Birthday Party Blues???: Decorations and Entertainment

You've choosen a theme and your guests have RSVPed. What's next?

Decorations

I think decorations are an important party of any party scene. Sure you could skip them when the kids are young and save a bundle. But I love them. You can take such a few touches and completely transform your home into party central. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

1. Don't forget to check out your local $ and $.99 stores- You would be amazed and what you can find in these places, everything from paper goods to party favors, all reasonably priced. Be sure to check the package quantities to make sure you're not over paying though.

2. Pick a few "theme" items and fill in with accents- Party packages are available at a variety of locations, but with a little extra time and patience, you can find just what you're looking for. With my son's first birthday, we choose farm theme. Do you know how hard it is to find farm items. So we filled in with red and yellow streamers, red paper goods, and red and white table clothes. Everything fit perfectly.

3. Look outside of the party section- For this same farm party, I picked up a package of red cups only to find a similar package of cups in another section of the store. Upon checking the quantities, I noticed that the non-party package had more cups for the same price.

4. Avoid "cheap" items because they are marketed for birthdays- Avoid the cheaper party favors and opt for a larger, better quality item to exchange. Some items would include: sidewalk chalk, bubbles, matchbox cars, play-doh, stickers, etc. These items will be played with much more and last longer, instead of the junkier items that our kids so often come home with. Look for large quantity packages that you can break down, such as a box of sidewalk chalk, giving 2-3 pieces to each child.

5. Remember that it's only one day- Remember to keep things in prespective. No one is going to remember exactly what the cute little napkins looked like, but they will remember how you treated them when they were in your home.

Entertainment

While my kids are still young, just getting together with their friends and playing is a treat in and of itself. I know as they grow older, they will need more structured play, but for now, I tend to keep things simple, opting to host our party at a local park. Here are just a few items to help you fill the time you are entertaining guests:
A local playground
Sprinkler and waterguns
A small craft project
Spa night
Crazy action board games: cranium, pictionary, etc
Assassin
Obstacle course
Scavengar hunt for favor bags


check out this site for more ideas: www.partygamecentral.com

I haven't checked all the links on the site so beware, but from what I've seen it looks as though it could be very useful.

If you've missed any of our earlier posts on party planning, you can check them out here.

Next week:

Food and a few gift suggestions for the early years