Need to plan a birthday party for your child, but don’t know where to start? Birthday parties can be a success if planned right! We’re here to make your birthday planning easier so you don’t fall into the trap of the stressed out, frazzled-haired parent.
Here’s how you can make birthday planning successful!
Themes
Okay, so first thing’s first – you need to figure out what you want your child’s birthday to be about.
Think about your child’s interests; perhaps they’re a big fan of princesses and castles? Maybe they love to play with toy cars? It’s also a good idea to directly ask your child what kind of party they’d like.
If they love to dress up and play pretend for instance, a costume party might be perfect.
Invitations
Whilst Facebook invitations are the way to go these days, nothing beats a good old paper invite! Invitations can be one of the more challenging aspects of the party process – who to invite, how many can attend… it can have its frustrations, but there are ways to make the process simple!
You can buy pre-made invitations from your local supermarket. This is the simplest, most no-fuss way to go about invites if you’re short on time.
Or, you can make invitations yourself – perhaps get your child involved in the invitation process (if they’re fine with it!). Try making it a fun activity – perhaps they can help add their own personal touch.
Food, snacks and take-home bags
We love food just as much as the next person! Consider how much food you want to make – finger food is usually the best way to go, as your young party goers may end up having too much fun to eat a full meal!
Mini muffins, brownies, and pastries are great for the sweeter portion of your child’s party smorgasbord – we recommend keeping them simple and making them different from the flavouring of the birthday cake, as you don’t want to overload kids with too much of the same thing before the cake is revealed!
As for take home goodie bags, we recommend leaving them out towards the end of the party, as you don’t want kids taking more than they need. Lollies, mini chocolates and (depending on the age of your invitees) small toys can be used in goodie bags.
You can also try adding novelty jewelry, small stationery or printed or written notes with quotes or jokes.
However, it’s a good idea to check with your invitees and their parents for any food allergies or cultural/religious food observances where applicable.
Decorations
This is one of our favourite parts of hosting children’s birthday parties!
Your decorations should tie in with your theme in some way (for example, if you’re hosting a princess birthday, you can decorate with “princess-like” elements, such as glitter). Again, you can involve your child in help creating the decorations (such as painting) if they want to.
Think about your colour scheme – do you want it to be different colours, the same or different shades of a certain colour?
What will you use? Think about how you’ll coordinate bunting, balloons, streamers and party hats, and whether you want to coordinate these with your cake.
And speaking of cake…
CAKE!
Of course, the pièce de résistance! The possibilities for birthday cake are endless, so it can feel a little overwhelming. This is why we love the idea of birthday cupcakes instead of one cake – they’re simple and a great way to make sure no one gets the smallest slice and misses out!
Our vanilla cupcakes can be used to create scrumptious pull-apart cakes, such as this adorable turtle cakes, or creepy spider web cakes.
Simply group the cupcakes and spread frosting over them at once to give the illusion of one cake.
You can also just have birthday cupcakes on a raised platter, just like these cute party cupcakes!
