It seems like kids’ birthday parties are getting out of hand
these days, with parents trying to top each other for the Most Elaborate Party
award! Why break the bank for an off-site birthday party for your child when
you can do it yourself on the cheap? This
year, consider giving your child the Ultimate Birthday Party, one where he can
play, have fun and just be a kid. The
added bonus is that you get to keep your sanity and money. Follow these steps (some of which go against
everything you’ve ever read about birthday parties!), and you’ll have a
stress-free celebration everyone can enjoy.
1. Either call or E-vite.com family and friends to save the
cost of invitations and stamps. Invite them to your home or maybe even to a
park shelter that you reserve in advance. Set the party time for 1 p.m. so
guests know lunch won’t be served (think of the cost plus set-up and clean-up!).
Make the pick-up time clear; a couple of hours is usually plenty of time for a
good shindig.
2. The night before the party, bake the cake (from a box, of
course!) or cupcakes. Feel free to get fancy on the cake if you have that
talent; otherwise, most kids are just thrilled to have sugar in any form. You
could even bake a special small cake (maybe heart-shaped!) just for the
Birthday Kid and let him decorate it himself.
3. On party day, don’t worry about setting up a craft or
handing out costly goodie bags for the kids. Most parents these days are into
de-cluttering and find their kids have way too much junk. Craft and goodie bag
paraphernalia will likely just get thrown away later. Parents will appreciate
not having to take home anything except for their child, and won’t feel guilty
because you spent more on a goodie bag than they did on your child’s gift.
4. To kill some time, consider a piñata (filled with
something quickly disposed of like candy or fruit snacks instead of junky
toys). Otherwise, kids don’t need every minute of their day scheduled for them
… running wild is what they are best at, especially at a birthday party!
5. Assign one adult party-goer to take pictures and one to
take video of all the fun (including the opening of gifts and blowing out of
candles) so you can concentrate on celebrating with your child and keeping
track of the other kids.
6. Make the decorations simple, especially for younger kids
who probably don’t watch enough television to even have a favorite cartoon
character. Colored paper plates work great, as do regular plastic forks
(recycle those forks if you’re going green!). Rather than buy expensive Mylar
balloons, blow up some store-bought colored balloons yourself and tape them to
walls and doorways or leave them loose on the floor.
7. Have a basic order of events in place to keep things
moving along. For instance, you could
have the kids play until everyone has arrived, then open gifts, sing “Happy
Birthday” and eat cake and ice cream, which would lead into the piñata, and end
with more play until the party’s over.
8. Make sure your child thanks each gift-giver as she opens
her gifts. If your child is running around as everyone leaves and can’t thank
everyone a second time, go ahead and do it for her. This way, you don’t have to
send thank you notes after the party, which just takes more time and money and
is yet another thing that ends up in the garbage.
9. Speaking of gifts, are you tired of your kid receiving so
many gifts at a birthday party that you can’t even find a place to put them all?
Melissa, mom of one, said she (or was this her kids’ idea?) asked guests (when
her kids were little?) to bring canned goods for Harvesters instead of gifts. What
a way to teach the Birthday Boy or Girl, as well as his or her guests, about
gratitude and going green!
10. If you have older kids (ah, tweens!), Jen Wood, mom of
2, thinks pizza and a movie at home, followed by a sleepover, is a great bet.
SIDEBAR
Party Shopping List:
Cake mix
Frosting
Sprinkles and/or decorating gel
Candles and matches
Ice cream
Juice boxes or pouches
Napkins
Forks
Plates
Balloons
Pinata and stuff to fill it with
Rope to string up the piñata
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This was good for me to read. I stress out so hard over birthdays, and I get to do that a lot, seeing as I have 4 kids! I love having parties for them, but I live in Utah, where nearly every mom seems to be Miss Crafty Kari and can put on a party like nobody's business. I'm not like that at all, and I think just having balloons and cake is totally calling it a win. I can't plan every minute of the event and have citesy decorations all themed out, so knowing other moms are kind of burnt out on the whole forever and a day going all out thing too is rather comforting to me, lol. Thanks for the post!
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