Top Tips to Make Your Kid's Birthday Party a Hit

Running a kid's birthday party can be a lot more stressful than it sounds. From screaming little ones, to throwing up on the cat, you're going to have to deal with a lot of noise and a lot of mess. Whether you're a seasoned pro or this is your first birthday bash, we've got some great tips to keep you stress free and help you make this the greatest (and easiest) kid's birthday party ever.

The Five Ps

Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance, as the saying goes, and this is equally true of at home birthday bashes. Essentially, you need to concentrate your organisational efforts in four key areas:

Food,

Decoration

Activities

Take Homes

If possible, food should be prepared the day before and refrigerated. You can decorate and pack the take-home party bags the evening before and have a good list of activities, including rules and prizes, to hand. Have way more activities on the list than you think you'll need, both because the kids won't take to some of them, and because parties tend to run a little longer than expected.

Divide and Conquer

As any teacher will tell you, getting a room full of kids to do the same thing at the same time is close to impossible. Whilst this is a birthday party and it's your child's chance to spend time with his friends, there's nothing wrong with having a range of options when it comes to activities. Having different activity stations, where kids can decide what they want to do is helpful if you want to stop the sound of kids perpetually complaining of boredom. Also, create quiet area with a DVD playing to ensure children are going to be kept entertained and have somewhere to ‘chill out’ if they are tired because this will stop them becoming agitated or over stimulated. This is especially helpful for younger children, who often have problems keeping the excitement level down in large groups.

Keep the Food Coming

It's pretty tempting just to put on a big spread, and then to leave the kids to it, but separating the party food into different courses is going to make your life a lot easier. Presented with all their options at once, most children are going to stick to the sweets and avoid anything more nutritious. Parties are for fun, but if you want to avoid kids bouncing off the walls (and throwing up on the cat), then filling them up with savoury foods before the sweets come out isn't a bad idea. Give them sandwiches, pizza or other main dish finger foods for the first half of the party, and then replace those with the sweet stuff later. This also gives you the chance to add last minute touches to desserts and to keep things refrigerated for as long as possible.

Just Relax

It might be tough to relax when you have twenty or so four year olds jumping around the house, but it is possible. Try to confine the main party area to a certain area (the garden, if possible), so that the kids are contained. Remove precious or easily damaged objects from that area, to reduce the chances of accidents happening. Have a first aid box at hand (someone will skin a knee or bang a head). Get a couple of adult helpers; you're aiming for a one to five ratio of adults to kids.

Keep an eye out for arguments, tears and falls and everything will hopefully, run smoothly. Other than that, there's not a lot you can do to control the situation, so take a deep breath and relax. What's important is that your child has a great party, and if a few spills or breakages happen, then they happen. At the end of the day, it's your kid's smile that you remember, not the sandwiches trodden into the carpet...