Mom Birthday Ideas

Your baby’s 1st birthday is a milestone in his or her life as well as in yours. Most parents are so excited about their baby’s 1st birthday that they go all out. They rent an expensive place, hire entertainers, have food catered, etc. Unfortunately, doing so can often lead parents to spending a lot of money they don’t have just for a 1st birthday party. For those parents who want to make this day a really memorable one, here are some 1st birthday tips that you should know.

• One of the best 1st birthday tips is about the size of the party. Keep the number of guests small. Because it is your kid’s 1st birthday party, you probably want to invite as many people as possible to celebrate this memorable event. But your baby will not appreciate so many unfamiliar faces all at one time. He or she may end up feeling stressed on this special day.

• The best place for the party is at home. This is a place where your baby feels comfortable and will help him or her better deal with meeting all those unfamiliar guests.

• The time and length of the party are things that you should also consider. Babies often take naps in the morning and afternoon so it’s best to schedule the party when you’re baby’s awake and not cranky.

• One of the 1st birthday tips that you’ll really need to follow is about food. You should make this as simple as you can. Finger foods are the best choice because your baby can feed himself and it won’t make much of a mess. Younger kids who are guests will also not have a difficult time eating on their own. Also, avoid serving food that can become choking hazards like raisins and peanuts.

• Taking pictures of the party, your baby’s 1st birthday gifts, and his guests is an important part of the party. Since you’re going to be busy hosting it and taking care of your baby, you should assign photography duty to a friend or family member.

• The day won’t be complete without your baby’s 1st birthday gifts. Babies love wrapping paper and boxes so opening the gifts during the party is a must. Of course, to really make your baby’s day, the best gifts are board books, toy phones, and puzzles.

These 1st birthday tips will help make your baby’s 1st birthday an event that you’ll never forget. Most importantly, it will be one that your baby will definitely enjoy.

It’s your child’s birthday and you’re thinking about what to do. There is a new trend these days where parents host a slumber birthday party starting at the age of 4. Well, I don’t know about you but I definitely was concerned when I heard about this. When I was young, a sleepover party was something for older kids and teens. But everyone seems to want kids to start young these days. Of course, some parents may say that a slumber party for kids will be slightly different than a slumber birthday party for teens. But I don’t see it. In any case, if you’re thinking of going with the new trend and hosting a kids’ slumber party on your child’s birthday, here are some things you should think about.

Is 4 or 5 really the best age for your kid to have friends come over for a sleepover party? Remember, your kid will have to share his or her room along with his or her toys. And he or she may end up feeling uncomfortable doing so. In addition, you may be faced with crying kids fighting over toys, games, and looking for mommy late into the night.

Is your child asking for a slumber birthday party? This may indicate to some that he or she is ready to have a kids’ slumber party. But this may just be because he saw other kids having the same kind of party or because his older siblings or their friends had one.

While socialization is a great reason for having a slumber party for kids, this can be achieved through a normal birthday party which is limited to a number of hours. Most kids at the age of 4-5 are not ready to deal with their friends for a full 8 hours or more. You might end up hearing your kid asking you to make their friends go home in the middle of the night or even the guests themselves asking to be taken home.

And before you even think of having a slumber birthday party for your child, ask yourself this: would you let him or her go to a sleepover party now? If you yourself are not ready or comfortable enough to let your child sleep at an unfamiliar place for one night, then you shouldn’t even consider having other parents put in the same position.

In my opinion, the best age for a slumber birthday party would be from 9 to 13. Kids at this age will no longer have any anxiety over having to spend a night in a strange room and they can easily understand and follow the rules of your home better than younger kids. Your child will even enjoy it more because he or she will no longer be anxious about sharing his or her room and toys. But then, that’s just me.

Kids love dressing up and having a party where they can do that is one of the best things you can do for your kid on his or her birthday. There are so many ideas on hosting a fancy dress party; the possibilities are endless. Here are a few tips to help you on your way to creating the best fancy dress party ever:

• Choose one among the many dress up party themes.
While it is great to have a “dress up whatever you like” party allowing the kids to use their imagination, it is always better to have a theme. This way, parents will have a better time helping their kids find costumes and you will have an easier time planning the rest of the party like the food and party decorations. Here are some dress up party themes along with some ideas for costumes that the little ones will love:

Garden party – ladybugs, garden fairies, bumblebees, and flowers.
Harry Potter party – witches, wizards, dragons, and Hogwarts students.
Super Hero party – spiderman, superman, the green lantern, wonder woman, and any of the other super heroes out there.
Under the sea party – fish, shark, mermaids, and any other creature that live under water.

• Themed invites
Once you have a theme for your fancy dress party, you’ll need to set the tone of the party with a cutesy invite related to your theme. For example, if you’re going to have a Harry Potter party, then you might want to make scrolls as your invite with a seal to close it. Don’t forget to send the invites early. Since the guests will need to come in costumes, you’ll need to warn the parents early so they have time to find a costume for their kid or even make one.

• Fancy food
The food you need to serve will have to be in line with the theme. For a garden party, why not serve cupcakes decorated with flowers? There are plenty of recipes for themed party food online.

• Fancy party decorations
With a fancy dress party, you can go all out with your party decorations without breaking the bank. Since you already have a theme, there are plenty of ideas for decorations to be found online. You can visit some discount shops and crafts stores to make your own decorations.

• Fancy party favors
Match your theme with the kind of party favors you’ll be giving out at the end of the party. You don’t have to fill the bags with sweets. Stickers, rubber stamps, and even temporary tattoos are great and can be matched to the theme of the party.

It’s your kid’s birthday party and you want it to be a blast. One of the details that you’ll need to take care of is the party food. Now, kids’ party food is way different from those served in adult birthday parties. Here’s a short how-to on planning your party food and serving it without a hitch:

Serve Familiar Food

Kids’ party food should always be something that’s tried and tested. Kids can be notoriously picky eaters and serving unfamiliar food can lead to lots of hungry kids looking for hot dogs and pizza. Besides, it’s a lot easier to cook food that you’ve served thousands of times.

Prepare the Food Ahead of Time

It’s going to be a kid’s birthday party so you’re going to be swamped with activities and kids running around. Avoid getting stressed out on the day of the party by preparing as much as you can days before. Set aside the ingredients a day or two such as cutting up vegetables to lessen prep time hours before the party.

Finger Food Only

Food for birthday parties should always be age appropriate. Since it’s party food to be served to kids, you should only have finger food. This makes it easier for kids to eat on their own and makes less of a mess to clean up afterwards. Kids are also not going to be patient enough to sit down and eat as they’ll be too busy having fun. Think pizza, finger sandwiches, chips, and small fruit kabobs.

Strike a Balance between Nutrition and Sweets

While food for birthday parties should be enticing to the guests, it should also be nutritious. Kids often indulge too much on sweets during these events. Serving some nutritional snacks will help keep the kids from getting the sugar rush AND please their parents as well.

A birthday party for kids is never complete without fun craft activities. Whether you’re hosting a costume party or a themeless one, having craft projects for kids will not only keep them entertained, it will also give them a keepsake to take home. Here’s how you can make sure that your craft activities are surefire hits:

Have Some Easy Crafts Set Out as Your Welcome Activity

Your guests will not arrive all at the same time nor will they all know each other. A great way to ease them into a partying mood is to have them do some easy crafts related to the party’s theme that they can wear like masks or hats.

Do a Trial Run of Your Interesting Crafts

To make sure that the craft activities you’ve chosen are really interesting, it’s best to test them out prior to the party. This way, you’ll know how easy they are to do, if they really are craft projects for kids, and how entertaining they will be. You will also find out how long each activity will take so you can schedule your activities appropriately.

Create a Workspace for Your Craft Activities

Set up a table and some chairs where the kids can do their crafts. If some of the activities are going to be messy, make sure you have paper towels nearby and place some newspapers on the floor.

Turn the Crafts into Your Party Favors

Kids will be more interested in the craft activities if they know that they can take them home to show them off to their parents and siblings. Some interesting crafts that make great keepsakes include decorated t-shirts, crafted jewelry, and picture frames.

Your kid’s birthday is coming up and you want to throw a birthday party for him or her. But finances being what they are today, you’re only option is to have a birthday party on a budget. But that doesn’t mean that the party won’t be a blast. Some of the best birthday parties don’t cost an arm and a leg. All you need is some creativity, craftiness, and planning. Here are 6 ways you can save money on your kid’s birthday party:

• No Frills Birthday Party Invitation – you don’t need to send out fancy, expensive birthday invites to your kid’s friends. Just send them an email or use one of your kid’s drawings as a template, scribble the day and time of the party and viola!

• Bake the cake – to throw a birthday party, you’ll need to have cake. But you don’t have to spend an obscene amount of money just for this. To save money, why don’t you bake your own? Decorate it with some of your child’s favorite toys. It’ll be unique!

• Limit the number of kids – it’s your kid’s birthday but that doesn’t mean that you should invite everyone you know. Only invite a handful of kids to the party that you feel comfortable supervising.

• Don’t rent out a place – you don’t have to go all out and rent an expensive place to have your kid’s birthday party. The best birthday parties can be held at parks and in backyards. Your kid wouldn’t mind a bit.

• Make your party favor into a craft activity – instead of buying loads of candy and small toys to give away at the end of the party, get the kids to create their own party favor. Set up a craft activity that they’re sure to enjoy and have them bring it home afterwards.

• Cook your own food – instead of buying pre-made food which can be extremely expensive, consider just cooking some as it is much cheaper. Kids don’t eat that much during birthday parties because they’re too busy having fun. Some PB&J sandwiches cut into cute shapes and maybe some small-sized pizzas where the guests can choose their toppings are enough to keep kids happy and full.

Your kid’s birthday party should be a fun event, not something that you’ll stress over before, during, and afterwards. And being on a budget doesn’t mean it won’t be one of the best birthday parties ever.