When planning your child's party, you may want to consider letting your child be involved in the planning process as much as possible. He or she will have his or her own ideas about what will make a fun party. You may be surprised at some of the great ideas your children can come up with! It can also be a fun way to spend quality time with your child or children.
Kyle Hayden, the Event Coordinator for Strong Event, which specializes in event decorating and design for theme parties, suggests planning a child's birthday party around a particular cartoon character that he or is interested in that year. He says that Barney, Bob the Builder, and other popular cartoon characters are festive themes that he continues to use.
Once you decide on the theme, you are able to plan the whole party with that particular theme in mind. Your theme should ideally carry over to your invitations, the party venue, the decorations, the activities, the party ware, the cake, and the party favors.
Hayden says that another theme that is always a favorite for children's birthday parties is a circus theme: "Circus themes are always pretty popular for kids because you can have a clown come out and do balloons and face painting and everything." Some other fun ideas to incorporate into a party with a circus theme are decorating with lots of balloons, serving a clown cake, and having circus treats like cotton candy and candy apples.
Hayden has also planned birthday parties with a gaming theme for video game enthusiasts. He says, "We have done a whole Xbox theme. We set up a whole bunch of video game systems and the children all played each other." You could provide a variety of video games or ask the children to bring their favorite games if they so desire. Some great snacks to go along with a video game theme include any "munchies" that are easy to eat while playing a game, such as popcorn, snack mix, and candies.
Hayden suggests centering your party theme around anything in which your child or children are interested or involved. These could involve all different types of sports, music, dream vacations, movies, school subjects, or toys, just to name a few. Regardless of the theme, it is important to have plenty of activities planned to make the party as interactive as possible. Once you decide on the theme, think about what activities coordinate well with the theme and plan the rest of the party accordingly.
Throughout your party planning process, try to make your party planning as fun as possible for you and your children. With some advanced planning and creativity, your party can be a memorable one for the whole family.
