So, your child’s birthday is coming up – yay or nay?
Every parent loves their children that’s goes without saying. And yes, we all want them to experience the happiest time of their life on their birthday every year, without fail! But all the planning and running around can be exhausting. Who ever said that planning a birthday party for kids was ever easy?
Fret not, if birthday planning is not your forte, kids birthday party planners are always here to save the day.
Even with a professional on the task, nothing is like being on top of your game with some personal touch. Here is the ultimate checklist to help you keep tabs on everything that should be considered while planning your kid’s birthday party.
Venue/Location
Should you host your party at home? Or book that fancy schamsy restaurant you love? Decisions. Decisions. Let us help you cut through the clutter on picking the best party venue in Singapore!
If you are planning a full month/baby shower, be prepared for a full-day affair with visits from family and friends. Throwing the celebration in your own home or a hotel ballroom make good options. While your favourite restaurant may be tempting after a full month of confinement food, you should always consider party venues with a comfortable resting place for your child to nap or feed away from the noise and banter.
Your best bet for toddler parties, on the other hand, is to keep the party under two and a half hours to avoid any meltdowns. Your ideal venue would be one where the little ones have ample room to run about safely. Consider a space where parents can also mingle in comfort since they are likely to stay on with their toddlers. From backyard gardens, condominium function rooms to indoor playgrounds, there is a long list of options for you to choose from.
When it comes to primary school aged kids, spending an entire afternoon exclusively with their best friends without the parents around would be a dream come true. Have your mini-me decide on what he or she would like to do first. Once you have decided on the anchor activities, work backwards to see which venues can accommodate these activities.
Entertainment
Party entertainment is a must-have if your guests are to be meaningfully engaged during the celebration. Your chosen activites should help break the ice and create talking points among your guests without having you to introduce every single one of them.
Try thinking of your party entertainment in 2 parts – fringe activities and mass activities. Just picture yourself enjoying a meal at an “atas” restaurant. You will be served your appetizers before tucking into your main course.
Fringe activities are the appetizers at your party to keep the early birds occupied. These activities are also great to have alongside while the kids are having their meals. This way you won’t need to worry about everyone finishing at the same time since the faster kids will have something to get busy with first. Face painting and balloon sculpting are popular fringe activities for kids birthday parties, where every child gets some special one-on-one attention from your party entertainers.
Mass activities are your main courses; best saved for the middle of the party where most of your guests are present. These mass activities serve as your programme highlights and create a natural flow onto the cake cutting ceremony. Cake hosting can be done right after the mass activity since everyone is already gathered in one place. Your party host can help orchestrate the birthday song & assist in getting your guests posed for group photos. Magic shows and party games are definitely essential ingredients; bringing the fun and laughter to any memorable kids birthday party.
Food Catering/Food & Beverages
Start off by getting an idea of what your child would like in their menu for his or her party birthday party. Otherwise, put together a list and have your invited guests pick out a few of their favourites!
Finger foods like nuggets, french fries, pizza, pasta, vegetable sticks are crowd pleasers if you are planning a dropoff kids party where there won’t be too many adults dining. Throw in some freshly made festive treats like a live popcorn or candyfloss station and you will get the carnival vibes going.
Once your list is all confirmed, it’s time to decide on how you will be receiving your food. Will you whip up the food in your own kitchen? Hire a food caterer? Do a MacDonald’s delivery? Or have a professional party planner handle everything end to end for you? Depending on the option that you settle on, you may or may not need to allocate additional time for logistics like getting the food tables/disposable cutleries set up as well as the dreaded cleanup.
Have all these cleared up from the start, so that feeding your guests on the party day will be a piece of cake.
Equipment Rentals
While renting equipment based on your party activities is of utmost importance, knowing the number of guests attending is just as crucial.
Rather than the “cheapo” kids stools & tables, switch things up with statement kids furniture rentals to add a classy flair to your party décor. Renting rather than buying is not only eco-friendly, but you’d get a good bang for the buck. Think oh-so-cute kid-sized tiffany chairs and mini tea tables where your little ones can dine and do their party crafts in style.
Perhaps you may want to rent some glassware, rustic wooden stands or a fairy light backdrop for your DIY dessert table too? How about a high-quality sound system and DJ to liven up your disco party?
Remember to check with your venue manager before securing your rentals. Who knows, they might just be able to provide some of these equipment and save you some moolahs.
Goodie Bags
Ain’t nobody’s too old for presents! A party goodie bag is always the perfect sweetener to thank your guests for coming at the end of your child’s birthday party.
Purchasing pre-filled loot bags or a stationery gift set is a no-brainer. If you have time on hand, try involving the birthday child in curating his/her own goodie bags. Let your child doodle on a couple of colourful paper bags and fill them up with a stash of trinkets for his/her friends.
Want to get even more creative with your party favours? How about turning it into an interactive activity that doubles up as entertainment? Let the kids get messy making slime, paint their own tote bags or win their keeps with a couple of our nifty carnival game booths!
Decorations
What better way to play up on your party theme than to get creative with the decorations! Nothing shouts louder than balloons when it comes to birthday party decorations.
Needless to say, most of your party photos are going to be taken at the cake cutting area. You would want to focus most of your efforts (and budget) dressing up this space, specifically for the camera. You will thank yourself for this prudent move when you look through your selfies later. Many first-time parents end up spending a bomb scattering helium balloons on the ceiling or around the room; barely adding any colour into their party photography.
Don’t forget to include your child’s name and age into the design of your cake as well as the surrounding decor, be it in your tabletop styling, backdrop or the landscape down the front of the table. Customised balloon sculptures make your child’s favourite character come to life and it doubles up as a cute and cuddly birthday gift for your child to bring home after the party.
Keeping your party decorations sustainable is a tough nut to crack. One way to reduce waste is to replace paper with balloons. Paper pom poms, streamers & garlands are most often thrown away. Balloons, on the other hand, are usually happily taken home by the kids as party favours!
Invitations
You’re ahead of the game if you have gotten this far! It is now time to get down to the party invitations.
Snail mail is passe and most of us resort to sending our party e-invitations via Whatsapp these days. For preschoolers, however, you might like to consider having your little one hand out his or her hand-drawn invitation cards to their classmates after class. Don’t let the convenience of digital media deprive your child of experiencing these simple thrills of throwing a birthday party.
Include a little teaser in your party invitation on what activities to expect so they will be dressed appropriately. If it’s a pool party, they’ll need to bring swimwear and a change of clothes.
Send out your invitations at least a month in advance, or even earlier if you want to give your guests time to dress up to a specific theme. This gives you sufficient time to collect the RSVPs and finalize the catering and entertainment for the exact number of guests attending.
Don’t forget to drop your parent friends a reminder one week before the party and you are all set to go!
Conclusion:
Whenever your child’s birthday is up – just keep this checklist with you and every year of birthday planning will be easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Not to mention, while you’re planning one, why not go for a complete birthday package in Singapore? You’ll notice how this package will easily cover almost any aspects of the birthday party that you have in mind and have your child beaming with joy, even at the end of the party.
