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Ten Steps to a Great Child�s Party

Children love their birthday and what better way to celebrate that with a birthday party. Children under the age of ten often expect a party with their schoolmates and their relatives. If you are going to throw a birthday party, here are a few great tips that will ensure your party goes off without a hitch!

1- One of the first things you need to do is find ten friends to invite to the party. Don�t worry, even though you are inviting ten friends it is most likely that only five or six are going to show up. If the birthday is during the summer, on a holiday or if it is in the middle of the week, even less are going to show up so you don�t have to worry about facing all of those children at one time. 

2- You need to send invitations that include your name, address, and date of the party, reason for the party, and when the party starts and ends. Your phone number is often important so that parents can call and confirm that the children are coming or if they need to find directions. Without invitations, children often confuse the dates, times and where the party is going on. 

3- Preparing for the party is not as difficult as anyone might think. Children are not going to be as particular as some adults tend to be. You can purchase matching plates and napkins if you are going with a theme; often time�s just plates and regular silverware for cake and ice cream make the children just as happy. 

4- Balloons are favorite things for children under the age of ten. Of course, with very small children you will have to be careful with small pieces of balloons that can be swallowed if broken. Balloons that can be made into shapes at the party are really fun to work with. You can blow up the balloons before or during the party, depending on how much time you have and if you are going to be using helium or not. 

5- Games are something that you can plan or you can just let the kids do their own thing. Sometimes a few play stations or Nintendo�s set up on televisions is great for the older children. Smaller children almost have to have organized games to keep them occupied. You can ride roller skates, play football, play dress up, or make movies with the camera. You can set the children up to watch movies, play catch, use karaoke, play cards, or board games. Pi�ata�s are still a hit for children who love candy!

6- If you are having the party at home, it is important to give your older children a little more space to be with their friends. Let the kids be for about half an hour in the play room while you entertain the adults in the kitchen. A well-rounded party means that the kids do get to be kids for a while. If you are having a sleep over, the children can be out setting up the tent, setting up the games they are going to play at night (shadow tags, flashlight tag etc). Alternatively, if you are having an afternoon party, your allowing the kids to play outdoors for a while with a few squirt guns is going to make the party a hit. 

7- Opening the presents is something that should be done before any one leaves the party so that all the children feel appreciative and can say Thank You to anyone that came to the party. Children most often are going to �break out� the toys and games that they got for their birthday and share with the other children that came to the party so this keeps your party moving along rather quickly without missing a beat. 

8- Passing out treats for all the children is something that you should consider. Most all parents give out treats or packages to the children who come to the party. It could be a bag filled with candy, balloons, balls, or any type of little toys that the children of that particular age like. If you are hosting little girls it could be a collection of hair bows or earrings or even things that they can use when they go home like a collection of stickers or a camera to take all the photos that they want. 

9- The cake and ice cream is one of the last things you do before all the children leave. You can serve up cake and ice cream any time during your party, but you might want to wait until the end because once you have five seven or eight year olds with all that sugar they are really going to be having a good time! You can keep it simple with cupcakes if you do not want to have the mess with plates and spoons at all. 

10- No birthday is complete without having a great time. Be sure that any child that looks to be sitting out of the group or that is having a hard time fitting in gets a little more attention and that you make the entire day move along swell for all the children!

It is important to keep your parties limited to just two or three hours. Parties that last longer than two or three hours will give you problems in controlling a large number of children and it can be hard to entertain all the various ages of children and adults for longer than this time.