Organising your child’s birthday party might seem a bit daunting, especially if its your first one. As long as you’re prepared and not doing everything last minute, you will be fine, I promise!
Even if you’re not going overboard (like the Grandma who splashed £16k on her grandson’s first birthday party), and you decide to hold a small party at your house, there are still a few keys things to make sure you have covered.
So if you’re planning to host the birthday party in your home, here are our top tips to help the day run as smoothly as possible.
Top tips to organise a children’s birthday party
Agree the guest list
If they’re over five, they may want to start choosing who to invite. My advice is to check – and re-check – the guest list.
Children are very fickle and will probably change their mind on a daily basis as to who they would like to invite. Make sure they know when the list is final, and that they can no longer change their mind as the invites are going to be sent out.
Check dietary requirements
If you’re catering for a group of children, you want to make sure that you have all dietary requirements covered. Put a note on the invite asking for the parents to advise you if their child has allergies you should be aware of.
If children are coming with gluten or dairy intolerances, check with their parents what they could eat. Instead of bread, pitta is usually okay, and instead of butter you can buy spread such as Pure, which is dairy and gluten free.
Surprisingly some crisps also contain dairy, but there are a few which are okay such as Walkers Ready Salted. (Please check these before you buy though in case the list of ingredients changes!)
Get the cake ordered in plenty of time
If you’ve decided to bake the cake yourself, then well done, I salute you. I, however, will never be a baker and I’ve come to terms with that fact. Birthday cakes in our house will always be ordered!
If you’re using a local baker, give them plenty of notice, especially if they’re only a small business. Ordering a personalised cake from one of the bigger stores or supermarkets usually requires about seven to ten days notice. Make sure you’re certain of lead times.
From the many parties we’ve been to, the cake is always a highlight for the kids (and grown-ups, if there’s any going spare) – so you definitely don’t want to forget to order it!
If you don’t want to go for a traditional birthday cake, cupcakes are a good option. You don’t need to worry about slicing up the cake to go into party bags, and if you have kiddies with special dietary requirements, it’s easier to offer a few gluten or dairy-free options.
Make use of your garden
Got a spring/summer baby like us? It’s likely that you’ll want to make use of your garden for extra space which is a great idea. Put plenty of garden toys out and a few seats for the grown-ups.
If your garden is big enough, you could consider hiring a bouncy castle. These are always a big hit and provide hours of amusement.
Make sure you’re prepared for all weather eventualities. These tents are perfect for parties, and it means your guests will have some shelter if you get the odd shower, without having to all pile indoors every few minutes.
Make party games fair
If the children are old enough to listen and play by the rules, party games could be a lot of fun. If they’re too little though, I probably wouldn’t bother because there will only be tears!
With games like pass the parcel, maybe put a little sweet in each layer, so that each time it’s unwrapped, the child gets something.
And giving everyone who took part in the party games a sweet at the end will make sure no one feels left out.
Have a mini disco
Kids love to dance and a mini disco will always go down well. Get a playlist prepared beforehand and you’re guaranteed the kiddies will have a good time.
If you’re fancy yourself as a bit of a DJ, you could even buy or hire some flashing lights. They will love it!
Enjoy the day
Whatever happens, your child and all their friends will have a brilliant day. It doesn’t matter if things don’t go exactly to plan. That’s just life with kids! They don’t often remember the little things that went wrong, just that they had a brilliant time.
So try not to get too stressed about the planning – give yourself plenty of time to get prepared, and everything will be fine.
Share your tips
I hope you found these tips helpful. Do you have any to add? Please share them below.
Disclaimer: In collaboration with Garden & Camping
4 comments
Checking the dietary requirements before hand is so important – we have made that mistake before.
Also ensuring everyone is a winner in the games is so important 🙂
Dietary requirements can be tricky! We had lots of different allergies and intolerances to cater for! Thanks for reading.
We used to tell our kids that they only get one big party every other year so that we didn’t have 2 parties to pay for each year. That’s my tip if you have more than one 😉 #bloggerclubuk
Ha, great tip, thanks! It can get silly expensive, so one big party makes a lot of sense. Thank you for sharing!