Welcome to the March edition of the online Party Basket Newsletter.
We have in this edition:
- Whats new at The Party Basket Website.
- Super Spring offers.
- The Party Survival Guide.
- Party Manners.
- A guide to holding a creative party.
- Planning for Christmas with our pre-filled stocking offer.
1. What’s new at The Party Basket Website
We have been upgrading the look of the site over the past month with an improved main page incorporating a few small animations to help show the simplicity of using the site.
We have also developed a fun memory game to help maintain those grey cells. There are four levels to complete, so good luck.
For all our new members who have joined us over the last few months we have posted the January edition of The Party Basket newsletter on the forum page.
Visit all these at www.thepartybasket.co.uk
2. Super Spring Offers
Until the end of April we are offering our newsletter subscribers FREE DELIVERY on all online orders. Just type in freedel013 into the discount code box on page two of the payment screen to receive this offer. This offer can be used as often as you want until the 30th of April.
3. The Party Survival Guide
One of the main thing to remember is a party is a fun occasion where there is food to be eaten, games to be played and presents to be opened. However the key to a successful party is planning, we don’t mean the kind of planning that goes into military manouvers but with a little forethought the day can be fun and hopefully nearly stress free.
A good length of party would be in the region of two and a half hours with a suggested breakdown of:
First 30 mins: Arrival. As the guests may arrive over a certain period of time have an activity that all can join in when they arrive. This can be a creative area that the kids can stay and play in until all have arrived or one of our favourites is to use a pack of snap cards, hide half of the cards around the house/garden with a sweet or choc coin attached and give the matching card to an arriving guest who has to the search for the corresponding card.
Next 60 mins: Planned games and play. See the January edition for a range of suggested games.
Next 30 mins: Birthday Tea
Next 30 mins: It is probably advisable at this time to have the quieter games (the slow race is always a good one at this time) then present opening and the all important party bag.
4. Party Manners
The majority of these handy hints fall under the catagory of common sense, but in the excitment of the day they can sometimes be overlooked:
Guests
Always reply to invites promptly.
If there are any allergies (food or pet) ensure that this is mentioned on the reply.
Be on time.
If it is a dressing up party get into the spirit of things and dress up. We will have some suggestions for dressing up in our next edition.
Pick up promptly
Hosts
Make sure all your helpers have designated tasks. Do not end up doing everything yourself.
Write a list of who gave what. There is nothing worse than the next day being asked “Did he like his present?” and not remembering what it was.
5. A guide to holding a creative party.
This is always a fun party to have, though be warned it can be messy.
Start gathering supplies in advance as that will cut down on panic buying. It would be good to have scrap paper, felt tip pens, crayons, old newspapers, paint and brushes, child safe scissors, unused sponges, glue sticks, fabric paint, white napkins etc.
Use the newspaper to cover surfaces, preferably sellotape it down.
Remember to state on the invite that it will be a creative party and to wear play clothes and to bring an apron or shirt as cover up.
Activities:
Follow the two and a half hour party plan, so have the first half hour occupied by a “clean” activity. When children arrive have them decorate a box or white bag with their name on which can be used to take home anything made at the party or for their party bag.
Have pens, crayons and colourful stickers that they can use, its probably not the best idea to have any paints at this point.
After the meal it is best to have the messy creative activity. One of the best we have found is t-shirt printing for older kids using colourful fabric paints. It can be an idea to put together some pictures that they may want to follow in regard to the design of their t-shirt. For the younger child finger painting can be fun for them but messy for you so it might be an idea to use a different medium eg. charcoal, pastels, modelling clay, collage.
Have about three or four activities set up as some children may finish faster and move onto something else. You could set an objective, eg the scariest monster using plasticine. The main thing to remember is that it is to be fun, it is not an art class so allow the kids artistic freedom.
6. Planning for Christmas with our pre-filled stocking offer
After a number of enquiries that we received last Christmas we have decided to offer a pre-filled stocking service that will provide you, the customer with the option to purchase one of a number of pre-filled stockings.
These stockings will be available for boys and girls with three different age ranges to choose from and will include stock from The Party Basket website and other specially selected larger pieces.
We are currently in the planning stage of this new development and hope that this service will be available from Sept/Oct. If you wish to make any suggestions regarding this or any comments in general please email to carol@thepartybasket.co.uk.
Thank you.