You Don’t Have to Break the Bank to Throw a Great Party! March 20, 2009

Times are tough financially, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t throw a great birthday party for your child!

Here are a few tips to keep you within your party budget!

1.  Schedule your party for a time that doesn’t require you to serve a meal.  Stay away from time slots that stretch over lunch or dinner.  Usually parties in the 1:00- 4:00 range work best.

2. Bake your own cake.  If you’re not a talented cake decorator then opt for cupcakes that the party guests can decorate.  You can make them from scratch or stock up on cake mixes when your local grocery store is having a big sale!  Buy seasonal sprinkles during the after the holiday clearance sales to save some money.

3. Get creative with your decorations!  Balloons and streamers are relatively inexpensive and can be used to creative a festive atmosphere.

• Having a jungle themed party?  Turn your balloons into animals.   Tape balloons together to form bodies and heads and use marker to draw faces.  Have balloon monkeys hanging from green streamers (vines).
• Circus themed party?  Drape streamers from the center of the ceiling out to the the edge of the ceiling and then down the walls to create a streamer “tent”.
• Have your children help you create great decorations.  Paint water on a long sheet of (butcher) paper for an Ocean or Pirate theme party.  Then add construction paper accessories like fish, pirate ships, etc.  Hang the sheet of paper on an empty wall.

4. Save money on the invitations.  Don’t spend money buying fancy invites. Search for printable invites online.   If you’re looking for something creative trying making invitations instead.  Pirate invites can be made on crumbled up, tea stained “treasure map” paper.  Dinosaur invites might be found inside a dinosaur egg (large plastic Easter egg).

Look for more tips coming soon!

Children’s Birthday Party Tips continued August 16, 2008

Do

• Take care when scheduling the entertainment. As a courtesy to the entertainer (Noah’s Ark Party Leader, magician, clown, face painter), schedule the entertainment to begin at a time when you know that all the guest will have arrived. Do not schedule the entertainment to begin at the very start of the party- unless you want the entertainment to keep the children occupied while the guests are arriving. Guests are inevitably late and the entertainer should not have to wait an extra 20 minutes to start his or her portion of the party to accommodate latecomers.

• Make the birthday child feel special. So often birthday party hosts are more concerned with the happiness of the guests then with the happiness of the birthday child. Give the birthday child special tasks to help him or her feel extra important during the party. Have her pass out the goodie bags to each child, make a seating chart for the table, announce the winner of any games, etc.

Children’s Birthday Party Tips July 13, 2008

Below are some tips to help make your child’s birthday party as enjoyable as possible!

Do:

• Keep the children occupied throughout the party. Provide games and crafts that can be done alone or with a group. It helps to have coloring sheets available for children who arrive early, or for children to work on while you wait for the late party guests to arrive. And there are always guests that arrive late! If the children are old enough- have a guessing game such as “How many jelly beans are in the jar?” Leave the jar on the table and children can visit it and write down their guesses at anytime during the party. The closest guess by the end of the party wins the jar. You may also want to do something similar with a “How well do you know the birthday child?” quiz. Have the guests fill out the quiz at their convenience (as they finish eating cake, as they are arriving, etc) At the end of the party, pass the quizzes back out and go over the answers, the person with the most correct wins a prize.

• Keep the children involved in every step of the party. Have cupcakes or cookies or ice cream sundaes for them to decorate instead of a big cake. Play a fun game during the present time to keep the kids involved and entertained. Have the children guess who each gift is from just by looking at the wrapping paper. If it is a party for girls- have the girls use the ribbons and bows on the packages to make a headpiece or bouquet for the birthday girl. Boys might like to help you clean up the wrapping paper mess by balling up the paper and shooting it into a nearby trash can. See who can make the most baskets.

to be continued