Planning your child's birthday party is not an easy task. The first birthday especially calls for a lot of planning. Once your child is over and has her own set of friends, your task is greatly reduced. She will largely decide who she wants to invite - with your inputs of course, and she can go ahead and give the birthday cards herself. But otherwise, in general, the rule of thumb is, the younger your child, the more you will need to get involved!
However, every party, big or small, requires some amount of planning. Here's what you need to do if you want your child's party to be a success.
Theme
Not only does a theme make a party more interesting, but it is also easier to do the planning around a theme. Selecting prizes and back-presents, coming up with ideas for the decoration and the backdrop etc is easier if you're just sticking to a theme.
Banner
It is a good idea to have some kind of a banner made for your child's party. Ever child who comes should be made to sign his name on this banner. This banner could be in the form of a poster around the subject of the theme, or a t-shirt, or anything else. Be creative. Dipti had a hands-and-feet theme. She had organized little boxes of wet clay, and every child who entered imprinted their hands and feet in the box. They then got to take that box home as their return present!
Colour
Another easy theme to stick to is a colour theme. You can also weave the colour theme with a cartoon character to make it easier. For example, a Spiderman or Winnie the Pooh party can be inverwoven with red as a colour theme - so children can be asked to come in red t-shirts, just like Winnie the Pooh wears. Getting children to participate in the theme by requiring them to wear a certain colour or dress in a particular manner, is always an interesting idea because children then get more excited about the party, and look forward to it.
Pin the Tail
Games can center around the central character. So in a Winnie the Pooh party, you can put up a large poster of Winnie the Pooh, and have the children pin a tail on to this poster. Or you can have a colouring contest, where everyone colours images of the character. The child who does the best colouring in a limited time, wins.
Prizes
All prizes can be in accordance to the theme. So you can give out a Pooh teddy bear, or a book.
Cake
Needless to say, ensure the cake is in keeping with the theme.
Invitations
Don't forget to keep invitations in keeping with the theme. There is no need to spend a bundle on invites. It is easier than ever these days to print invites at home, thanks to advanced printers. Be creative. A good idea would be to cut out the invite around the image of the character, punch a hole at the top of your invite, and run a ribbon through it. This adds a professional touch, and the children can hang up the invite in their room.
