How to Have a Birthday Party Your Child Will Never Forget

There are numerous elements to a successful birthday party. Planning, Theme, Invitations, Decorations, Crafts, Birthday Supplies, and Activities all play their part in the successful party.

Develop a Foolproof Party Plan

Early in the planning process, you'll need to determine the length of your party. Two hours should be plenty of time. The number of guests you invite to your party should not exceed your child's age. For instance, the guest list for an eight year old's birthday party should not exceed 8.

You should prepare a schedule for the party's activities and games and keep it on a schedule card for reference during the party. You should plan more activities than you need so you're sure you can kee the kids busy if they finish an activity ahead of your schedule.

Plan to have someone steer the kids as they arrive for the party. For additional party planning information, click the"Party Planning Guide" button at the top of the page for each theme shown at the right to see additional planning ideas, decorating ideas, recipes, and activities for each party theme.

Have a Magical Party Theme

The artistic topic for your party is the party's theme. Party themes can be varied including fishing party themes, a tea party theme, or a puppy party theme to name a few. For more ideas, see our list of over a hundred great party themes at the right. Click the"Party Planning Guide" button at the top of the page for each theme shown at the right to see additional planning ideas, decorating ideas, recipes, and activities for each party theme.

Invitations

Invitations can be homemade or purchased. Homemade invitations can be cut from cards into shapes that match your party's theme. For instance, invitations for a fishing party theme might be cards cut out in the shape of fish. In this case, you can write the invitation on the back of the card and draw the features of the fish on the front. For a puppy party theme, you could cut the invitations in the shape of a dog bone with the invitation written on the bone.
For a tea party theme, you might want your invitations to be in the shape of a tea cup. For a number of other party invitation ideas see the invitations information.

Invitations should be mailed two weeks before the party.

Decorations

Party decorations can include balloons, streamers, posters, banners, centerpieces, pinatas, and other fare. Decorations for a girl's tea party could be pink and feminine with a tablecloth, a floral centerpiece, and decorative finger foods (moreTea Party Theme ideas). Click the "Party Planning Guide" button at the top of each theme's page for party planning information.

Craft Tables

Another great birthday party idea is a craft table. The craft table can serve a number of purposes at your party. It can serve as a place to send early arrivers and it can also serve as a quiet activity to settle the party down following vigorous activities. The crafts at the table should be simple enough so the kids can do the craft themselves yet sufficiently challenging to hold their interest.

Crafts that do well at crafts tables include Place Mats of contact paper, homemade crowns, tiaras or hats, playdough, etc.

To make play dough, use the recipe shown below. Young children can play with the dough, shape it, pound it, etc.

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons cooking oil
Food coloring
1 cup salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
Artificial flavorings (vanilla, almond, lemon, etc)
2 cups water

In a medium sauce pan add all the ingredients and cook and stir on medium heat. When the ingredients are ready, they will form a soft glob. You should let the play dough cool and knead it as you add the artificial flavorings to the dough.

At your craft table, include cookie cutters and other tools to be used by the children playing with the dough.

Place mats - can be made using contact paper and cardboard cut to the size of place mats. Put out a stack of place mat sized cardboard sheets, crayons, stickers, pictures, glue, etc. Have the children decorate their place mat as they like and have an adult helper put clear contact paper over each child's decorated cardboard place mat.

Activities

Each game or activity should be planned for 10-15 minutes and you should plan 5 or so games per party.

Treasure Hunt - Try a Treasure Hunt with the kids. To do this, you take a story associated with your theme such as the story of Cinderella, Finding Nemo or Cars and slightly reword it to provide clues to where treasures are hidden. Treasures can be small denominations of money or party favors.

Birthday Trivia - Another great game is a guess the character trivia game where you read less known passages from the story and let your guests guess what character said it.

Who Are You - On 5x7 cards, write the name of a character from your theme on each card. As guests arrive, pin one card on the back of each guest. At the appointed time, tell your guests that they can ask one question and only one question of each other person at the party. That person can only answer the question with a "yes" or a "no". The object is for each guest to guess the name that is pinned on their back.

The Words of Birthday - Give each guest a piece of paper and a pencil. On the word "Go" have all the guests write as many words containing the letters of the word Birthday as possible. After two minutes, stop the game. The guest with the most words wins the game.

Kiss Her Quick - put your guests in a number of chairs. Before the party, hide Hershey Kisses in a number of places around the party area. Tell your male guests that when the music starts, they will leave their seats and find as many Hershey's Kisses as they can. The winner is the Guest with the most Hershey Kisses

Discovery - Pick a number of words associated with Birthdays such as: Cake, Candle, Age, Games etc. and write them on the back of cards. Put the cards in a deck to be drawn by your guests. As each guest pulls a card, they have 30 seconds to come up with as many words as possible using the letters of the word on their card. Provide a bag of M&Ms or Red Hots to the winner.

Guess How Many- put a large number of Hershey's Kisses in a jar. Make sure you carefully count the number of Kisses and record the number. As they arrive, ask your guests to visit the jar, write their name and best guess as to how many Hershey Kisses are in the jar and put their piece of paper into a slotted box beside the jar. At some point during the party, open the box and give the jar of kisses to the person or persons with the closest guess.

Birthday Bingo - Make your own Bingo cards using your computer and printer. You can use M&Ms or Red Hots candies as the card markers. Play just like normal Bingo.