I'm going to level with you. Hosting parties for your kids can be pretty stressful and we have got it completely wrong many times. Times when we spent too much money, when nobody arrived, when weather made us cancel or change venues, when we were badly organized and times when I was so stressed that it wasn't fun at all - for anyone. I so badly want to be a good mom and I'm still finding my feet in all of it. Two kids down and I still don't feel like I'm ready to have children. Do you ever feel like that?
Anyway. This year was GREAT. Really. Definitely the best kids party that we've had. I was more creative, better with budget, more laid back and organized and it was more about BEN than anyone else, which you sometimes lose in the process. Awful as that is to admit. So for the first time I feel like I did a few things right - on my 7th attempt at hosting a kids party. Yah. And we all had SO MUCH FUN. Most importantly, Benjamin had a really great time. So here are some of my new-found tips on hosting a fun and successful kids party that everyone will love being at. While the party is for the child and a celebration of his or her life - it IS important that all the guests have a good time too. So here goes. This is what we did.
1. We don't have a big garden area at home, so we went to a restaurant that we love in Cape Town / Muizenburg called Octopus' Garden. They have a fantastic little garden area that is fenced in and safe and spacious.
2. I asked the restaurant to do snacks for the adults - chilli poppers, prawn spring rolls, veg spring rolls, brownies, strawberries, salmon, caprice salads, chicken skewers with peanut butter dip, meatballs - everything delicious. These were mainly for the adults. I have learned that kids do not eat a lot at parties and the food is mostly for the adults - although a lot of the food was kid friendly too!
3. I ordered trays of fresh fruit juice for the adults, then jugs of water and a few glasses. For the kids, I put fruit juice boxes in to their party packs so they could run around with those instead of us stressing with them with glasses etc. If any of us or the adults wanted wine or drinks - those were ordered on a cash basis from the bar. Everyone was super happy with this and loads of wine was passed around.
4. For the kids I put chips, suckers, mini chocolates etc in their party packs, then we put bowls of popcorn, chips and marshmallows in to bowls. These were placed on blankets under a tree on the grass. Kids don't tend to sit and eat at tables and chairs at a party - they're usually running around and playing, so they would gather on the blankets for snacks. Perfect.
5. For kids entertainment: The venue had climbing contraptions and loads of garden to run in. The theme was Spider-Man so we got cans of silly string which were their 'webs'. This was a HUGE hit - they had so much fun with this! Then I gave them the party packs BEFORE they left the party, which were loaded with paper Spider-Man masks, stickers, more masks and party blow horn things. I bought brown paper bags, printed pictures of Spidey and pasted those on with pritt and sealed the bags with paper clips. Super fuss-free.
6. For decor, we printed some pictures of Spider-Man and cut it in to bunting. You basically cut in to triangles, then fold the top part over, put sting under and secure with sticky tape. We bought a few balloons that we blew up there, and packs of plastic spiders that we sort of put all over the place to set the 'spider' mood.
7. I baked the cake myself. I bought two vanilla cake box mixes. I separated the batter in to two sections and added blue and red food coloring. I stacked the 4 layers in to rainbow theme, then did one layer of buttercream frosting. Then I put it in to the fridge to set, then did another layer of icing once that hardened. Came out perfectly smooth after the second layer! For icing: 400g icing sugar, 100g soft butter, teaspoon of vanilla essence and add a tablespoon of milk at a time if it needs to be thinned out. Perfect, and didn't melt in the sun at ALL. I added some bunting on kebab sticks, a candle and plastic spider. The cake cost me abooooyt R140 to make and the kids all loved it. Benjamin loved it. I was super proud of myself and it tasted DELICIOUS. I baked the cakes the night before then iced it in the morning.
8. For the guests, I pulled out Noah and Ben's class pictures and asked them to point at the kids that they wanted to invite. Graeme made the invitation which was really sweet. Always invite at least 6 extra people as some people will not RSVP or will not show up or will cancel.
9. Keep a big dustbin outside right at the venue. This way you can just throw things away as you go instead of running around too much. This saved loads of time with packing and cleaning up too. By hosting a party at a restaurant, you also have waiters clearing and tending to guests, which is perfect.
10. Talk to your kids before everyone arrives at the party. Have a little chat about your expectations in terms of sharing, opening of presents, saying thank you and who is cutting the cake and blowing out the candles. We assume that our kids know these things automatically, but they don't. I reminded Noah that Benjamin blows out the candle, told Ben it was okay for other kids to play with his toys as they would still come home with him. A little assurance goes a long way. This avoided a lot of possible kiddie bickering or sibling rivalry. Everyone got along great and there were no tantrums.
11. I always host their parties in the afternoon, from 2pm to 4pm. This way Benjamin has already had his afternoon nap, everyone has had lunch and I've had the whole morning to get things ready instead of waking up at 5am with loads of party planning stress.
12. Remember to take pictures. Give the camera to different people. I handed my camera to my friend Kat to take pictures while we cut the cake. This saves a lot of mailing and messaging back and forth begging people for pictures. I LOVE photos, so I like having them all on hand after, especially the ones of us together as a family!
We had a really amazing day and most importantly BENJAMIN had a great, fuss free and chilled out fun afternoon with all his favorite friends, foods and family. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone that helped - my mom picked up the Spidey outfit for Buns and Granny picked up the silly string and everyone really spoiled little Ben with amazing presents, love and celebration. Thank you for loving our little boy and making him feel so special.
And then also - we took the little guy to Spur on Friday night because EVERY kid needs a Spur burger, milkshake, play, song and sparkler on his birthday.
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| This is my "don't take a photo, Noah is holding a steak knife" face. |
