It was my Stepson's 9th Birthday over the weekend & since he was at our place for his birthday we decided to let him have a party at our place. It was going to be a Timezone party, but because the school disco 'clashed' with that initial plan we decided to hold it at home instead. We've held a few kids parties at home & usually I obsess & panic over the finer details but this time I took a more relaxed approach firstly due to time constraints & secondly because it was going to be a smaller party with 8 child guests & Grandparents on the invite list.
I decided to go back to basics with the party food ~ chips, lollies & Oreo's.
We cooked up sausages on the BBQ for lunch & served them in hot dog rolls with sauce & onions which were a hit with the kids ( even Nanny who had 5 sausages!)
Rather than organised games, the kids had a more play-date style party & they played with the Nerf guns, trampoline, Wii, Lego and even the computers at one stage playing Club Penguin.
I even bought a store bought cake & jazzed it up a little. I didn't bake one darn thing & felt so liberated! Lol.
At the end of the day I felt relaxed, not stressed & the party was a hit for everyone. I definitely learnt a lot including;
- $2 shops are great for sourcing plates, cups, bowls, spoons, serviettes & gift bags. I spent under $15 buying all of these items in a lovely blue & lime green colour which looked great for a sunny outdoors BBQ.
- Big W was great for items to put in the party bags they have fantastic bagged lollies such as Whizz Fizz, Chuppa Chupps & Zappo's for $2.00 & under as well as 8 piece party novelties for $2 a bag also.
- Keep the guest list short.. Something I've never really attempted before and it was so much better.
- Get your other children to invite a friend along so they're not bored.. Our eldest went to a friends place but the other 2 invited a friend over (unfortunately my stepdaughters friend was ill prior to the party so couldn't come).
- Stick to the basic party foods.. Kids love it & they shovel it in so quickly so who cares at the end of the day if it's cheap & easy :-D
- Ditch those organised party games! As fun as they can be, I was traumatised last time I played pass the parcel with a group of kids as there were tears & tantrums everywhere! Abolish prizes and pop more goodies into each kids party bag!
- Relax! Take it outdoors & think play-date not party & save your sanity!
This is going to be my party attitude from now on. Happy Birthday Nicholas! Xoxo
