HOME & GARDEN CONSUMER GUIDE

Basic Party Planning Tips

Theme and Venue

Sit down with your child and let him or her choose a few themes for the party, after which your child can make a list of who will be invited. You can then ring around the parents of the invited children to enquire about interests, talents etc. When you have an idea of the dominant interests of the other children, you and your child can then choose a theme from the original list.

From a practical point of view, you need to decide well in advance whether you will be booking a venue for the party or hosting it yourself.

Entertainment

If you decide to use an entertainer for the event, it is wise to spend some time checking out the credentials of any entertainers whom you think may be suitable. An entertainer may look good on paper, but you need to be sure that they live up to their advertisement.

Invitations

Decide whether you want the invitations to reflect the theme of the party. There are many ready-made, 'themed' invitations on the market, but you may prefer to design your own. Alternatively, there are 'free' designs that you can print yourself from the internet. As well as an RSVP note at the bottom of the invitation, it is wise to include directions to your party location for those parents who may not be familiar with the area in which you live. You may wish to include a pre-paid reply card inside the invitation to encourage parents to reply and to avoid the embarrassment of catering for an incorrect number of children.

Send your invitations out approximately two to three weeks before the party date.

Games

Whether you decide to follow the theme of the party through to the games or simply choose more traditional games, you need to plan these well ahead.

Take time to ring round the parents of the invitees to find out who has an aptitude for what and then plan the games accordingly, allowing each child the chance to show-off their particular talent and perhaps win a prize.

Organise a couple of games where everyone wins a prize, to avoid exclusion and tears!

Food and Seating Arrangements

Whether you are hosting the party yourself or using a venue where food is provided, find out in advance whether any of the children who have been invited have any specific allergies. The worst thing that could happen would be to have peanut butter sandwiches if one of the children had a severe nut allergy.

Find out in advance if any of the children have preferences as to who they would like to sit next to, or more particularly, if there is anyone whom they would not wish to be seated by. This is a difficult one, since there will inevitably be conflict between a couple of the children. However, if you can avoid this, it will make the party the happy occasion that it should be. Most importantly, find out which friends your child would prefer to sit next to.

Helping Hands

Enlist the help of other family members, friends, neighbours, other parents or anyone else who could rally round on the day. Not only will you need help decorating and organising, but trying to keep a dozen young children under control by yourself, would be impossible!

Top Tip

Take a Polaroid photo of each child as they arrive. You can then place the photos at each place setting and when it is time to eat, each child can sit at the place in front of their photo. They may then take their photo home as a memento of the party.

Party Resources

www.birthdaypartyideas.com - Great links, ideas, books and party supplies www.boardmanweb.com/party - Free themes and ideas, gifts, books and links www.1800partyconsultants.com - Party Fun Shop
www.birthdayexpress.com - Themes, menu planning, party checklist, online invitations
www.edgamesandart.com - Links to dozens of party and games' sites, plus books and free magazines

The Games:

Memory Game: Place a number of objects on a tray (usually higher than the number of children present) and cover with a cloth. Once all the children are sat in a circle, remove the cloth for a period of time, say one minute, and ask the children to try and memorise all the objects on the tray. Replace the cloth and then, in turn, ask each child to name an object on the tray within a time frame of about 10 seconds. When a child fails to name an object, they are out of the game. The game continues until either all the objects are named or until there is one child left in the game, if not all the objects have been named. Obviously, any children remaining at the end of the game are winners.

Toy Walk: Place raffle tickets on several small toys or other prizes, but keep these hidden from the children. On large pieces of card, or thick paper, write several numbers, including those corresponding to the raffle ticket numbers and lay them out in a random pattern on the floor. Play some music and ask the children to walk or dance around the numbers, taking care not to step on them. When the music stops, each child should stand on the number closest to them. If the number they are standing on corresponds to one of the numbers on a prize, they win that prize.

 Through the Hole: The preparation for this game can be time consuming, but is well worth the effort. Depending on the theme of the party, cut out a head shape eg. a Teletubby, colour it as required and then cut out a hole where its mouth is. Using softballs, or homemade beanbags filled with pasta, the children take turns to throw the balls/bags into the mouth. Obviously, the one who gets most objects through the mouth is the winner. For older children, you can vary the shape and size of the objects thrown to make it a bit more difficult.

Chain: This is a very simple game, but one that children love and which also develops dexterity and concentration skills. Fill several containers (plastic food storage containers are ideal) with paper clips. Put on some music and ask the children to start making a chain each from the paper clips. When the music stops, the child who has made the longest chain wins.

Chinese Whispers: This is a fabulous game for enhancing listening and verbal communication skills. The children sit in a circle and an adult whispers a phrase or sentence into the ear of a child, so that none of the other children can hear. That child then whispers the phrase into the ear of the next child and so on. When the final child in the circle has heard the phrase, he or she repeats out loud what they have heard. This game can have hilarious consequences.

HAVE FUN!!!!!

Read More - Educational Birthday Parties Without Tears

Jan Andersen is a British freelance writer and mother of four children. Her youngest three children are aged 18, 16 and 4. Jan's eldest son, Kristian tragically died on 1 November 2002 at the age of 20, as a result of which she has launched a new supportive website for families who have lost a child to suicide: http://childsuicide.homestead.com

Jan specialises in humorous, satirical and thought-provoking articles, essays and columns on diverse topics, from relationships, parenting and women's issues, to psychology, health and social issues.

She also owns and runs five other websites: www.mothersover40.com, www.worldwriter.homestead.com, www.datinghappy.com and www.lovecatcher.com and www.janandersen.homestead.com