6 Steps to a Planning a Successful Children's Party!

Before I hosted my first children's party, I had nooo idea just how much had to go into the event. These days it's not just booking a hall and letting the party guests run wild - you've got to think of feeding them, the entertainment and of course party favours too! So I've put together this post to help you (hopefully) plan a successful children's party, in just 6 simple steps.

Guest List and Invitations

When planning for your child's birthday party, you have to consider who they want to invite. These guests could be their classmates, their relatives or friends they've made outside of the classroom. Make sure to send invitations early in advance (especially for parties during the holidays) and ask them to confirm their attendance with an RSVP by a certain date. This not only helps you with planning for the event, but will give you an idea of number to give to the venue, or entertainment if they require this.

Food and Drink

Most children's parties involve food in some way or another. Whether this is a little finger buffet, where the children can pick what they want, having pizzas delivered or even going out to a restaurant to eat. We decided to make little lunch bags for Indiana's party (filled with a sandwich, crisps, fruit, a tube yoghurt and something chocolatey), as these were easy to make in advance and relatively cheap.

It's also important to make sure you have enough drinks for the duration of the party - not just for during sit-down food. Most venues will have jugs to fill with juice or water. And don't forget drinks for the parents too!

Birthday Cake

A birthday cake is of course what makes the day complete, and regardless of age, everyone enjoys blowing out candles on a birthday cake! You can make your own homemade cake or order something a little more sophisticated from somewhere like wholesale party supplies. Don't forget to bring along candles for the cake too - or you can even pick up fun sparkler style candles for an even more exciting celebration. And if you've got a lot of guests attending, it's always worth having a back-up cake to hand out in party bags, so everyone gets a piece.

Party Decorations

Birthday party decorations will of course help to create a special atmosphere for the party. If you have chosen a particular theme for you party (such as Stranger Things, Frozen or Spider-Man), many places will sell party packs with items such as cups, plates, and tablecloths. Even if you haven't chosen a theme, you can usually pick up mix and match items from lots of websites or even your local supermarket. So whether you're on a budget or not, you can definitely make your party as exciting as you want!

Entertainment and Activities

A standard two-hour party is usually divided into free play (while guests arrive), then a session of entertainment, another for food and birthday cake, and then free play again while the party winds down. It's always best to plan how you're going to entertain guests, whether that's with music, games or a brought in entertainer.

Planning simple games works best for younger children. The most popular are -

- musical bumps
- musical statues
- musical chairs
- pass the parcel
- a best dancer competition
- duck, duck, goose

Most children will not hold their attention as well for structured activities, so they need to be fun and simple to understand. You can of course hand out simple prizes to the winners too - but just keep in mind that you should have enough prizes so everyone can have one in the end!

If you don't want to have any structure to your party, then hiring a bouncy castle and some other small toys / games would be a great alternative. This way little ones are entertained, but you don't have to be the one to do it!

Party Favours

Party favours don't have to be expensive at all. You can fill party bags with little trinkets and cheap toys from pound stores to keep costs down, and then just add in a slice of birthday cake. Why not think outside of the box though, and give out a homemade item or a book that can be enjoyed for a long time after the party. We bought books that cost £1-2 for Indiana's party from an online bookstore, and then wrapped them up and popped on a sticker from eBay that thanked the guest for coming. Super simple and cheap, and the guests loved them!

The best advice I can give is to not stress over the little things, and enjoy the party you spent so long planning. As long as your child and their friends have fun, then that's all that matters! And if anything goes wrong, there's always next year isn't there?

This is a collaborative post.