Fun Birthday Party Ideas for Kids

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.

 

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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.

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Strengthening the Roots of Family Finance Management with Effective Techniques

Managing a family can become a tedious job to handle. The reason being varied likings and different tastes based on the requirements. A family, be it joint or nuclear has to deal with the changing economy in unison. The world economy often encounters recessive implications which have the most telling effect on a family based infrastructure. A business organization can have huge savings which can allow them to survive the recessive phase with ease or just with minimal difficulties unlike the family based finance schemes which really get hit hard as normally the savings are small and the working professionals are also less as compared to the organizational framework. The realms of family based financial management are shallow but deep seated thoughts are needed to decipher them completely. 

Money management can be difficult to handle without prior planning 

Managing the fiscal backbone 

·     Skimming out the prior options- a single family can have a lot of members with each having their own set of requirements. Every wish is impossible to fulfill for a middle class infrastructure and hence chalking out the list emphasizing on the imperative ones is a must. The articles and services which have high price tags attached to them must not be brought unless becomes indispensable.

·   Budgeting – every month may not give similar yields as the working environment and the costing can vary with the recessive up gradations. This calls for making an equipped budget which may in future allow the family to address the issues and products needed earlier. The cost factor and the value per unit costing have to be looked at before making the budget. This allows the owner or the family head to assess the changing economic trends.

·  Increasing income sources- this goes a long way in setting up the framework for future expenses. Enhancing the sources from where income can be achieved allows more influx of cash inside the dwelling.

·     Debt management– several banking organizations have come up with the options of credit cards enabling the customers to move freely without carrying liquid cash and thus risking their state of well being.  This may sound pleasing to the ears but the end result happens to be extra cash which goes out of the pockets in order to repay the credit debts as serious rates of interests are being levied on the principal.

·  Saving grace- money matters are best handled when savings get a prior position in the financial database.  They enable the tough times to pass and crisis does not become a hindering block in the development path. Savings, if done, judiciously can allow frivolous expenditures when the bottlenecks are done away with.

·Checking the basics – the concepts related to lending and borrowing have to be looked at closely. These terms have legalized standards attached to them and hence the paper work has to be looked at closely to avoid any loopholes. 

Summary

Every family envisions certain dreams inclined to luxury and prosperity. These can become a reality only when proper management techniques are being followed strictly. Saving well and spending with care can usher happiness over the members and make the family grow and evolve together.

Author’s Bio: Alisa Martin is a proficient author having vast experience in writing articles on Currency Converter and other finance related topics. She also contributes for the website www.idealkash.com.

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Home Improvement Made Easy with These 10 Easy Steps

Anyone that wants to add some value to their home can do so by taking some simple steps, which can range from being careful with decoration schemes to making small changes to individual rooms. At the same time, it’s important to consider the benefits of using safe materials, as well as investing in the future sustainability of a property through green products and approaches. These, and other steps, can help you to make your next home improvement project much easier.               

1 - Decorate Carefully

When repainting rooms, always go for neutral colours if you’re planning to sell your home; moreover, when decorating individual rooms, stick to a dominant colour for walls, while using accent colours to complement the colour scheme for pieces of furniture. 

2 - Make Small Changes to Rooms 

If you’re renovating on a budget, consider making small changes to rooms that can add up to an improved effect; this might include cleaning or replacing outlet covers, while changing lamp shades and cleaning windows. 

3 - Glazing 

A particularly good idea if you want to refresh your bathroom, floors can be improved by glazing - this approach can save you from having to retile or fit new flooring into an old bathroom, and can be completed over the course of a weekend.

4 - Keep Things Safe

Always check the materials you’re using to ensure that they’re safe for you and those around you; make use of natural flooring and reclaimed wood, while checking for proper ventilation when cleaning and painting rooms. 

5 - Use the Right Paint 

Make sure that you use outdoor paint when working on a building, and that you have a range of different oil and accent paints for use within a home. When painting, keep a supply of latex gloves, brushes, and masking tape to avoid spillages.

6 - Improve Lighting

You can enhance the available space in a property by improving lighting schemes - this might involve fitting energy saving lightbulbs, or cleaning windows to let more light in. A few well placed lights and lamps can also make a big difference to the atmosphere of a room. 

7 - Replace Curtains and Blinds 

Also able to add more light to a room, replacing curtains and blinds in rooms can help to keep them insulated, while giving you options for how much or little light you want. Consider blinds with UV reflective coatings, as these can keep you warm while preventing sun damage. 

8 - Go Eco 

Invest in low energy light bulbs, and source out reclaimed wood and any other recycled materials when putting together your building materials; when replacing appliances, look for Energy Star rated items, and consider installing energy meters around your home to check usage. 

9 - Get Help from Friends 

Try to have a back up list of friends for large scale renovation projects, and don’t always rely on the same group of contractors if you want to get a job done quickly. 

10 - De-Clutter 

It’s much easier to get on top of home renovation if you don’t have to wade through old items - start off by de-cluttering attics and basements, being ruthless in what you keep and what you either throw out or put into storage.

Author Bio: Lisa Jane writes about home improvement, he recommends http://www.onthelevel.co.uk/ for a great selection of wetrooms and more.

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