Ideas for Birthday Parties

Theme parties are always great fun for any child’s birthday party.

Does your child have a favorite movie, book, TV show, favorite character, or maybe your child likes animals or has a favorite sport or past time. Well how about using one of your child’s favorites as the theme for their birthday party.

I have two children so twice a year I find myself wondering how I am going to manage to come up with yet more ideas for birthday parties. I remember when I was a kid, my parents made a cake, threw some balloons out into the middle of the room, played some music on the 8-track and presto we had a party. As with anything else, birthday parties have evolved so much that they are almost like a competition to see who can throw the coolest party.

Sometimes the best way to come up with original ideas for birthday parties is to simply think back to the birthday parties you and your friends had when you were children. Children often have just as much fun at a simple birthday party with old fashioned party games. One of my favorite party games when I was young was the balloon game where everyone tied a balloon around each ankle and ran in a circle and tried to pop the balloons of the person in front of them. I played this game at one of my daughter s parties when she was six and every child in the room wanted to play it again and again.

Planning Your Party

If your child is old enough, sit down with them and ask what kind of theme they’d like for their party. Then, keeping your budget in mind, as well as space limitations and preparation time, choose a theme and start making plans.

Once you’ve decided on a theme for your child’s birthday party, you’ll find that everything begins to fall right in place.

If you really want to come up with something different you can look for ideas for birthday parties online. If you have a specific theme in mind, you can find kids themed birthday supplies like banners, plates, cups, and cake decorations to match. You can find different accessories to make your child s birthday part visually appealing. If you don t have a theme yet, you ll find many different ideas online.

When wording your invitation, try getting into your theme and have some fun. Use words and phrases that fit your theme.

If you’re having a Princess birthday party, you might make it a “Royal Invitation from the King and Queen.”

For a Pirate birthday party, write your invitation on a piece of brown paper bag crumpled up to look like old parchment. Draw a map to your house and have “X” mark the spot. Then write something like this, “Aaarrrhh, we be celebratin the birthday of Captain (your child’s first and last name) and ye be invited.”

You can also find games and activities if you search for ideas for birthday parties online. Keeping the children busy is one of the most important aspects of hosting a birthday party so having age appropriate activities is vital. It is important to consider the difficulty of the game, what is needed, and how long the game will last as some games are meant for an older crowd and some for a younger crowd.

For a Dinosaur birthday party put blue and white helium filled balloons on your ceiling to form a sky with clouds. Then hang dark brown, light brown, green and orange streamers from the ceiling to the floor to make a jungle. Wrap some of the streamers together to make your jungle thicker.

For a Princess birthday party create a special throne using a chair and decorating it with bright red and purple balloons and streamers. And maybe even use a colorful pillow.

Finally if you don t want to host the birthday party in your own home, there are many ideas for birthday parties that are held at children s venues. Many recreational centers offer game and party rooms for birthday parties. This relieves you from the hassle of having to clean up after the party. There are many places that offer combination packages that include food, party room, and activities for one price. Using a combination package makes everything so much simpler for you but it will likely cost you more than a home party.

For a Princess birthday party, serve finger sandwiches, candy sushi, royal colored jelly beans, grapes, sparkling apple or grape juice or a “royal punch.”

For an Incredibles birthday party, label your food. Ketchup becomes “super sauce”, carrot sticks become “energy sticks” and you can even have a mini “hero sandwich.”

If you’re using an underwater theme like Finding Nemo, serve “peanut butter & jellyfish” sandwiches, Gold Fish crackers and “tuna fish” sandwiches.

Whatever option you choose, there are many ideas for birthday parties that can make your life simpler. Even if you do choose to join the birthday party competition, you can still make it enjoyable for your child and his or her friends.