Ah the deep joys of organising a birthday party for your offspring. Whether you’re brave enough to throw a party for the entire class of 30 children, or prefer to keep things small, it’s guaranteed to take over your life in the weeks and days leading up to the big event.
The stream of worries start to invade your thoughts 24/7. Can you get the right venue booked? How can you afford an entertainer – do you really need one? Where are you going to get all the party bag swag from? What food are you going to serve and how on earth will you have time to make eleventy billion cheese sandwiches as well as the cake?!
I’ve teamed up with Organix as part of their #NoJunkJourney to share some top tips for minimising the stress involved with Birthday Parties. They’ve got some brilliant suggestions…
My kids birthday party tips
I’ve been throwing parties for my boys for over eleven years now, so I’ve learnt a thing or two along the way:
- Kids just want to be able to run around and let off steam, so if you’ve invited the whole class make sure you choose a venue with plenty of space
- Have loads of water on offer, as kids always get too hot running around at parties and will regularly need a drink
- The older they get the fewer kids you have to invite – just let them choose a selection of their best friends and do something fun like throw a DIY pizza party or have a cinema night at home
- Don’t feel pressured to fill party bags with loads of stuff – even plastic tat and sweets can really add up! Get a load of discounted book sets from The Book People and just hand one book out each with a slice of cake
- While you don’t need to spend a fortune on entertainment, bear in mind that if you lead all of the games yourself you’ll be absolutely exhausted afterwards so it can often be a more enjoyable experience if someone else is doing it. That also frees you up to keep your eye on proceedings!
- Keep the food really really simple. Pizza is a great choice and can be carved up and put on platters down the middle of the table, along with loads of salad vegetables and pots of hummus for dipping.
- Don’t set yourself an impossible task when it comes to the cake. I love baking, but making impressive show-stopping cakes in the shape of specific things is not my forte at all! Aim low and scour Pinterest for hacks and how-to’s.
Banish the junk from the party food
If you’re on the lookout for healthier party food for kids, Organix do a fab range of mini gingerbread men biscuits, mini oaty bites and fruity gummies. They’re all bite-size so absolutely ideal for grabbing off the party table, or for putting into the party bags instead of all that sugary junk.
See below for nine fantastic tips for cutting the junk out of your kid’s birthday party. I particularly like the idea of having labelled water bottles with a sports cap so the kids can tell whose drink is whose. Also I definitely agree that you should under not over cater – kids are always SO excited they hardly eat anything so you end up throwing masses away which is so wasteful.
Share your tips
It’s Arlo’s 8th birthday in a few weeks’ time, and he still hasn’t made up his mind about how he wants to celebrate. I’m hoping it’ll be something like a day trip with a handful of his friends, then back to ours for a party tea. My days of huge kids parties are definitely done!
How about you? I’d love to hear about the best parties you’ve organised? What made them such a success? Do you have any tips you’d like to share for making things manageable? Let me know in the comments below!
What is the Organix No Junk Journey?
Organix are passionate that we take more care with how we’re feeding our children. From paying close attention to food labelling, to making sure that children have a clear understanding about the food they eat, and of course minimising the amount of junk in their diets. You can find out more about the research they’ve done and why I joined the campaign in this blogpost Why I’ve Joined the Organix No Junk Journey
Disclosure: This is part of a series of partnered posts I’m working on with Organix to promote their No Junk Journey campaign. It’s an issue I feel strongly about and want to share with you here on my blog.
