You were once in that position. You were the one attending these parties and suffice to say, you had a load of fun.
Now, the pressure is on. Kids parties might be great for the little people involved, but for those adults organizing it can become a nightmare.
Today is all about highlighting some so-called golden rules. As such, sit back, and decipher some of our key tips when it comes to organizing your first kids party.
Get your dates in order
There are some things which are crucially important to little people, and other things that they couldn’t care less about. Having their best friend attend their birthday party falls into the former category, so before you arrange any date make sure this is sorted.
Once you are armed with this information, make sure invitations are ready to go out. There are a lot of different opinions with timescales here, but many have suggested that three weeks is a good starting point. If you are earlier than that, you risk people forgetting, while there are obvious repercussions if you turn it into a last-minute affair.
The timing is also crucial
This is your child’s first party, so we are going to assume that they are quite young. It means that timing is more important than ever, and putting it in the middle of the most common nap time is asking for trouble from all concerned.
In relation to the duration, anything more than a couple of hours is usually too much. This is when tiredness kicks in, while you also have to think of a lot more activities!
Get helpers on board
You might see yourself as super mom, or super dad, but you will need a team behind you for this event. You’ll be the health and safety coordinator, waiter, greeter and first aid person if you’re not careful – and this is too much for anyone to keep on top of.
Try and get other parents, or family, to help out. In relation to the former, if this is a party for young children, they really should be trying to stay for the duration.
Stay simple with the food
You might enjoy fine dining but trust us, most kids don’t. The basics are all that matter here, whether it is chocolate candy or ham sandwiches.
Sure, push the boat out with a cake, but if you go too complicated you’ll find that a lot of children just don’t like the thought of change and won’t eat.
The 15-minute rule
As we all know, kids have limited attention spans. This is why we always preach the 15-minute rule. Put simply, try and split the party into 15-minute segments. You might dedicate fifteen minutes for lunch, another for an entertainer, another for gifts and so on. Of course, you might expand some of these activities, but as long as you plan in relatively smaller timeframes it will make the party a lot easier to manage.