Guest Post: How to Keep Everyone Happy at Your Child’s Birthday Party

The following is a guest post by Melissa C. from Blog Content Guild Thank-you Melissa for the great article.

There’s this one mom at my children’s school who always throws the best birthday parties. She always has the best party supplies, the best activities planned, and the best birthday cake possible. At the parties, she always seems calm and collected. She makes it look easy. In my experience, however, throwing birthday parties for my young kids is a challenge. Inevitably, I can’t find the right Mario birthday party supplies, I bake the cake for too long, I plan party activities the kids don’t like, and I invite my child’s arch nemesis, which just makes everything uncomfortable.

My oldest son is 10 now, and I don’t think I’ve ever thrown a birthday party for him that some kid didn’t end up crying at. Fortunately, I think I’m getting better at parties. This year my youngest daughter turned five, and her party was actually a success (for the most part). I have a lot of experience making mistakes and learning from them when it comes to throwing birthday parties for my kids. Here are some ideas I believe will help parents who don’t know where to begin when it comes to throwing a party for kids:

• Ask your kid to tell you specifically whom they want to invite to the party. This will help prevent you from inviting someone your child and the other children at the party may not get along with.

• Bake the birthday cake and clean the house the night before the party. Trust me. You’ll be doing a lot of things the day of the party, and won’t have much time do all those things.

• Order affordable party favors online weeks ahead of time. You can find great deals on kids’ party favors online. Order them in advance so you don’t have to worry about picking them up right before the party.

• Ask your child what games he or she plays with the other kids at recess. This will give you insight into what games you should plan to play at the party. It’s good to have activities and games planned out ahead of time. If you don’t plan anything for the kids to do, they’re more likely to get into trouble or bicker with each other.

• Kids absolutely love piñatas, so consider including one at every birthday party you throw. Just make sure you establish clear rules for how the candy from the piñata will be shared. If one child ends up with half of the candy, several other children will end up crying. This is something I know from firsthand experience.

So, try out the tips above, try to stay as calm as possible, and make sure your son or daughter has a great birthday party!