At this age, children love things like color and noise. Remember that this birthday party is not one they will remember but one you will. With that here are some steps to consider.

• First pick the date, time and location. Determine about how many people (adults versus kids) will be there and an appropriate location for the party. At home is fine, outside is great. Larger venues work for lots of guests. Don�t pick nap time or right before as your baby is not going to be the star of the party for the right reasons here.
• Select invitations. Choose a theme that you enjoy too. Again, it’s more about what you like here.
• Send invitations out at least three weeks in advance, four if possible. Make sure to make a checklist so that you can count those that are coming and call on those that haven�t let you know.
• Decor! Here is where you can do a lot of fun things with color, themes and decorations. Balloons (Make sure no one chokes!) paper plates, tablecloths and banners work well.
• Games. If you will have other children there, include some fun games. If not, consider a collage of pictures to entertain your guests with.
• Foods should be easy to prepare, handle and eat. For just a few guests a full scale meal would be okay. Don�t forget the cake.
• Pictures. One of the best things to do now is to take lots of pictures during your party. Plan to do this so that you have ample opportunity to share and for scrapbooking.

To make your child’s first birthday memorable, consider hiring a professional planner to do the work for you!

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Melissa Fishman Children’s Birthday Parties

If you’re someone who’s got a children’s party or special occasion coming up soon, I bet you’ve been thinking hard for a while now about ways you can make the day stand out and ensure that everyone has a great time.

Face Painting

Fancy dress and make-pretend have long been favourite activities for kids, and they love nothing better than to act out as all sorts of cartoon characters or animals. Face Painting is a great way to help them have a fun and exciting day, they can pretend to be a wild tiger, or a rampaging elephant!

To get hold of good quality face paints for the day, you can try looking round local fancy dress shops or any dance/theatre shops that might be nearby. Have a look through your local yellow pages for more information. You’ll want to use professional water based face paints to make sure that the paint comes off easily at the end of the day. You don’t want to send a child home as a ferocious lion now, do you!

Listen and Move

Place party shapes on the floor in a circle. For example if your theme is Knights the shapes could be shields, swords, and castles. Children walk around circle while
listening to music. If the music is loud the children move fast. If the music is quiet the children move slow. If the music stops, the children stop on the closest shape.
Young children like to play it this way. To make it more challenging for older children have 1 less shape than the number of children. Continue remove
shapes as the children are ‘out’.

Port and Starboard

On the command (from the list below) the children have to do the appropriate action. After a while, start removing the last player to comply, untill only one
remains.

• Port (Run to one side tof the area)
• Starboard (run to the other side)
• Captains Comming Aboard (Stand to attention and Salute)
• Submarines (Lie on the floor)
• Hoist the Mainsail (run on the spot - like climing the rigging)
• Mess Deck (Sit cross legged on the floor - ready for lunch)
• Davey Jones (Climb a tree, stanbd on a chair - anything so that you are not on the floor)
• Up Periscope (Stand up straight and old hands to eyes as though looking through binoculars)

Chinese Whispers

Sit everyone in a circle. Whisper a long phrase to one person. They, in turn, whisper what they heard to the next person, and so on. The last person announces what they heard.

Pass the Parcel

Wrap a bar of chocolate (or some other gift), in a layer of paper. Now wrap it in another layer and repeat until you have about 10 layers. Finally wrap it in gift paper (so it looks nice).

Sit everyone in a circle and play a short snippet of music.

When the music stops, the person holding the parcel
removes ONE layer of wrapping. Repeat until the last layer of wrapping has been removed.

The winner keeps the present.

The Chocolate (or Jelly) Game

Sit everyone in a circle and place a tray in the middle with a hat, scarf, gloves, knife and fork, die and a wrapper bar of chocolate. In turn, players throw the die. If they throw a SIX, they must put on the Hat, Scarfe and Gloves before they start
to unwrap the chocolate with the knife and fork, ad then start to eat it.
To speed up the game add a second die and require a Double SIX.
The Jelly Variation is to turn out a set jelly onto a plate and eat it with the knife and fork.

Musical Chairs

The old favourite. With one fewer chairs than people, a short snippet of music is played while the people move around the room. When the music stops everyone tries to sit on a vacant chair. (Only ONE person per chair) The person who doesn’t find a chair is out. One chair is taken away and the game continues until only one person (The Winner) is left.

Memory Game

On a tray, place about 10 to 15 small items (e.g. pencil, watch, comb, shoe lace, spoon, toy car, etc.) and cover with a cloth. Sit everyone in a circle. Place the tray in the middle of the circle and remove the cloth for 60 seconds. Everyone has to remember the objects. When the time is up, replace the cloth.
In turn, each person has to name an object on the tray. The first person to fail to name an object, repeat an object or name something not on the tray is out. The tray is then removed and some or all of the objects replaced, and the
game re-started with the person following the one who is out. If the game is too easy for the group, add more objects or reduce the time.

Musical Statues

This is like Musical Chairs, but when the music stops, the players have to keep still. Anyone who moves, quivers, shakes etc is out. The winner is the last one still playing.

Always wear bright colours when hosting the parties you will be amazed at the difference it makes.

Suggestions for birthdays by age grouping:

Toddlers (2-3) - Most of these parties are more of a gathering of parents or immediate family. Activities for any child involved cound involve keeping a balloon from touching the ground; bouncing balls; musical statues.

Pre-school (4-5) - This is the age at which parties start to become important. These are best to have at home as they can be more contained. Games as above can start being introduced.

School Age (6-8) - This is when kids get more involved in organising their party and it is good to encorage that. Ask them if they want a theme or which games to play. We have found at this age, kids like choosing their own party bag. These parties are either hosted at home or at a prebooked venue.

Older Kids (9+) - This is when kids are more likely to consider activity type parties: swimming, bowling etc. One option is to have a group of friends over for a sleepover.

Just remember the party is a fun event. Don’t Stress and Good Luck!

Kids love to play dress-up, it feeds their imagination. They especially love fancy dress parties where they get the chance to act out their favourite characters or disney storylines. A great idea for a fancy dress outfit is a masked party. And a great way to create masks for the kids is to use paper mache balloon masks. How and what are these? Well, I shall explain!

Since the kids are only going to be at the party for a few hours, it’s not practical to get them to make these from scratch during the event, but what you can do is use this as an opportunity for your own kids to get their hands mucky with some gloopy strips of glued-up newspaper. This is guaranteed to raise a smile, and they’ll love knowing that they’ve helped you out in preparing for the party

Creating a birthday invitation for your kid’s birthday party is easy and affordable. Plus creating your own birthday invitations makes it even more meaningful for your child since you have taken extra effort in making his or her birthday even more special
You can make attractive birthday invitations that are even more beautiful compared to those commercially bought birthday cards by simply applying a few very simple desktop publishing and design principles. Simply follow these ten simple steps to make not only birthday invitations but also other types of greeting cards.

Here are the steps involved in creating birthday invitations:

1. Make sure to use an appropriate software

There are various software programs used for creating birthday invitations as well as other types of greeting cards. These include: PageMaker, InDesign, PhotoShop, and other professional desktop publishing software. However, if you are new to desktop publishing and your main concern is to create your very own birthday invitations or greeting cards, consumer software is an easier way to go. Be sure to familiarize yourself with some of the basic operations before you actually begin your project.

2. Better to pick a birthday invitation format

Before you actually decide on the kind of birthday invitation that you want to do, be it funny, serious, oversized, top fold, side fold, and even personalized, it is important that you have a vision of the design that you want to create. This can help you in speeding up the designing process of your invitations, even if you are using templates straight from the software.

3. Try to set up an invitation document

If you are going to use a blank template or wizard for the style of birthday invitation you want, use it to set up your birthday invitation. You may also create a layout from scratch using your desired size. For a top or side-fold card, printed on letter size paper, it is best to create a folded dummy and then mark the front, inside front, message area then finally the back of the greeting card.

4. Choose the graphics for your birthday invitation

If you prefer to have a simple birthday invitation it is easier to stick with one image or a few simple icon-like figures. If you prefer to use less realistic clipart, you may end up with a more cartoonish appearance. Unleash your creativity and make use of color and lines. All of these contribute to the overall style of the birthday invitation. Likewise, mix and match images that share a similar style.

5. Modify the images

There are some graphics that work without modification but requires simple changes in terms of size and color that can improve any birthday invitation layout. You can also use color and frames or boxes with dissimilar images in order to come up with a more unified appearance.

6. Select a font that would best suit your birthday invitation

Chose your font to best suit the type of invitation you’re sending out.

7. Arrange text and graphics

Play about with the text and graphics until you find a layout that works best with your chosen graphics and font style and size.

8. Create consistency in the look and feel of your birthday invitation.

Try to keep your invitation simple with clean lines for maximum effect. Too many conflicting styles, fonts and pictures look messy and can detract from the actual purpose of the invitation.

9. Add a credit line

Put a credit line on the back of your created birthday invitation. You may place your name to show that you were the one who took the effort in creating the birthday invitation that they are now admiring.

10. Proofread and print your birthday invitations.

It is important to do a final proofread before printing your birthday invitation on an expensive specialty paper.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Alison Palmer has an interest in topics relating to Family. To access more articles on birthday invitations or for additional information visit this birthday resources related website.

The younger the participants the less structure you need to worry about. The younger the kids, the more relaxed they will be. Keeping it simple is important. Kids can entertain each other better than adults, so you don’t need to worry about too much structure. Minimal structure does not mean minimal parental supervision. A successful children party’s most important component is responsible adult supervision.

Planning the Party

Before you buy anything, you must set your budget. Don’t spend a dime before you set a budget. Your budget will determine many things such as the food, how many you can invite, entertainment, etc. Set the theme of the party before you go out for shopping for the party. The number and age of kids will determine what kind of games you should consider. Games are no an absolute must, but it may help with some of the older kids. Choosing the proper location is an important success factor. Kids need lots of space; they don’t like to sit around, so you have to give them space. Most importantly the location must be safe, and it must be large enough to accommodate your guests. A party at someone’s house is fine, as long as it meets your requirements.

The cycle then resurfaces for the next toy of the moment your child tells you he or she wants. Playing with toys can not only be fun, but with the right toys play time can also stimulate your child’s imagination and creativity. Although malls have many toy stores and department stores, these stores tend to all carry the same set of toys and products. They follow the tried and true formula for carrying products, allowing for little to no unique products.

Children tend to want the same toys as their friends simply because whoever is first to get it will be the proud owner of a new unique toy. This novelty of having a unique toy soon wears off as each of your children’s friends now has this same toy, all purchased from the same store in the mall. A child’s creativity needs the right creative toys to continue growing.

As a parent you walk a fine line between spoiling a child and rewarding them with new toys. But from experience you know that the euphoria from having a unique toy fades as the toy becomes mainstream. What are you to do so as to not fall in this cycle?

No matter if you plan to purchase the party favors for both adults and children or just for the kids, giving your guests a little something to take home is important. It is a thank you. It’s a sign of appreciation. And, it is just good manners.

What About The Cost?

If you are having a birthday party for your child, you should consider several things. First, are the party favors for your child�s friends or will they go to the adults that attend? If they are for the adults, consider using a small statue, a picture frame with your child�s picture in it. Or, consider a candle with a cute theme. Giving a gift to your adult party goers should be done. You can give them something that is inexpensive, especially when you purchase them in bulk form. If you want to spend more, go ahead.

On the other hand, if you are giving a party favor to your child�s friends, then you have to go with all fun things. A little goody bag is ideal filled with kid safe things. Don�t go over board on the candy but many party outlets will provide very small toys, cute games and lots of fun stuff that you can include. The kids will enjoy getting a gift from your child too.

If you are having a small get together with your close family you may not need a party favor. If you are throwing a memorable party, then consider one. This would be for their first birthday or possibly their fifth. If you are giving a large party where there will be many people coming, then a party favor no matter what the age is essential, at least for proper manners.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Melissa Fishman specializes in Birthday Parties