BIRTHDAYS - ORGANISING - GAMES

Have loved and enjoyed  organizing my kids birthday parties.Entertaining the kids with games and activities  helps us to experience the joy of celebrating with our children.

Basic party template for two and half  hours

Art and crafts (20 minutes) or until everyone arrives. - Arrival activity

1. Passing the parcel(20 minutes) . Its a great icebreaker too.
2. Food (30 minutes)
3. Game 1 (20 minutes)
4. Game 2 (20 minutes) 
5. Cake (20 minutes)
6. Light music and some relaxed time , until pick up(Whatever time is leftover)

        adapted from the book: How to celebrate everything by Jenny Rosenstrach

• I did not follow the exact template ,but liked this one very much. I changed it depending on the age of the kids and the family rituals and traditions I follow .

Arrival Activities

• Guests come in, at different times , so to engage the kids , you need some kind of an arrival activity until the rest of the guests arrive. Give them a drawing printout and colors or crayons.
• When I planned the Pin the Olaf game, I handed out the printouts Olaf to color. You don't have to buy color packs for  each kid , gather whatever you have at home. If you have a preschooler or toddler, you will probably have a lot of crayons and color pencils already. For pin the banana on George, hand them George printouts.
• Another year I handed out rectangular strips cut out from card stock paper with a hole punched at the bottom and a ribbon tied in the punched hole. I handed them stickers, and a heart shaped punch, some gold color card stock paper. They were glad to make bookmarks of their own and take them home. Hand them color marking pens too.

GAMES

Pin the nose of olaf

• Its a good game, just a variation of pin the tail of the donkey. I cut out noses and stuck  the back with a strip of double sided tape, so that its easy to stick on the picture , for kids.                        

                                            Pin the banana on curious George

• Just another version of the above. Depending on the favorite cartoon character of the kids.

• Drawing almost halfway done. Did not color the banana.

• Drew the bananas on chart paper, coloured it and cut it out. Do remember to write the names of the kids on each banana with pencil.

• An enthusiastic toddler pulled it out . Thankfully only the top part  was torn apart. We could continue the game.

Minute-to-win it games

Stack attack, I found this game here. It's a really good site .

Picture Puzzle

• This is a huge hit for any party. It amuses both old and young. You can find the description here.

I always have a bag of this game ready to play.

NOTES

• It's good to alternate between active and quiet games.
• If there are moms and dads invited, then it's good to have a game or two for the whole family. Some of the games are good for the whole family are Musical chairs, bombing the city, dance attack.
• Dance attack is same as musical chairs, we  we have to dance while the music is on and freeze like a statue when the music turns off. And should not show our teeth. 
• Other games are balancing the book on the head.
• I love the order of the above party template. Play a few games, followed by food, then again, a few more activities and then cake cutting. Keeping the cutting ceremony towards the end of the party is good for the kid's appetite too. If they eat the cake first, it steals away their appetite leaving no space for the food. Also keeping the cake cutting ceremony towards the last ensures that all the guests will be present for the cake cutting.
• Time is very important. The host and the venue has to be ready at least 30 minutes before the starting time mentioned in the invitation.
• If you are organizing the party in the house. Keep the toys away, out of sight, if the party includes kids below 9. They will be interested only in playing with the toys. Toys are for playdates, not for birthday parties.
• Make each kid special as soon as they walk in through the door. Give them a hat with their name on them. or a balloon would suffice. 
• Check for allergies, with your guests and plan accordingly.
• Keep a number of games ready on the list, even though you are not planning to play those games.
• If you have the birthday decorations all done earlier, then take lots of photos of the birthday kid in front of the decorations before the kids arrive or even the day before. because once the party starts, its difficult to get the birthday kid at their best.
• When you go to birthday parties (especially small kids) always take a gift instead of a gift card. There is nothing more special than receiving a birthday gift.
• The display table with the accompanying decorations are a treat for the eyes. But keeping the favor gifts on the display table makes the kids too curious. I have noticed that some kids never leave the table with the favor gifts.
• PARTY FOOD: I always make the birthday cake for my kid's birthdays. I do not try to make other food. Pizza is always the food of choice for birthday parties. (It has been marketed so well that Pizza has become mandatory.  I tried other foods, but kids ask for Pizza.) I buy Pizza from outside.
• I don't include a widespread, the less the number of choices the better. Cake is the only dessert. So, for me it's always Pizza, grapes (washed, rinsed and patted dry) and then the birthday cake. 

RETURN GIFTS

• A list of return gifts :(Always keep extra favor bags for the extra siblings) who may come to the party

1. Badminton set from dollar spot ,target
2. age-appropriate stickers
3. handheld mechanical games
4. books
5. activity books with stickers (daiso japan)
6. bowling pins and ball
7. sketching books for bigger kids
8. wall stickers from dollar tree (they are very good quality ones)
9. garden set (dollar tree or daiso japan)
10. spinning pinwheel fan (my all-time favorite)
11. play dough          
12. echo mic      
13. Coin purses for girls
14. Playing cards
15. Sling bags  
16. Pop-it