Throwing a kid’s party can be one of the most stressful things you can go through as a parent. You want to put on the perfect day for your child without spending the GDP of a large country and more importantly, how on Earth are you going to entertain a group of restless preschoolers for a couple of hours?
Thankfully, it turns out that kids are quite easy to please and with a few clever ideas and well laid out plans, you can put on a successful kid’s birthday party without needing the military precision you might expect. Here are four tips for how to throw a successful kids birthday party.
Set a budget based on a per person cost
A survey carried out by Vouchercloud last year found that the average cost of a kid’s birthday party could exceed the £500 mark. Ouch. Costs can easily run away which is why you’ll want to set a strict budget before the event and stick to it. The best way to do this is by working out how much you would feel comfortable spending on each guest for food, drinks and goodies and multiplying that by the number of kids attending to give yourself a per person cost. If you’ve got 15 kids coming along and are happy to spend £20 on each, £300 is your budget.
Consider who to invite
If you have the room to spare and you are throwing a party for a pre-schooler, consider inviting their entire class. That way there are no hard feelings and chances are at least a couple won’t be able to attend anyway. For older kids, you can afford to be more selective while one way of getting around too large a guest list is by having all-boys or all-girls parties. If you think you’re going to need a hand, consider asking a couple of other parents to stay as well as they’ll always be willing to muck in while always remember to check Grandma can make it – they’ll be hell to pay if she can’t!
Stick to the basics when it comes to food
You can’t go wrong with pizza and ice cream. The last thing you want to be doing ahead of a kid’s party is slaving away in a kitchen, so keep it quick and simple. There has to be a cake, obviously, and think about whether you want to send your guests home with a goodie bag afterwards. If you do, you can’t go wrong with candy in there. If you are worried about any of your guests having specific dietary requirements or overloading them with sugar, then have a look at How To Make Diabetic Candy.
Plan plenty of activities
The key is to make sure that none of the kids end up being bored. That might seem like a mission bordering on the impossible, but you’ve only got to keep them entertained for two hours or so before they’ll have wiped themselves out. Hiring an entertainer such as musician or puppeteer is a great choice but be wary of getting a clown in – some of your guests might be among the many children who have a fear of clowns. If an entertainer isn’t high on your priority list, you can’t go wrong with classic games such as musical chairs, musical statues or a treasure hunt around the garden.
