Kids Birthday Parties

Kids birthday parties...such a love/hate relationship for me. I have the best memories of them growing up. My mom would be running around cleaning, cooking, decorating, and lighting candles. There would be so much excitement in the air. Our family would come over, have dinner, visit, and then the presents and cake. I just loved it all.

Now that I'm the one in charge of creating all the magic, it's a bit more stressful. Especially now days when every party is going to be photographed and posted online. You want everything to be gorgeous and perfect. I get so overwhelmed just trying to come up with a menu, and find a decent price for a cake. Lol! At the end of the day, it's important to remember that the party is for the child, and not me. Lux and Thea don't care if there are 5 different sandwich options. They don't care if the decorations are elaborate, or if the cake looks amazing. They are just happy to have their family with them, opening presents, and eating their birthday cake.

I try to find a balance. A nice party, but do-able. It's never worth blowing your budget, or stressing over for months. I usually start with a theme. Thea's not really into a specific character yet, so we just picked a color palette. I can also re-use a lot of the decor for other occasions, since it's not too theme-y.

Then I think about a menu. In my opinion, it's so important to make sure the kids and adults are well-fed. You don't have to do anything crazy, but make sure there is something there for everyone. Most people aren't crazy about kids parties, so at least have good food. Haha!

We had her party at 1pm, so we did a lunch. I made chicken salad croissants, turkey/ham/cheese subs, and peanut butter and jellies for the kids. I also made a crockpot of meatballs, and a hot spinach artichoke dip (The one from my "Game Day Eats" post.) with tortilla chips. For lighter snacks, I had a veggie tray with ranch dip, a fruit tray, hummus with pita chips, and assorted cheeses. I also found a variety pack of kettle chips at Sams Club. This was nice because each person got their own bag, and didn't have to dig out of the same big one.

For kids party drinks, we usually do waters and assorted soda. We always buy the miniature size bottles and cans. This eliminates so much waste. You know how kids open a full water, take a sip, and leave it there for you to dump after the party. If you buy the small sizes, it helps a lot. We just put these is an ice bucket on the counter so people don't have to get into our messy fridge. Lol!

This year I got my marble plates, silver glitter forks, and white napkins at Hobby Lobby. They were so cute, and very sturdy.

I bought this kids table, and it worked out so well. It is the perfect height for kids of all sizes, and it was great for them to have a nice place to sit. The table wipes right up, so it's super easy to clean. It's also foldable, so when you're not using it you can put it away. I'm also planning to put it on the back deck when it gets nicer so they can color, craft, and eat outside.

Have someone be the "photographer/videographer". I had my sister (Sable Caroline Photography) take photos the entire day, and that was so nice because I didn't have to worry about it. When you're hosting, you are running around all day and just can't get all those precious shots. Just let someone know ahead of time which specific photos you want them to take. (example: opening presents, blowing out candles, whole family photo, etc.)

Extra Tip: Put your baby gate up. If you have one somewhere, this is the time to use it. We put ours at the bottom of our stairs so we didn't have any little ones wandering up there. It's just an easy way to show that upstairs bedrooms are off-limits for the party.

For decorations, I was inspired by all the balloon garlands I've been seeing. They are a perfect back drop for all photos, and really give your room an awe factor. I ordered an assortment of balloons from amazon, and found the cheapest ones with the best ratings. I also ordered an electric balloon pump. We couldn't have done it without this!! Trust me, you don't want to blow up and tie 200 balloons yourself. Make sure you start on this a couple days in advance. We would blow up a few at a time for 3 days until we finally had enough.

Once you have them all blown up (in different sizes), you want to tie two together with mini rubber bands. Then, take a jewelry wire and wrap it around the pairs, and they will start to link up. We used command hooks to stick it to the wall.

I also found a sequin table runner on Amazon, and it was so gorgeous. I'm going to use it for many more events too. It really made the table look a lot nicer.

We got a giant rose gold 2 balloon at Party City, and then the decorations were basically done. The only other thing I added was some fresh flowers from Kroger.

Our party schedule is usually about 45 minutes of eating time, 15 minutes of present opening, 15 minutes of cake singing, cutting, and eating. After that, our party is basically wrapped up. We like to keep it short so people can leave when they're ready, or stay if they want extra visiting time.

Once it's all over I'm so happy. I usually get in some sweatpants, and eat a big plate of the left over food. I can finally relax, I love looking back at all the photos, and rehashing with Cory about how everything went. Then we usually clean everything up, so we can wake up the next day with a fresh house.

I'm going to link everything I used below!