I've thrown more birthday parties in my life than I can remember, for children, adults and even pets. Getting the details right is half the battle. You really do want to enjoy the party you're giving, too. By planning well in advance and having everything on hand a few days before, except the perishable food, you'll be more relaxed and able to tackle the many last minute crazies that are inevitable when giving a party.
Birthday party invitations start the bells ringing and set the mood. Send them out at least two weeks before the event, three weeks in advance for adult parties. Better yet, send your party invitations online, for free. Here's the place: Free Online Birthday Party Invitations. If some unfortunate soul doesn't yet have an email address you can get really creative and find lots of great birthday invitations online. For a touch of pizazz, add a sprinkle of birthday confetti in each envelope - a small sprinkle is plenty and not enough to cause panic over the mess.
Make a guest list first, then a party check list, order your party supplies and move from there. A Party Necessity Check List is also helpful.
Children's parties are a little more casual. You can goof on one or two details and they won't know or give a good g'day one way or the other. All you need is some great birthday party games, kid-friendly food, party favors, decorations and a willing crowd.
Kids love and live for party favors. With a little imagination, you can send little guests home with a cherished token and a fond memory of your child's birthday. One of my favorite current ideas is personalized chocolate bars, complete with the birthday kid's name and date of the party. All the kids will love them and you can save one as a keepsake of the party.
Another excellent party favor for all ages are personalized birthday cake cookies - very fun to hand out as guests leave.
One of my favorite birthday decorating ideas is to toss wrapped candy and birthday confetti all over the food table or just down the center. It's fun for children or adult parties and your guests will love it. Find birthday candy, including piñata candy at my party store.
A new very cool and very fun trend is to have a chocolate fountain set up with cut fruit, berries, marshmallows, cookies and anything else you can think of that would be good dipped in luscious chocolate. This works great for both adult and kid parties. Chocolate fountains can be set up at the dessert table, on the main food table or stand alone in a place of honor. Guests will mingle and have a blast dipping goodies in awesome flowing chocolate.
The latest in greatest in party surprises is creating custom soda bottle labels for your celebration. Use a photograph, the birthday honoree's name and party date and Jones Soda (OMG delicious!) will create awesome soda in personalized bottles just for your you. Jones Soda is already a huge pop culture phenomenon in many parts of the U.S. You will love these custom bottle labels and the unique and standard soda flavors will delight and surprise your guests. This one touch will add a classy and whimsical touch to your party, I promise! And keep the theme going with personalized birthday water bottles.
I also always throw a roll of fun, festive toilet paper in the bathroom to keep the kids giggling. A balloon drop is a blast for all ages and so are personalized imprinted or photo balloons - the ultimate floating decoration. :-)
A bubble maker at the party is loads of fun for little and bigger kids, too: This bubble maker is just great - set it up and let it entertain the munchkins by blowing bubbles all day long. Especially perfect for an outdoor party but also good indoors.
Still flustered at the thought of a kid's party? Fear not ... check out this great e- book all about children's parties: Kid's Party Crafts and Games
And remember to stock up on batteries for presents that come without (you'll never give a present without needed batteries, right?!), your camera, video camera, etc.!
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