A truly beautiful Minxy mix of charm, inspiration, practical advice, and pretty projects to simplify and beautify your life and home. - Jane Brocket, The Gentle Art of Domesticity
Top ten tips for a DIY childrens’ party
We had a little shindig for Olive’s 3rd birthday yesterday. Here’s my top 10 tips for hosting a successful, vintage-inspired birthday party for kids:
1. Take it outside – pray to all your gods for good weather, throw open the doors and festoon the backyard with decorations and a cheerful 50s tablecloth or two. Or find a prime spot in a local park with access to shade, picnic tables and a playground. Stake out your colony with blankets and a radio tuned to hits.
2. Set a theme for the children – how about simply dress-ups? Easy on the grown-ups, and lenient enough to allow for princess, fairy and pirate fixations.
3. Bunting – festive, easy, cute… need I say more?
4. Be at one with the sugar content – there are times when fairy bread, cupcakes, lollies and chocolate are okay. This is one of them (adults won’t be complaining, either).
5. Keep it short, sweet and small – set a time limit of say, two hours, and only invite friends your children recognize. All-day affairs with squillions of guests are a modern, somewhat tiring phenomenon.
6. Old school games – pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey, What’s the time, Mr Wolf?, egg & spoon and 3-legged races are all oldies, but goodies. Pack a few extra prizes for cheering up teary kids who came last.
7. Alcohol – for the grown-ups, obviously; reward for spending their precious weekend watching a bunch of kids go nuts. Failsafe drinks? Champagne and Bloody Marys. And keep the number of guests without children to a minimum (your twenty-something co-worker might say they’d love to come but trust me, she’s just being polite).
8. Save your efforts until children are old enough to realise what’s going on. If you start with the first birthday, you’ll be over it by the time they hit 3, and that’s when the fun really starts.
9. Keep a list of who gave what – parents will appreciate a thoughtful note, saying thank you for the welcome doll/Lego/book/princess shoes they spent good time making or shopping for.
10. Goodie bags for all the kids – compensation for watching their host tear apart gifts with wild abandon, screaming ‘mine, mine, mine!’
great party advice there Kelly, i especially loved your little personalised thank you. Hope Olive loved her party
Thanks Amanda, she had a ball
Classic! We had a shindig for my Sophie (4) on Saturday so I’ve been right there with you living the party planning. We kept the parcel opening until after the kids had left (and send text messages to the parents after each one to say thanks). Oh, and we borrowed a jumping castle for the backyard which was the hit of the party. Happy birthday to your Olive! Steph x
one thing I’m curious about – was your pass the parcel the old-fashioned or modern version?
The latter seems to result in every child being rewarded with a gift….. Whilst I hate seeing my little one disappointed, I do think a tiny moment of disappointment is healthy and I wonder if we aren’t protecting them too much? If a child exits a party with a lolly bag and sugar in their system they won’t feel disappointed (and my experience shows that they tend to forget about or absentmindedly discard the pass the parcel gift they won.
Thankyou notes are always a nice touch. And totally with you about pin the tail on the donkey
Thanks for the tips. We are about to have Lucy’s 4th birthday. Lucy said, ‘Mummy, i would like a cake with flowers, lady beetles a pony and dolly’s on it !”
Another cute idea is: Spotlight sell cheapie Pinatas, fill them with lollies and smash away.
Happy Birthday to Olive.
I agree Sara – I did one for my daughters birthday last year and went all Gen x on it where there was not something in the layers – the kids expected there to be – it was almost like a mutiny but at the end they all got a lucky dip anyway – I’d rather make it fair and agree that it’s good to learn you don’t always get everyting you want the first time. I also didn’t do lolly bags because geez whiz, some of the ones people do must cost them more then a thank you wedding gift, instead I did a craft table with cheap terracotta pots from bunnings that the kids got to decorate (fun activity for 7 year olds) and then potted a petunia in as they left and they all got a hair clip as well from a local facebook site.
Thanks for the comments – I did do a prize in every layer but they were very small gifts: matchbox cars for the boys and jewellery for the girls (bit of gender stereotyping there, I’m afraid, but that’s the old-fashioned way…;) All in all I spent very little – much more on entertaining the grown-ups, but it was an opportunity to catch up with them as well. And I love the pinata idea, Nicola! x
I’m LOVING the new look of crafty minx! Totally gorgeous! Thanks for your top ten tips! They’re fabulous and extremely useful!
Thanks Eva – so good to hear! Wait till you see the book