ChildrensPartyPeople.com
928-830-2372
Doing the Party Yourself
with a little help from the
Kid's Party Experts
with a little help from the
Kid's Party Experts
We know that lots of you like giving your own parties for your kids for many different reasons. We know, of course, it's fun! But sometimes it can also be a bit overwhelming. That's why we'd like to help if we can. So -
* we designed Party in the Mail
* we offer hints to help you avoid pitfalls
* we added a party store that has books on giving a party, party supplies, dress up costumes, goodie bag stuff, party decorations, and more
* we designed Party in the Mail
* we offer hints to help you avoid pitfalls
* we added a party store that has books on giving a party, party supplies, dress up costumes, goodie bag stuff, party decorations, and more
Hints for giving a successful party:
Choose a theme
Write down all of your ideas for decorations, games, crafts, activities, food, number of children invited
Go window shopping locally or online for the things you will need before you decide to purchase --be sure to leave plenty of time for items ordered to arrive before the day of the party
Decide how long you want the party to be, the time it starts and whether or not parents are invited
Then develop a party plan:
List the activities, games, crafts, eating, present opening, etc in the order you want them to happen
Guess at how long each activity, etc will take (this will depend on lots of things like the ages of the children
whether parents will be there to help, the space you have to work with, and more)
Decide where the party will take place (park, your backyard, in the house, someone else's house and carefully check out the
space to be sure the activities will actually work in that space)
Eliminate any activities that don't fit into your time frame, require too much preparation or your child doesn't want.
Purchase all your supplies and decide how the food will work - purchased or made, food for parents and kids or only kids, etc.
Send out invitations at least two weeks before the party and require parents to respond by a certain date. If they don't, call them. Unless your party is supposed to just be a play date at a local park kind of thing, not knowing how many children are coming can make the planning next to impossible.
Make your final party plan and write it down. Enlist as many adults to help as you think you will need and make sure they have a copy of the plan so they know what comes next. Be specific in exactly what kind of help you want from each adult - setting up a craft, supervising a game, cleaning up, helping reluctant guests to participate or complete a craft, photograph the event, etc.
Set as much as possible up the day before and relax.
Set up some "transition" activities so that those who don't want to participate in one of the activities has a place to go and something to do. These also work for kids who finish an activity before the others. Gear the transition activities to the ages of the kids and your location. If it's at the park, it can be a box of balls or water toys. If the children are young a box of books can be magic. If it's a boy party, a box of cars or dinosaurs. If it's a girl party, dolls can be an option. Just use your imagination and what you already have.
And above all, now that you have planned every detail, expect hitches and just enjoy the experience.
Choose a theme
Write down all of your ideas for decorations, games, crafts, activities, food, number of children invited
Go window shopping locally or online for the things you will need before you decide to purchase --be sure to leave plenty of time for items ordered to arrive before the day of the party
Decide how long you want the party to be, the time it starts and whether or not parents are invited
Then develop a party plan:
List the activities, games, crafts, eating, present opening, etc in the order you want them to happen
Guess at how long each activity, etc will take (this will depend on lots of things like the ages of the children
whether parents will be there to help, the space you have to work with, and more)
Decide where the party will take place (park, your backyard, in the house, someone else's house and carefully check out the
space to be sure the activities will actually work in that space)
Eliminate any activities that don't fit into your time frame, require too much preparation or your child doesn't want.
Purchase all your supplies and decide how the food will work - purchased or made, food for parents and kids or only kids, etc.
Send out invitations at least two weeks before the party and require parents to respond by a certain date. If they don't, call them. Unless your party is supposed to just be a play date at a local park kind of thing, not knowing how many children are coming can make the planning next to impossible.
Make your final party plan and write it down. Enlist as many adults to help as you think you will need and make sure they have a copy of the plan so they know what comes next. Be specific in exactly what kind of help you want from each adult - setting up a craft, supervising a game, cleaning up, helping reluctant guests to participate or complete a craft, photograph the event, etc.
Set as much as possible up the day before and relax.
Set up some "transition" activities so that those who don't want to participate in one of the activities has a place to go and something to do. These also work for kids who finish an activity before the others. Gear the transition activities to the ages of the kids and your location. If it's at the park, it can be a box of balls or water toys. If the children are young a box of books can be magic. If it's a boy party, a box of cars or dinosaurs. If it's a girl party, dolls can be an option. Just use your imagination and what you already have.
And above all, now that you have planned every detail, expect hitches and just enjoy the experience.