Top tips for children's parties
INVITATIONS
An original handmade invitation will set the scene for a very special party.. one idea is to print out a cute photograph of the birthday girl or boy as a baby and write on the front something like ‘Guess Who’s Having A Party’ and add the party details on the back. If there is a theme to the party choose a matching invitation eg: a wooden spoon with a label giving the party details for a cooking party or draw a football shirt with the age of your child on the back and the party details on the front for a football party.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
this means far more to your child than spending money on a lavish party. For example if you are having a football party how about letting the dad’s play against the boys at the end or even pitch the dads against eachother – I think you will be surprised at how competitive they are...
FORWARD PLANNING
Forward planning and organisation is the secret to success. You can freeze some of the food like cookies and cakes in advance, if you want an outdoor party make sure there is a contingency plan for an indoor venue for the children if it rains. Remember to buy film for your camera and make sure you have spare batteries. Keep a first aid kit on hand.
Put the savoury food on the table first and don’t lay out the sweet food until they have had time to eat the sandwiches etc…
PARTY THEMES
Its fun to organise parties with a theme. One option is a cooking party where – horror of horrors – no food is prepared in advance and it is up to the children to make their own tea. Children will have enormous fun rolling out dough, cutting out cookies, baking fairy cakes and making milkshakes. Yes its messy and you need a team of willing helpers but boy is it worth it to see their little faces beaming with pride at their new found culinary skills. Other fun themes are a sports party where the children play fun games like Dressing Up Races, Wheelbarrow, Egg and Spoon or Three Legged Races or a Make Over Party where the girls are made up and have their photos taken and in between the bussing supermodels also have a chance to make jewellery and play party games.
For more advice about parties, read my Complete Party Planner, which you can buy online at my bookshop.
Featured Recipe
This is one of my favourite kid birthday cakes and the beauty of this cake is that it requires no cooking and can be created in very little time from basic ready-made ingredients you can buy in the supermarket.
