How To Plan Your Child’s Birthday Party Without Going Crazy

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Over the past couple of weeks Erin has been to two of her friend’s birthday parties and she had an invitation for another a few days ago. I knew that as soon as Erin started going to other birthday parties she would want one of her own. With Erin’s birthday being on New Year’s Day I always feel the pressure to make sure everything is organised in advance. The last thing I want to do is to be organising her birthday right on top of Christmas and this year, I kind of feel like I’m really ahead of things.

There are so many options when it comes to children’s parties such as themes, how many children you can invite and what kind of food to do. Pinterest is full of fantastic ideas if you are crafty or fancy making some things by hand. I’m not really that creative and I don’t think I’d have any chance of making something look like it should do. Something I think children of most ages would like are photo memories from a party so Photo Booth Rental Fort Worth could be a really good idea. I’m sure the adults could join in as well, especially if you get loads of props involved.

Thanks to winning a half price party at our local sports centre (Facebook giveaway) I managed to book Erin’s actual party for the bargain price of £37.50. This includes an hour of games with a host running them and 30 minutes for food. Considering the party includes someone doing all of the entertainment I couldn’t have gotten anything else at a better price. We have to supply prizes for things like pass the parcel of course but still, the price was amazing.

Although we have the basics of the party sorted, things could still easily get out of hand. Children’s birthday parties can cost hundreds of pounds if you don’t stuck to a budget or if you let yourself get carried away. I’m a bit of a newbie when it comes to planning parties so I asked some fellow bloggers for some advice about keeping costs down and not letting things get crazy.

Stick to simple party games, kids love them, they are easy to do and prizes can be cheaply sourced. Emma Reed

What I have learnt is don’t sweat the small stuff and worry about perfection. They don’t care at all. They just want their friends and family, games, nice food and cake!! If they get all that, it’s usually a success!! Run Jump Scrap

Filling party bags can be a headache. Instead of finding lots of different toys and worrying about who can have what in terms of treats, in future I’ll be buying an inexpensive pack of books and separating them to give away. Everybody loves books and it’s a lovely keepsake rather than throwaway plastic or yet more sugar! Refined Prose

Double up and do a joint birthday with a friend! Hopefully they keep level headed. Unless your friend is crazy too then you’re doomed! The Mum Diaries

Choose a venue where you don’t have to organise too much as it’s done for you. For example, we had my youngest daughter’s party at a local forest school who provided all the entertainment and they cooked the food on the campfire. The only thing I had to worry about was the cake and the party bags. Blossom Education

I remember for Erin’s first birthday we went crazy with the food. The children barely ate and I think I did enough food for a small army. I certainly won’t be doing that again this year though. Something I’ve learned from the parties we’ve been to recently is that we don’t need to do loads of food. A simple selection of sandwiches, some crisps and some fruit is more than enough as long as there’s a little bit of a selection.

Have you thrown parties for your children before? Do you have any tips for keeping the costs down? 

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