Planning a Summer Birthday Party
Brenda Hyde
July 1, 2010
We just gave a birthday party for our two sons, who are 8 and 9. It was fun, but a challenge too! I ended up inviting both of their classes from school, not knowing how many of the kids would actually show up. Their birthdays are a week apart so we always do something in May or June. Here are a few of my tips, but be sure to send in yours too, and I'll share them next time!
-Don't cook the day of the party unless it's hotdogs or hamburgers, then assign grilling duty to someone else in the family, so you can do other things!
-Start buying decorations at least a month ahead. Designate a "party tub", pick your color theme and keep adding to it as you visit stores and find more items. A week before, look it all over and see if you are missing anything, then add it to your shopping list that week.
-Prizes: I opted for buying plain white lunch bags, markers and stickers in the party theme. The first thing we did at the party was have the kids decorate their bags and write their names on them. After each game we dropped in a prize. At the end of the party I divided up any leftover prizes, candy that was left over from our treat table, and the markers they used to decorate the bags. I had a variety of pencils, pens, fun paper clips, plastic bugs (the boys loved them!), and other small items.
-I thought 3 hours for games and a craft plus decorating the bags was a good time frame for the party. We took our cake and ice cream break after opening presents about half way through the party. We ate after the first game was finished. Also, anticipate some kids will come early, some late, and some not at all. Expect it all! We had one little boy dropped off a half hour early, so we put him to work on some last minute decorating!
-Make a notation on invitation asking the parents to let you know if a child should not eat or drink something because of allergies or illness. Kids are shy about sharing this information, so ask.
-If you can borrow, or if you own a screen tent, please do use one! This was SO useful. It's fun to decorate, and a nice place to put the food table, a small table for the presents and one for the treats and cake as well. Balloons tie to the top of it easily and you can hang mobiles and banners inside.
-Lastly, consider making a homemade invitation. We printed out the invitation information in the middle of a 8x11 piece of white paper on the printer, then our oldest son drew around it in black ink. We had them copied at the copy center and they were a big hit, plus they were inexpensive!
OLD FASHIONED PARTY GAMES:
Modern versions of old fashioned fun
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