How to Prepare for a Children’s Birthday Party

**Collaborative post**

Preparing for your child’s birthday party is no easy task. In amongst the stress of planning and making sure your little one has fun, you need to make sure your home is safe for your guests. Not to mention there has to be some fun for the parents as well! Prior preparation is key and, if you put in the work beforehand, you can put all of your focus on having fun when the day finally arrives. Here’s our top tips to plan for the best birthday party ever!

Decide on a theme

If you’re a parent, you’ll know that children go through phases of obsession. From their favourite Disney flick (cue ‘Frozen’ fans) to wanting to be the next big magician, no doubt the question of ‘what theme would you like for your birthday’ will throw up some great ideas. If you’ve got more than one and are struggling to make a decision, write them down and pick one at random. This adds an extra element of fun and excitement to choosing the party’s theme, whilst still ultimately putting the decision in your child’s hands.

Create the invite list

Now for some children with an already close friendship group, this one should be easy. You should always ask them just to be sure though, as you never know if there’s been any little fall-outs that could catch you out! If your youngster has a big friendship group and you can accommodate everyone, that’s great. If you have to limit the numbers, as many parent do for obvious reasons, then you need to work together to get the numbers down. Have a chat with your child and see if there’s anyone who might not enjoy the theme, or is unlikely to attend.

Invitation time

This is another way of adding to the excitement for their big day. You can create them from scratch, which means they can be personalised and go perfectly with the theme of your party. If this isn’t really an option, then pre-bought invitations are available for most of the common birthday party themes. You can still have fun together writing the invitations, as it’s all about building excitement. You can even let them post them, or hand them out at school, which helps them to feel in charge of the party (which, let’s be honest, they are!)

Plan a schedule

Every birthday party needs to follow some kind of format. Whether it’s food first then pass the parcel, or karaoke followed by some form of entertainment and food at the end. A rigid structure isn’t the be all and end all, but it helps you to keep a rough idea of how the day’s going to go. This is also important if you’re cooking the food yourself, as you’ll need to have an idea of when it all needs to be ready by. Just jot down a quick plan, then firm it up closer to the time if needed. A schedule is also great to pass along to the other parents, so they can plan accordingly.

Book some entertainment

This isn’t an absolute must, as it depends on the age and interest of your child. But, if you’ve got a theme that fits with some form of entertainment, it adds even more fun to the party. You could even keep it as a lovely surprise for your little one. Fit the entertainment in with your child’s theme, and get ready to welcome in the Disney princesses if necessary, Harry recently had an amazing Pirate themed party. Parents are also encouraged to join the fun by donning their own pirate costumes, adding to the festive atmosphere.

Get the house clean and tidy

This is obviously only relevant if you’re hosting the party at home. If you are, make sure the house is clean and clear of anything that could be a hazard to young children. If you’re expecting a lot of running around, try to prevent slips. Keep the floor dry, use non-slip rugs if you’ve got wood flooring, and get rid of any tripping hazards. Make sure that surfaces are clean so there’s no illnesses being passed around. Rather than doing it all on the day, if you do a deeper clean a week or so before, you can simply have a quick clean and tidy before your guests begin to arrive.