Planning your children’s party!
Here are some
simple suggestions to help plan your party and make it run more smoothly. Hopefully they will help you avoid some of
the normal pitfalls.
Live Theater
You are trying to
create live theater for your child. This
is more then just a simple party. These
are memories that you will cherish for a lifetime. To make the most of the experience you should try to keep
distractions to a minimum. Plan to keep
things like the stereo, television and loud speaking relatives in another part
of the party. Party horns and squeakers
are only fun for about a minute before they become very annoying to the
adults. If you must give them out do it
at the end of the party or in the goody bags, that way you will be glad to see
them go. (When buying horns, the
cheapest ones are the best. They break
after the kids blow them for a minute or two.)
If you decide to
have entertainment at your party you will especially want to keep distractions
to a minimum. (Why pay good money for
entertainment and then not be able to hear and enjoy it.)
Invitations
Your party
invitations should include the date, day, time and place that guests should arrive, the
time that children should be picked up if they are dropped off and the time
that activities are planned for. (For example, the
food will be served at 12PM the entertainment will start at 12:30PM the party
will be over at 2:30PM please be on time.)
With an invitation like this people will be more inclined to be on time.
Invitations should be sent out after booking the
location and entertainment. Popular locations and entertainers may not be
available at the exact time that you want them, but may be within an hour or
two of that time. If you send out
invitations with exact times and haven’t locked in your time with the location
or entertainment you may end up with something less than you were hoping for.
Entertainment
Hiring the right
entertainment for your party can be one of the most important decisions you can
make. If you choose to hire an
entertainer from somewhere other then IYQ Entertainment (this by the way is a
bad idea), these are some things you should look for.
1. How long have they been performing? You want someone who has been performing
long enough to know what they are doing but not so long that they are too old
to handle children. Experience should run somewhere between 5 and 35 years.
2. What do they do? Is the activities that they do the ones that your guests
want? Magic, balloons, face painting etc…
3. Is this what they do for a living? This is a good indication as to how good they
are. If they just do this on the
weekends then they may not be very professional. Good entertainers can usually make a decent living just
performing.
4. Vaule vs. Price.
Is what they are offering worth what they are charging? Remember you are buying the memories of you
and your guests. Will they give you the
memories that you want? If the answer
is yes, then it is worth the price.
Booking
When
booking entertainment or a location for your party call as early as possible. Everyone
and their mother wants their party at 3PM on Saturday afternoon. To get the time you want call as soon as you
decide on a date for the event. If you
wait until the last minute to book your party, try to be flexible with the
time. This is easy to do if you haven’t
already sent out invitations.
Location
Plan ahead when deciding where
your party is going to be. If the party
is going to be in your home and you are planning to have entertainment, you will need an
area for the entertainer and for the people watching the entertainment. Things to watch out for are low ceilings,
fragile items that a child could knock over, even moving a coffee table.
Moving items out
of the way is easy when your house is empty, but not when there are 20 kids in
the way. If you are planning on having
your party in a hall, book early!
Everybody wants the same three hours that you do.
If you are having
your party in some location other than your home there are things you should
plan to take along:
1. A lighter or matches to light the birthday
cake. (Fewer people smoke these days so
it makes it hard to find someone to light the cake).
2. Trash bags.
3. Extra film for your camera. You will always want one more roll then you
think you will. I can’t tell you how
many times people shoot all their film, then don’t have any left for a picture
of the child with the cake. These
pictures are invaluable; as the child gets older these pictures help keep track
of which birthday was which.
4. A button that says “I’m 7 Today”. These are
cheap, they show up great in pictures and they help the entertainer identify
the birthday child in a sea of little faces to call them up as assistants.
5. Name stickers for the other guests. This helps you and the entertainer keep
track of who is who.
Theme
Having a theme for your
party is very popular these days, especially with children’s parties. You can find party favors and decorations to match any theme that
is popular with your child. Often the
entertainment can be matched to that theme also. Ask your entertainer at the time of your booking.
Signs
A sign on the door saying that the party is
here and some balloons will help your guests and your entertainment find your
party much easier. Addresses are hard
to see from the street especially if there is traffic.
Food
If you are
planning to serve food, you should plan to feed your guests before your
entertainment is scheduled to arrive.
This is a good idea for several reasons:
1. It keeps the kids busy until the
entertainment arrives so that they are not destroying your house.
2. It cuts down on distractions during the show.
3. If your entertainment is performing in the
food service area, like your dinning room, the food may be cold by the time the
show is over.
4. Children are
often encouraged to participate in the show and need their hands free.
Save the cake and
ice cream and any other sweets until the end of the party. For one thing it is a lot less messy to pick
up those sticky plates after the kids have left. Also, the less time that paper plates with frosting on them are in
you house the less likely they are to wind up face down on your carpet.
Another reason to save sweets untill the end of
your party is a wonderful thing called the SUGAR RUSH. You don’t want this kicking in until the kids are well on their
way home. You’ll thank me later.
Gifts
If you are going
to open presents at the party, save that for the very end, while someone else is
cutting the cake. Once presents are
opened, all the kids are going to want to play with them and you will have pieces all
over your house. Let your child unwrap
the gifts and see what they are, but don’t let them open the package until
after the party. Have a pen and paper
ready to write down who gave your child what. Cards will tend to disappear with
the flying wrapping paper and makes it hard to keep track of who to thank for what.
I hope this has
been of use to you in planning your party.
If you have any other questions feel free to call me Keith Cobb at IYQ
Entertainment (847) 228-0882.
Below I have
added part of an article I wrote for a clown newspaper. It is a recipe for a great birthday
party.
Recipe For a Great Birthday Party
Start with 10-15 kids of various
ages.
Sprinkle children into
party with a light snack (no sugar added), for the first half hour to an hour
(depending on the consistency of parents).
Add one game or simple
activity.
When
children are well mixed add in one well-seasoned clown (if clown is not well
seasoned it may be eaten by the children before the end of the party).
Add magic,
juggling, games and general silliness for 30 to 45 minutes.
Top off
with face painting, tattoos or balloon animals until clown looks finished.
Remove
clown with generous handfuls of bread, (the more bread the better).
Stir in
large amounts of cake, candy, ice cream and sodas.
Top off
with goody bags and serve children back to parents.
IMPORTANT
<Serve kids back to parents before the sugar rush kicks in or they may boil
over>!
