideal if you are time poor yet still want to dress the cake yourself.
- If you need to feed a lot of people, place a laminated photo of the birthday person on the top of a slab cake.
- If your child wants a themed cake, plastic toy figurines can be used as cake toppers.
Birthday Cakes
Submitted by Mrs_mandy_graham
Submitted by faeriesaerie
Submitted by faeriesaerie
Party bags
I’m speaking from a parent’s perspective here: don’t go overboard when it comes to the party bags. Most parents do not want to a huge bag of lollies brought home after a birthday party. I tend to spend a little more on the party favour and less on lollies.
Here are some party bag ideas:
- 1 Lollipop: Individually wrapped. Stay away from chocolate as it can melt.
- 5 jelly beans in a cute bag or an individually wrapped decorated biscuit.
- Party Favour: pen and notepad, ball, small soft toy, plastic figurine (smurfs, my little pony, animals), mini puzzle, whistle, jewellery, Matchbox car, lip gloss, bath gel, straw, Wendy’s gift voucher, Donut King gift voucher, bubbles, water pistol.
- Stickers or temporary tattoo
- Birthday Balloon: I include a thank message on each balloon
- Blow up the balloon with a balloon pump (in the interests of hygiene) and write your message with a permanent marker.
- Allow the balloon to return to the unblown size.
- Thank you notes are now done!
Party schedule
I do up a flexible party schedule so I know what comes next. The idea of a party schedule is to designate an amount of time for each birthday activity depending on the age group of the children.
Here’s a guide:
- 3-4 years: 10 minutes
- 5-6 years: 15 minutes
- 7-8 years: 20 minutes
If I was planning a party for 3-year-old Jonny, it might look like this (each number represents a ten-minute block):
This sort of schedule should be used as a guide only. If the kids are having a ball with the birthday bubbles, I leave it longer. If the races are a flop, I move on to the next thing. If you’ve hired a jumping castle or are at a park, this would account for a longer time period. The beauty of a flexible birthday schedule is I know what comes next and always have something up my sleeve. My relaxed-factor goes way up and I can enjoy the party.
Party games / activity ideas
Ages 3-4
Streamer race
Materials: A few rolls of crepe streamer.
Mark out a starting point. Break a piece of crepe streamer for each child to hold. Have two adults stand at the finish line with crepe paper.
Blow Birthday Bubbles
Materials: Bubble mixture, bucket, bubble wands.
Either buy individual pots of bubbles or use a large bucket with multiple wands.
Scarf Dance
Materials: Scarfs, cd player, cds.
Give each child a scarf. Encourage the children to move with the music, go fast and slow or to pretend they are a plane or a bird.
Ages 5-6
Birthday Face painting
Professional face painters can come to where your party is, or why not set up your very own face-painting stall?
Balloon race
Materials: balloons.
Place balloon between legs and hop to the finish line.
Pass the parcel
Materials: newspaper, lollies, tape, gift.
Wrap the gift with a layer of newspaper. Tape on a lolly and repeat the wrapping process until there is enough layers to provide an opening opportunity for every child.
Ages 7-8
Design your own birthday cupcakes
Materials: pre-baked cupcakes, icing, lollies to decorate.
Set a table with the ingredients and allow each child to decorate their own cup-cake. This can double as a food item as well.
Newspaper hockey
Materials: Newspaper, masking tape, soft ball.
Roll a section of newspaper and tape along the entire roll. Create enough “bats” for each child. Break children into two teams and see who can win a goal first by hitting the ball.
Water balloon play
Materials: Water balloons.
If you choose to do an activity with water, it’s a good idea to tell children to bring a spare change of clothes.
Here are some more party game ideas.
Decorations
There’s a wide choice of party products available to suit every theme. Below are some of the places I visit for inspiration and party products.
General party tips
- Charge the camera batteries.
- Make sure the camera card is free.
- Buy spare batteries for toys.
- Give away food at the end of the party if you can.
- Leftover cake can be frozen for six months.
Children’s birthday parties are memory makers. Be organised, keep it simple, stay flexible, remain calm… and have FUN!
What are your best birthday party tips?
kelly
Kelly Burstow combines her passion for design, children's books, photography, fashion, writing and parenting in her blog, Be A Fun Mum. Be A Fun Mum is all about reclaiming the enjoyment of parenting, one moment at a time. Kelly lives in Queensland with her husband, four children and far too many guinea pigs.
Showing 22 comments
You've got a nice article. You elaborated it specifically. I am sure to take note of all this and do it with my children's parties. You have a great party schedule done for every ages of children. I now have an idea for the birthday of my children ages, 12, 9 and 4. Thanks a lot.
These really are great ideas and also very practical too.
Hi,
Your Birthday party tips are really so brilliant for celebrating kids birthday party.
Thanks
You can make your own very simple pajama party invitations by choosing some scrapbook stickers and card stock. Scrap booking scissors will help you to give your invitations a special flare once you've printed them up, and you can add different kinds of pajama stickers to decorate them.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. keep up the good work.
Excellent idea to ask parents about food/drink restrictions. I'll have to remember that. Thanks!
Hi Lynda!! Did you look at the sugar content of the Natural Confectionery Co. lollies??
Some of them are very high in sugar. At least you can taste the fruit in some of them. My niece made a point of asking the parents of the children that were invited if there were any food or drink restrictions. All of the parents were happy if the children were given water or fruit juice drink (my niece is fussy about the ingredients in them - only some brands allowed). They are never given fizzy drinks. At an impromptu occasion, she showed the parents what she was planning to give her own child and theirs. If they had said no, they would have been hidden instead.
As usual BC, you sum up everything so well.
Yes, simplicity IS they key to a successful children's party... I've been to parties where children don't know what to do because there is just...too much or there is a long line up for activities. When there are simple activities, it's easy to keep the party driving along nicely which I think is important, especially when you have a group of 4 year olds at the party :)
Be organised, keep it simple, stay flexible, remain calm… and have FUN!
That's what works for me!
Totally agree on limiting everything! Well, not limiting fun, but I admit I am appalled at some of the over-the-top parties I read about with limos hired to pick guests up and expensive entertainers. Kids love an excuse to get together with their friends and play, so i am all about encouraging that. I think it's important to build in some quiet time as opposed to wild time too - activities like bubble blowing and building or creating can be a welcome change from racing around.
Awesome info Lynda. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.
Hey Kelly,
Im am a little lucky my son isnt as bad as some children I know...but a great place to start is the failsafe diet...its very simple to google. I guess I can only speak for myself when it comes to these things , and by all means Im not an expert or even perfect . I stick to brands that clearly state that they have no artifical flavour , colours etc. Natural confectionary company has little multibags of lollies which make lollies bags a breeze. I find great things at easter and on special events at ALDI (europe has a stricter food policy than australia) they have great big bags of treats to use in pinatas and lolly bags. I have found woolies and coles sells naturally dervived food colouring, and sprinkles for cakes and fairy bread , (also check the bread !! sometimes that has perservative) so do some special places on the net. I bake cakes from basics , which at first I thought would be very time consuming BUT I found out its no different from a packet...but greens do a great cake mix. I bake cookies on a stick that have no nastys in them and these are great to take home at the end. There are hundreds of foods out there that easy to cook, basic yet tasty. Plain chips, corn chips etc are okay but I cringe when I see orange chips , twisties etc as these trigger my son to be a scary monster. Sometimes I make a sparkling punch as a drink....for my older child I allow them to have LOLs( a fizzy juice) not ideal BUT a great treat. I steer away from deli meats , little frankfurts, but I the super butcher (In queensland) does a failsafe sausage(just released) !! and woolworths has a version as well that is No preservatives and heart smart.
Im not saying have salad and fruit. I understand its still a kids party and my kids have the works !! But I make effort in every aspect to make sure they only thing Im removing off the walls is dirty finger marks and its not my son thats climbing them!! :) cheers Lynda
Of course you're not a mean mum! You're fantastic: knowing what is best of your child and sticking to it. Good for you I say. And you've raised the important point of additive awareness which is a topic many parents are concerned about.
I'd love to hear about your favouite all natural colour party foods Lynda!
From a mother with a child that cant tolerate artifical colours , flavours or perservitives I say this: It takes 5 mins longer at the shops to make a "better "choice when it comes to things like lollies...there are many great ranges that dont have the nasties in them . I see heaps of children that mums think are on a sugar high after a party but the truth is its a chemical high...most children can handle sugar but the chemicals they put in foods to make them colourful or preserve them is what makes childrens behaviour scary. I dont just try ...I do STICK to all natural colours , flavours etc and you would be suprised how many mums comment how well behaved all the children are. TBH unless people are making great choices about 90% of lollie bags that my son brings home ends up in the bin because I have to live with the negitive behaviour it produces..... Ive seen people get offended when I refuse a lolly bag...Im not a mean mother.! I just choose not to load my child up on something that will make him sick. I have things at home that he CAN eat to replace what he has missed and its usually better anyway....
Good point Hayley. Do it all in one sitting. HA!
I'm always torn between wanting to get it over and done with and overloading them with sugar!!! I tend to do the same: eat them in the car and then back to normal eating asap :D
I agree with the dread at taking home a lolly bag. Our rule is that the kids can eat what they like in the car on the drive home from the party, but when we get home they are not allowed to have anything else!! They are happy with this because they tend to be 'over' the lollies by then!!
Kids do love lolly bags don't they? I have found that kids are most excited about the lollipop (who wouldn't be?) and are not disappointed in only a few lollies. As long as there is something special to take home....
BAHAHA! Love that story... and my kids have done the same at an adult party. "Where are the lolly bags Aunty Bon?"
What a great find Tammy! Thanks for sharing it with us!
I love these tips Kelly! It’s a great idea to go with a limited menu as kids are never up for eating much anyway. It’s also important to make sure that you have time to really enjoy the birthday party too and have fun with your kids.
I agree that lolly bags can get a bit much… But kids do love them. I was recently at a baby shower and one of the kids asked the soon-to-be first time mum where the lolly bags were!
I absolutely agree! I dread taking home a heap of lollies after the kids have already had treats at a party. When I do party bags, I do 1 lollipop, a party favour, a sticker and balloon. That's it.
Some parents are insane with lolly bags, there is no need! I agree, a cookie bag is a great idea. Love the activity ideas.
How lovely Marita! A cookie bag is a great idea!
Great ideas :) I really appreciate the list of suggested activities as that is often where I struggle.
I blogged just last Saturday about making a 'cookie bag' instead of a lolly bag for a party we had recently. It was a hit with the children.