Party Planning Made Easy!

Throw a winning birthday bash without the fuss by following these ideas.

Table of Contents

Be Organized

Plan ahead – think about what you want to do a few months in advance and set a budget.
Be flexible. Kids can be unpredictable, so stay calm if things don’t go exactly as planned.
Decide whether the party will be on the actual date or the weekend, whether you’ll celebrate at home or somewhere else and how many guests you will invite (experts say the number should be about the same as the child’s age).
Consider holding a joint birthday party with one of your child’s friends or a sibling (if both love the idea).
Decide how much work you want to do — make and decorate a cake, or order one from a bakery? Elaborate decorations or simple crepe streamers and balloons? Get your birthday child involved in party preparations — the guest of honor will enjoy helping with tasks like decorating or measuring ingredients for a cake.
Keep in mind that an at-home party is less expensive, but requires more work, and if you choose a party venue, you turn the work over to professionals. If an at-home party seems daunting but you can’t budget for a party venue, consider holding the celebration in a neighborhood park.
When choosing a party venue, book well in advance to secure your date. If cost is a factor, check whether the party package costs less on weekdays, and plan accordingly, or consider a dual party for siblings, cousins or friends who have birthdays close together.

Don’t Break the Bank

Set a budget (and stick to it). Determine a budget early on to help guide your decisions for venue, food, decorations and activities. Be sure to track your spending as it’s often the little things adding up that lead to spending more than you want.
Don’t invite your child’s whole class — limit the party to fewer than 10 friends.
Skip party favors or limit them to one small toy, bubbles and a piece of candy per child. Or make a take-home craft at the party.
Visit a discount or dollar store for plates, cups, forks, napkins, candles, balloons and more. For character-themed parties, buy stickers to decorate the plates and cups.

Get Help

Ask for help from friends and family. You’ll need other adults to help with decorating and supervising the party — offer to help with their child’s party if they help with yours. Plus, friends might have ideas you can use in planning.
Plan to hire a teenager or two to help with supervision if friends and family aren’t available.
Capture memories. Hire a photographer or designate a family member to help you take photos during the party. These can be candids or posed shots. Make it even more fun with a DIY photo booth and party-themed props.

Choose a Theme

Pick a party theme based on your child’s interests — having a focus will make plans and decorating easier. See our top party theme ideas!
If your child is altruistic by nature, consider collecting donations in lieu of gifts. Ask for toys or books to donate to a women’s and children’s shelter or choose a local animal shelter and ask for pet supplies to be donated.
Look for decorating ideas to suit your theme, and then use items you might already have to keep costs down. For instance, pull out the lawn chairs, beach towels and sand pails for a beach party theme.
Plan the party menu with your theme in mind — hotdogs are great for a baseball-themed party. Serve cake or cupcakes decorated like a baseball, jersey or bat. Have popcorn and peanuts for snacking.
Come up with fun games or a craft to fit your party theme — make pirate hats or princess crowns, dig for “dinosaur bones” in a sand box, have a mummy race where kids compete wrapped in toilet paper.
Hire professional entertainers to add to the fun of the party — a clown who creates balloon animals, a reptile show or a musical act.
Avoid the time and expense of making goodie bags, and consider giving a single item instead, a “magic wand” for a fairy tale theme, a small bag of chocolate gold coins for a pirate theme, a toy car for a NASCAR theme.
Once that’s all set, plan to send electronic invitations a few weeks in advance, using a website such as evite.com, minted.com, snapfish.com, paperlesspost.com or greetingsisland.com. Specify party hours.

Make a “To-Do” Schedule

Make a timeline for tasks so you won’t forget details and so you can space out chores.
Go shopping and do party prep before the day of the event. Make sure to confirm the head count and finish the decorations; finish make-ahead food prep and house cleaning — including putting away breakables — two days in advance, and baking or picking up the cake the day before the party.
On the day of the party, allow more time than you think you’ll need for getting everyone dressed and for last-minute preparations, such as blowing up helium balloons or setting places at the table.

Have a Plan for Gifts

Decide when your child will open gifts — most parties end with gift opening, but sometimes parents opt to open gifts after guests go home or as guests arrive.
Make sure your child is schooled in proper etiquette and acknowledges gifts with a smile, even if he doesn’t like the gift, or has a toy just like the one he’s received.
Assign someone to keep a list of who gave what as the gifts are opened. Your child should write thank you notes after the party, and you may not remember each child’s gift.

Get Off to a Good Start

Be sure everyone gets a good night’s sleep before the big day — a tired party child or parent can’t enjoy the party.
Have a contingency plan for mini-disasters — a first-aid kit for scrapes and cuts, a backup craft or game if the first attempt falls flat, a list of parents’ phone numbers if a party guest wants to go home immediately.
Keep the kids busy. Tailor party activities to the kids’ age range. Younger children may enjoy simple games and might need some downtime, so have an age-appropriate show or art project ready. If you’re hosting the party at a venue, be sure the length of the party is appropriate for your child’s age.
Serve kid-friendly food. Offer food that’s easy for kids to eat. Finger foods like mini sandwiches and fruit are great. For older kids, opt for pizza or chicken nuggets with mac and cheese. Be sure to ask about any allergies and take them into consideration when planning the party menu.

Let Them Eat (No) Cake

Create a donut cake or a donut holes tower, or stack Oreos for a light bite. Browse Pinterest for inspiration.
Arrange multi-colored cupcakes like balloons on a large serving dish, then add strings and a bow. Or arrange as a number corresponding to the child’s age.
Build a brownie tower (make the treats or buy them), and decorate with candles, sprinkles and berries.
Make cake kabobs by putting cubes of sheet cake on a skewer and layering with frosting, then drizzle with a different colored icing or top with sprinkles.
Make cone cupcakes, using flat-bottomed ice cream cones. Find instructions on bettycrocker.com or use bakery cupcakes.
Pair any not-a-cake idea with pre-scooped ice cream. Put scoops in a muffin tin with cupcake liners and freeze for easy serving.

-Amanda Miller Allen