{"id":14913,"date":"2017-07-20T12:57:19","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T10:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/responsive.jozikids.co.za\/zaparents\/?p=14913"},"modified":"2022-08-13T12:21:53","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T10:21:53","slug":"tips-for-planning-hosting-your-childs-birthday-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/lifestyle\/parties\/tips-for-planning-hosting-your-childs-birthday-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for planning &#038; hosting your child\u2019s birthday party"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I believe it can be rather stressful planning a party and it really shouldn&#8217;t be anything but joyous and fun.\u00a0 Here are some tips:<\/p>\n<h2>Planning:<\/h2>\n<p>Always take your child\u2019s personality\/character into consideration when planning.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you usually host large parties, your child may not be overwhelmed by the amount of people.\u00a0 Otherwise you may need to consider a smaller party.<\/li>\n<li>Prepare your child to manage welcoming and thanking all their guests as they arrive.\u00a0 Find a suitable place to keep the gifts.<\/li>\n<li>Do you have enough help? Guests may arrive at different times &amp; you would need to welcome them.<\/li>\n<li>Venues: When selecting a venue, think about all the requirements:\n<ul>\n<li>swimming pool: is it fenced in?<\/li>\n<li>parking- is there sufficient parking for all?<\/li>\n<li>space: do you have sufficient space?<\/li>\n<li>rain: is there a covered area in case of rain?<\/li>\n<li>nursery school: some nursery schools are grateful for extra money &amp; hire out venue over weekend for a party booking.\u00a0 If your child attends that nursery school, it will be familiar surroundings too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Directions: if your home\/party venue is tricky to find or is a boomed-in area, it is helpful to include a map on invitation.\u00a0 It is also helpful to guests to place a few balloons at your entrance.<\/li>\n<li>Try not to hype your child up too much before the event:\n<ul>\n<li>afternoon party: small kids are tired as they have woken up early due to too much excitement.<\/li>\n<li>Unforeseen circumstances occur too, so rather do not detail all you have planned to avoid disappointment&#8230; <strong>Rather let it be a surprise!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Small children &#8211; aged 3 years or less: host a morning party as they are too tired later in the day.\u00a0 For 3 year olds, it is too much to process when you host at a venue they are not familiar with, provide a jumping castle &amp; entertainers.<\/li>\n<li>Dress-up party: rather do not set out your own kid\u2019s costumes.\u00a0 Smaller kids seem to get upset if friends are wearing their wings &amp; won\u2019t take them off!\u00a0 I have seen kids pull on dresses from either side as there are not enough for all.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Hiring:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Entertainment: if you have external party planners offering a program of events \u2013 less is better.\u00a0 Jumping castle, magician &amp; fairy entertainers would be too much for a 5 year old\u2019s party.\u00a0 When there are too many activities, it divides the party.<\/li>\n<li>Entertainers: provide as much information as possible to entertainers so they can provide the best experience &amp; meet expectations. e.g. shy or dramatic child<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Invitation:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Etiquette: When attending other kid\u2019s parties &amp; there is entertainment planned, try not to arrive late. Children take a little while to slot into the activities &amp; they may not be able to adjust quickly enough to enjoy the experience &amp; may miss out on gifts.<\/li>\n<li>RSVP\u2019s: Bear in mind that some people may RSVP &amp; then not arrive.\u00a0 Sometimes it is unforeseen such as illness etc.\u00a0 Kids that you have invited may very well bring siblings too.<\/li>\n<li>If you book an external venue such as a tea party: stipulate on invitation that unfortunately you are not able to include siblings (if siblings are not invited) as the venue only accommodates x amount of guests.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Food:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Be aware of children attending the party that may be allergic\/not able to certain foods. Do your best to cater for those children&#8217;s\u2019 requirements &#8211; think kosher, Halaal, gluten-free.<\/li>\n<li>Eats: do not provide too many sugary foods\/drinks for kids.\u00a0 You would want to avoid a sugar high &amp; kids are more difficult to manage.\u00a0 Rather provide healthier foods like small bottles of water, pieces of fresh fruit &amp; cake at the end.<\/li>\n<li>Birthday cake: only bring out later when you are about to sing happy birthday as kids tend to touch the characters on the cake.\u00a0 Don\u2019t forget candles &amp; matches!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Games:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Same prizes for boys &amp; girls works best if children are similar ages.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure that each child gets a prize.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep checking yourself as you plan to see whether what you&#8217;re planning is for your child or for yourself so that you don&#8217;t overdo anything or leave anything out.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/parties\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here<\/a> to find party services for anything you need for your party in Gauteng.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><i>Note: If you enjoyed this article, and would like to stay updated with more, you can:<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li2\"><i><\/i><span class=\"s1\"><i>Subscribe to our free weekly Jozikids\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/member-registration\/\"><span class=\"s2\"><i>newsletter<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0 for parents in Gauteng<\/i><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><i><\/i><span class=\"s1\"><i>Like us on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jozikids.co.za\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s2\"><i>facebook<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><i><\/i><span class=\"s1\"><i>Follow us on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/jozikids?igshid=1n8cwedrewul\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s2\"><i>instagram<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In my experience working with moms and families planning parties for their little ones, I believe it can be a rather stressful time and it really shouldn&#8217;t be anything but joyous and fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":231,"featured_media":14916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[245],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parties"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/231"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}