Big Bird balloon in the Thanksgiving Parade
Creative Commons License photo credit: Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar

Today we have a guest Post from Michelle at Party supplies!

Kids have the best imaginations and their parties reflect those unhindered spirits that make kids so carefree.  The themes and crafts you have at a party determine how occupied the kids will be and what memories they will take away from the event.  At my son’s 6th birthday party, we used Super Mario Bros party supplies to create a household game.  We decorated and encouraged kids to dress up so that when they showed up, we had an obstacle course set up, like the level of the video game.  Most of the boys wore overalls, and we had fake mustaches ready for them to stick on to top off their costumes.

We try to make our kid’s birthday parties as interactive as possible.  Pizza stations, where kids can top their own mini-pizzas make for easy to please and not too expensive food. The stations also take up a little bit of time.  Having cupcakes for everyone to decorate with icing and candy is another option for a hands-on activity.

Having a craft for the kids to work on can also double as their party favor.  Depending upon the age, interest and gender of the attendees.  Kids that are old enough to handle paints can decorate their own t-shirts, aprons, hats or whatever else you can think of.  Kids love paint, but clean up can be a nightmare if they’re too young to handle the responsibility of keeping the paint where it belongs…not on the floor.  If the party is near the holidays making ornaments can be fun.  Picture frames are another good option. You can have a Polaroid on hand and take pictures of the kids for them to put in their frames to take home

Younger kids are a little bit tougher.  Toddler parties aren’t drop off the kid situations, so parents having something they can do to interact with their children and everybody interacting altogether is the goal.   Edible decorating is good for this age group. It can be messy, but the last thing distracted parents need to worry about is policing what goes into their toddler’s mouth.

If you pick a theme like we did, that may help you by having some sort of genre to follow.  Super Mario party supplies are one way to go of course, but consult your kids and use you imagination!