Childrens Birthday Party - questions & ideas (merged)

Nicki

I wouldn't go for balloons personally as lots of kids this age are scared of them, particularly if they burst suddenly, which they will do if played with roughly. Kids of this age will also choke if they put a deflated balloon or burst bit of balloon in their mouth, and although they will be well supervised if there are lots of adults around, it only takes a moment for this to happen.

I'd also be amazed if, even with support, kids this age could play any kind of formal party games. I tried some of the suggestions in loopylass's post at my son's 3rd birthday party and none of the kids could sustain much interest in them for long, and they were all quite bright kids! There is no way any of them could have done any of them aged 1!

For my son's first birthday we had 8 one year olds and their parents, and I was 8 months pregnant with number 2 so it was a bit manic. We put out all my son's favourite toys spaced out at intervals round the floor, and the children and their parents moved round from one to the other as they took their fancy. Quite a few of the kids at this age could only cruise or crawl, and children of this age aren't normally able to play together (ie in way which requires joint attention with their peers), though they will play happily alongside each other, and engage in 1:1 activities requiring joint attention with adults. This arrangement did work well, as the babies were engaged and the parents were able to sit down beside other mum's in different combinations and chat. Bubbles and a sing song would also work really well for some of the time.

For food, you could try and get one of Annabel Karmel's cookbooks from the library and use her ideas for fingerfood. She has some really nice ideas for making things look a bit special. The one I remember from my son's party was a swiss-roll style sandwich, where you flatten about 3 pieces of bread with a rolling pin so they slightly overlap, creating a long slice of bread, fill with a colourful filling then roll up like a swiss roll, and slice so that you have little pinwheel type rounds. All the standard fingerfood things like cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, small pieces of fruit, rice cakes, etc are all great for this kind of party, and if you add some nice dips, adults will eat these too. You could also get a few platters of chinese or indian starters from the supermarket and heat these up for the adults. They won't eat as much as you think because they will be busy looking after the babies, and you will also be busy so will appreciate something which requires very little effort! The adults would probably also appreciate some wine, and soft drinks, as hot drinks will be a problem with a room full of babies. Most of the supermarkets do great novelty cakes based on kids tv characters, or you could make your own. It doesn't need to be huge because the children will only have a micro slice and there are only 6 adults.

The kids won't notice whether there is a theme or not, and the mums probably won't either as they will have their hands full, but if you wanted things to look nice for the video/photos you could get some co-ordinated paper plates and cups. Don't forget the kids will all need spill-proof cups so if you don't have enough you will need to ask the mum's to bring their own, so everything will not match anyway.

Finally make sure that you have a plentiful supply of disposable nappies (even if you use washables yourself) wipes, nappy sacks and clean clothes available, even though the mums will bring their own supplies. My best friend's son reacted badly to the excitement at my son's first birthday party, and produced 3 foul leaking nappies within the first half hour using up all her supplies. We were rushing round like mad things and she didn't want to worry us, and it was only when she suddenly announced that she wanted to leave early that we realised she had a problem and were able to help out. Little tummies often react badly to lots of new foods, so you may have friends who end up in similar straits so if you have all the stuff to hand, and can tell them to help themselves if they need it, you will relieve stress all round.

Hope you have a great day, and if you can get granny and grandpa to come too and take lots of photos for posterity, as you will be too busy to do it!

stev1664

Have a Go-cart party, most kids like driving and it'll be memorable..

JULIE

My little boy turned 1 earlier this year.

we didn't bother with party games, they'd just be wasted.

on the stereo we had a few sing a long cd's playing in the background, a huge playmat with lots of his toys, bear in mind that some babies aren't mobile at this age, it generally ended up that the littleuns would sit and play and the parents would sit and yap around the mat

for food i made pitta bread with either vegimite (less salt than marmite), cream cheese and a high fruit jam on coctail sticks i put half a grape, cheese chunk, red pepper, blackberry and kiwi (obviously don't give sticks to the babes), rice cakes,pasta twirls with mixed veg, and homemade mini burgers,

i made his birthday cake which was a hickory dickory dock cake and had chocolate mice and choc buttons on clock face. I laid out the table as one half for the babies food and the other for the adults with crisps and snacks etc.....i wish i knew how to post a pic of the table for you.

i had balloons hanging up high for decoration and to give when they went home, my eldest (12) accidentally popped one and a littleun did cry so best not to let em play with em.

hope this helps in someway

divadee

right need your valued advice!!!!

i have booked little miss divadee a swimming party everything is taken care of now except for the party bags


i dont want to spend a fortune but as she will be 9 and her friends the same age. i wanted to put a really decent but very cheap (lol) present in the party bags with the sweets etc...

what can i get that will look like i am super generous but not cost a lot.

i was thinking of getting swimming goggles or something like that but i cant find any cheap enough

come on people help me out with suggestions!!!!!

DebtphobicDeirdre

i suggest the crocky trail my dd went there for there 12 bday and loved it it was the best it is like an adventure trail where you walk round doing the activities (like slides and bridges with no handles and trapsgiant hamster wheel was our favourite) and getting very muddy she took 8 kids 2 adults and a packed lunch for £60 the website is https://www.crockytrail.co.uk

KraftyKate_2

've just seen an article on today's BBC news in which they discuss the latest trend in childrens birthday parties.

It seems as if they are getting as expensive as weddings! Everything has to be themed and £25 per party bag can be the norm!

Reasons given for this was that because so many parents work they haven't got the time or energy to organise a party and anyway it seems the children are in competition for who has the "best" party - seems as if jelly and cake and a game of pass the parcel aren't on the agenda these days! They did mention in the article that there was an element of keeping up with the Joneses. Emma Forbes apparently runs a party business and was on the TV discussing it.

It made me feel really sad, I remember the days when my sister and I helped out at each others children's party and it was the old fashioned jelly and HM cake, pinning the tail on the donkey etc. We didn't feel pressurised to keep up with anyone and all the kids who came had a fun time.

Seems as though there is no limit to what people have to do today to keep their kids happy and I would absolutely hate the peer pressure that seems to exist today.

My kids are grown up now so I feel lucky that I had the time with them inventing games for birthday parties, HM party food and lots of laughs. We have some fantastic memories when all the adults were involved rather than what seems to happen these days when parents are sitting in another room having a glass of wine while the kids are being entertained by someone whom you are paying a princely sum to do so!

I hope that there are still lots of OS mums still having parties in the way I did, getting involved and enjoying and celebrating your childrens birthdays rather than what appears to be a rather detached and expensive trend these days!:T

stressedoutmumof1

OMG!!! It's my DD's 8th birthday next Sunday, and we're taking 2 friends bowling and to the golden arches afterwards - no party bags - I'd rather spend the money on her pressie than on a party that's going to be forgotten.

finallydebtfree!!

if I had kids they would have the parties I did in the old days!! party bags with a poket money toy, balloon, sweets and a slice of cake!! dont want no stranger in my house entertaining my kids!! cant wait till the day I can make my first childs birthday cake

meerkatgirl

To be honest, I don't think the kids care about whether their party bags cost £25 or £2.50 - they'll have a good time whatever. It's more all about the parents getting competitive and trying to outspend each other when there's really no need.

scaredy_cat_2

How shocking!! and how many people will be here because of 18 years of children's parties!!! I had just been thinking about not doing party bags except maybe with a piece of cake!! party games and hm cake definitely in this house