I don’t know about you, but when it comes to kids’ birthday parties, I start to get a little stressed out. I try not to compare myself to other mom’s out there KILLING IT with the AH-MAZ-ING birthday party themes, the party decorated immaculately, etc. I had a good friend once tell me, don’t raise the bar too high or you will have to match it or better every year. Good advice…Thanks Amanda!
I do try to make it “seem” like the extravagant party though and many of my ideas come from good ole Pinterest. We just recently celebrated my oldest daughter’s 5th birthday and I thought I would share the planning process and implementation with you.
#1: I made her a part of the planning process. I asked her what she wanted at her birthday party. What I found is that she didn’t come up with a theme or even elaborate decorations, she listed people…people she wanted there and the type of cake she wanted. So…that was my main focus. I didn’t go with a theme or go crazy with decor…that was ExCiTiNg!
#2: I didn’t do games. The party was just 2 hours long and didn’t require a lot of “extras” once you figured in the time to mingle for a bit, eat, do cake and ice cream, and then end with presents…2 hours FLIES by!
#3: I let her pick her cake out. In the past I have made her cakes. This year I could feel the stress of the party coming on so I took a step back and let her choose it. We went to Meijer (an awesome place to go to buy a cake…soooo many styles to choose from) and I let her pick from their selection. Since the cake was high on her list of what she wanted for her birthday, I didn’t concern myself with cost.
#4: Taco Bar!!! This is an easy and cost effective way to feed everyone on a dime. We did turkey and beef taco meat, refried beans, cheese, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, onion, and soft/hard taco shells. We had a fruit salad and homemade salsa and chips. BAM…DONE!
#5: We combined the family and friend party into one large party to cut down costs.
#6: We had it at a free location.
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves…especially the birthday girl…so it was a success!
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