Fun Birthday Party Ideas for Kids
>> Apr 19, 2013
If I can have a successful birthday party
anyone can. I am not a well organized creative genius and I have pulled off
some really neat birthday parties for my kids that made them extremely happy.
When you are able to pull off a party with success, sending home your child’s
friends with a smile on their faces, then your child is going to have a special
memory for life. I have going for me what I am sure you have going for you,
especially if you are reading this. I want to make my children happy because I
love them so much. If this is your one and only motivation then you are going
to be successful.
When my children started going to birthday
parties I would glean whatever I could from those parties. I would take all the
good ideas and write them down. I would also talk to my friends and co-workers
about parties they had given. This was many years ago when my children were
very small. I was not what you would call internet friendly at the time but I
can just imagine all the wonderful ideas I could have gotten that way as well.
The real thing that helped get me started
was a creative birthday cake cookbook that I found through a school fundraiser.
It was just a paperback book with about twenty or so cake ideas that you could
create at home using ingredients and ideas that were easy for people like me.
We started a tradition from the time my oldest was a wee tot. I let them pick
the cake they wanted out of this little precious book and I would create it. I
would include them in the making and we would have such adventures! They were
well aware that momma was no great cake decorator but we would have such fun
creating these adorable cakes together!
Sometimes I was confronted with a challenge
that almost stumped me… but even then we would proudly display the cake at the
party. Many times we had to throw together a regular cake at the last minute
because we were afraid to cut the decorative cake. I recall one time making a
race car cake which was held together with toothpicks. The tires were cut out
with a biscuit cutter and glued on with icing. They required that you roll the
iced wheels in sprinkles and then ice them to the body of the car. Oh my
goodness. At first I got a little overwhelmed but then the kids and I got silly
and laughed at this cake for some time. Still, good memories.
The kids each had a favorite cake that was
made multiple times over the years and every year we made a log in the front of
the cake book what birthday it was, for whom, and what kind of cake. We still
have it even though my kids are grown. Even then I made the monster cake for my
son on his eighteenth birthday. He still loved it. That love comes from a lot
of fun and memories and a family tradition that will most likely be passed on
to future generations. These are things that are easy to do and make a huge
impact on your babies.
I found out early on that you need to keep
the party going, kids do not need a lot of down time especially when they are
young. Games are important but do not need to be complex. I have one girl and
one boy and depending on whether we had an all girl party or an all boy party
or a mixed group the games fluctuated. Both the boys and the girls loved to
have scavenger hunts when they were of reading age. We would start them out
with a clue and they would all have to decipher where the next clue was hidden.
They got so excited every time they found a new clue. We had them hidden all
over the front and the back yard and let them know the boundaries ahead of
time. We had an adult with them at all times to help them out if they needed
it. We set the scavenger hunts up before the party and at the end they would
find their bag of party favors. This was always a hit.
Piñatas were always a hit too but you do
have to be careful with the blind folding and the hitting. Even the adult who
is supervising needs to be on guard for the sporadic wild swing! But then you
need some adults to help the timid children get enough candy because there are
always going to be aggressive children and timid children in the group.
My son loved any game that utilized water
balloons. We would play water balloon baseball with a plastic bat and an adult
pitching the water balloon, especially on hot sunny days since the batter whose
aim was good would most likely get wet. We also tossed the water balloons back
and forth between partners and kept making the distance farther apart until the
last ones with a water balloon still intact were the winners. Sometimes if you
have a group of all boys this can turn into a water balloon fight and then we
change games. All kids love relay races and that is a great way to keep them
active and busy during a party. We always offered a prize for the winner in our
games but of course at the end of the party everyone got a nice bag of favors.
When my daughter had an all girl’s party we
would do arts and crafts projects. We would set up a table and have everything
they could need to create anything they wanted. It is an inexpensive way to
keep most girls happy. There are girls who do not like crafts but in all my years
of having parties they are far and few apart. We would set up a table of all
kinds of beads, fishing line, string, glitter, pipe cleaners, glue, craft
sticks, paper, etc. and let them create to their hearts content. For the girls
that were a little more on the tom boy side we had the Creepy Crawlers machines
ready to make plastic bugs.
Another thing I loved doing at parties was
when the birthday boy or girl would open their gifts we would have the child
giving the gift sit with them as they opened the gifts and we would take a
picture with the two of them and the gift that was given. This really helped
when sending thank you cards and we would also include a picture in the thank
you card as well. We found this was a great way to help us with the thank you
cards, keep the memories of who attended your parties, and it was well received
by the parents of the child who came to the party. They knew you were well
aware of the gift, their child, and they had a picture of it to keep as well.
Birthday parties can be simple, they do not
need to be ultra expensive or complicated. Children just love being around
their friends, playing games and knowing that mom and dad love them enough to
put it all together. They love being involved in the preparations such as the cake,
the decorations, and the planning and it adds to the excitement. It does
require that mom and dad actively participate and even grandparents. My mother
loved to be involved in the birthday parties and in fact she was the main
treasure hunt developer. She loved writing out the clues and would add
scriptures to them to teach the kids about the Lord along the treasure hunting
route. She loved children and has been a Sunday school teacher for about thirty
years. This was a great opportunity for my mom to participate in the kids
parties. They loved having their gram around as well.
Family is what is important and laughter
and building memories. Your child may forget those expensive gifts over the
years but they will not forget the effort you put into a “special” cake or a
great party. It is not hard; it just takes love and a few good ideas.
About
the Author:
Ken Myers is an expert advisor on in-home care & related family
safety issues to many websites and groups. He is a regular contributor to www.gonannies.com. You can get in touch with him at kmyers.ceo@gmail.com.
3 komentar:
sebenarnya party buat anak-anak yang sedang berulang tahun sangatlah penting bagi perkembangan jiwanya...salam :-)
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