One thing you should do is to decide  how many children you are able to handle and then use a little [...]]]>

Further to the previous post (link opens in a new window)  about 3 tips for the time, guestlist and location of your child’s birthday party, let’s take a more in-depth look at the guest list.

One thing you should do is to decide  how many children you are able to handle and then use a little bit of psycology to get the upper hand… sneaky?  Yes, I know, but sometimes necessary.

Talk to your child and explain to him that he can only invite a certain number of friends (be wise and give him the least amount of kids you can handle comfortably.)

For instance, if you only see your way open to have 10 young energetic party guests at your house, first tell your child  that he can invite 6 guests. In this way,  if he wants to invite one or two more, you will still be within your limit and he will feel as if the final call was actually his.

While you are busy compiling the guest list, you should also keep the ages of the kids your child wants to invite, in mind. If  the party guests’ age group will be, for instance, in the 3-4 year age bracket, there’s no need to invite little Johny’s  two elder sisters of 9 and 11 as well.

The same goes for your daughter of 12. There is no need for her closest friend’s brother who is 18 and already out of school, to attend her party!

You should also decide if you are going to need help looking after the guests during the party.  If the birthday party is for a toddler, you should really specify that the mother or a grandmother or another adult should accompany this child to the party.

You will be able to give attention to more important things like food and games and not having to keep an eye on the children the whole time.

A good rule of thumb with toddlers is to take their age and just add one and invite no more guests than that. For instance, if your child turns 4,  the most number of guests you would invite would be 5.  The average party guest list is eight children for children over the age of six, so do not feel like you are shortchanging your child by not having more.

As your child turns older, the number of guests would normally become more. However, as you are paying for the party and also have to take responsibility for the guests, you really have the right to decide about the final number of guests.

Don’t invite the whole school or all the children in the neighbourhood just to keep up with the neighbours across the street!  Maybe your son of 13 just wants to “hang out” with one or two of his closest buddies, watching a movie while snacking on some popcorn and talking amongst themselves about the new girl in their class.

A birthday party is after all, all about your child and like I have mentioned quite a few times, talk to him/her and decide together about all aspects of the party including the guest list.

I’m curious… how many children can you comfortably handle when you and your child decide about the birthday party and the number of guests?

Avoid weekend parties:

If you plan a small party for your child, it is best not to have it on a weekend. You will find that the brothers, sisters and even cousins will tag along and you may have to budget for more children than you originally planned for. Friday afternoons [...]]]>

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Avoid weekend parties:

If you plan a small party for your child, it is best not to have it on a weekend. You will find that the brothers, sisters and even cousins will tag along and you may have to budget for more children than you originally planned for. Friday afternoons can be quite a good time to have a smaller party as all the extramural school activities normally run from Monday to Thursday.

However, if you do enjoy huge parties and family gatherings, have the party on a Saturday and enjoy it!

Keep the guest list short:

It is not necessary to invite everyone you or you child can think of. You can limit the guest list to your child’s close friends and family members if they live nearby. Don’t worry if the mother of one of the children not included in the list, feels offended. It is your child’s party and if he or she is not friends with this other kid, let it go. The mother will also get over it in time.

Budget for a venue or entertainer:

If you can afford it, book a party venue of some sort – many times these venues include party food for the kids and would also serve coffee or tea to the adults. All you have to do is to provide the birthday cake and a few snacks for the parents that accompany their children. Another plus point is that entertainment is on site and they also clean up afterward.

If the party is being held at your house, be prepared to keep the kids busy with games or some other form of entertainment. A professional entertainer like a clown or a magician is always a great hit with the kids but if your budget does not allow it, you should have plenty of party games up your sleeve.

You should also be able to move the party inside should weather conditions change suddenly.

Your turn: When do you think is the best time to have a party?

How many guests will you invite?

Where do you think is the best place to have a party? At your house or at a venue?

Remember the time when you realised that there was nobody who could fetch the birthday cake you ordered 4 weeks ago, or what [...]]]>

If you have ever planned a theme party for your child, you would know that it can be a lot of work; the more so when you do not plan everything in advance.

Remember the time when you realised that there was nobody who could fetch the birthday cake you ordered 4 weeks ago, or what about realising that you promised your child a balloon artist and you never got around to booking his services. Imagine the disappointment on your child’s face!

If you have always scoffed at the idea of making lists when you have to plan a party; now is the time to change your whole attitude about checklists. Without a list you can be sure that something will go wrong on the day of the party so begin your checklists the moment you sit down with your kid to plan the birthday party. (At least 4-6 weeks before the actual day of the party).

Use separate pages/lists for each category of the party planning to write down all the things you have to decide upon. (Link opens in a new window)

You should also compile a general list that includes things like extra batteries for the camera, some help on the day of the party, whether it is to help looking after the party guests or to clean up during the party…  just write down things that come to mind that you feel is important regarding your kid’s theme party.

After the initial brainstorming, you can now compile shopping lists for the lists mentioned above, for instance, write down the ingredients you will need if you are going to prepare the party snacks yourself. If you are going to make your own party invitations, make a list of the materials you will need.

It is also good practice to break down all your lists into time lines and keep to it. In this way you can assure that everything goes according to plan:

Here is a good time line to use:

• 3 – 4 weeks before the party
• 2 weeks before the party
• 1 week before the party
• 2 days before the party
• 1 Day before the party
• The day of the party

Something else that will help you to keep organised during the planning of your kid’s birthday party, is to keep all these lists together in a folder. Nothing can send you into a panic attack as fast as a list that has disappeared.

It may seem like a boring and unnecessary task to compile and follow your party planning checklists but parents who host one successful birthday party after another for their kids will tell you that checklists are the secret to these parties.

Don’t let your unwillingness to compile checklists, keep your child’s birthday party from being the success it should be.

The Important First Steps

Today I have to thank Ewan Cambell MacDougall for his great advice on how to use camcorders to record memories of your child’s birthday parties

Guest Post [...]]]>

I have mentioned quite a few times how important it is to preserve the memories of your child’s birthday parties by taking lots of photos and turning them into scrapbooks.

Today I have to thank Ewan Cambell MacDougall for his great advice on how to use camcorders to record memories of your child’s birthday parties

Guest Post by Ewan C. MacDougall:

One of the most fun birthday parties I remember from my own childhood was my 4th. My mother had been able to borrow a video camera from work to make a recording of the day.  Camcorders were not something most people owned then and just the camera’s presence was immensely exciting.

All the children were desperate to record there own birthday message on the tape and to see themselves on the screen; the camera itself was an activity for the children.  We still have the tape now and sometimes when my birthday is coming around again I happen to know my Mum still likes to watch it.

Twenty something years later the cost of this technology has dramatically fallen, and everyone seems to have some kind of device capable of recording video.  Any video of your child as a youngster will become hugely valuable to you as they get older, so making something that you will want to watch again and again shouldn’t be too hard.  However, here are a few tips to make your video extra special.

Planning

When planning your party you should give some thought to making your video.  It’s important you have everything set up and ready before the children arrive, once the party gets started you may not have the chance.

One of the first things to think about is if any of the parents will mind having their child filmed, it may be prudent to ask the parents in advance particularly if you don’t know some that well.

Think about the camcorder accessories you will need and make sure you have them in advance; it can sometimes be easy to forget the obvious things like exactly which drawer you’ve buried the camera cables in, are the camera batteries fully charged, have you got enough recording space on the video or memory card, that kind of thing.

When you plan the location of your party activities try to have some idea of where the camera should go, maybe try framing a few test shots in advance to make sure.  Also make sure there is enough lighting in the area, as a well-lit video will come out in far better quality.

Also consider who will be doing the filming and who will be supervising the party; it’s not always advisable to do both jobs at once.

Party activities with the camera

The novelty of video cameras may be wearing off, but for some children they will still be exciting and could even prove distracting.  The best videos are the ones where the camera is not the centre of attention but in the background recording the action.  If you think keeping the children focused on the party, it could be useful and fun to come up with some activities that let the children interact with the camera early on and get it out of their system.

Video Messages

Let all the children have a chance to be filmed individually.  Have them record their own birthday message for your child, once they know they have  been filmed they may be less interested and better able to focus on the actual party activities.  Your child will also love seeing all their personal messages later and in years to come.  This also gives children a chance to introduce themselves in case they are unrecognisable 20 years later.

Record from the TV

If the camera is an exciting part of the party for your child and many of the guests why not incorporate this.  Most cameras can be connected to televisions, maybe fill some time in between activities by placing the camera on top of the TV and let the children watch themselves play in front of it.  This can be really fun for young children, and capture some great footage.  Just make sure they are supervised well enough not to push into the camera or television set.

Let the children do some filming

If you think the children are mature enough you could let them all have a short turn at filming.  If the camera is mounted on a tripod (lowered to their level) and the children are closely supervised the camera should be fairly safe.  All the child will really be doing is looking through the viewfinder and panning the camera.  However it is advisable to set strict rules on this activity, impose a time limit and insist that only one child at a time uses the camera so that there can’t be any fighting over it.  It is also a good idea to do your own filming in between each child’s turn so that the child who is going next does not get impatient waiting for their friend to finish.

Template Resource: http://www.psdgraphics.com/category/templates/

DVD Thank-You-Notes

Many children will be desperate to see what you are filming; a good way to encourage them to ignore you and take part in the party is to assure them that you will send them a DVD or Video – CD (both of which are now fairly cheap to create) so that they can watch later.

If you want to make these DVDs even more personal, you could have your child record a video Thank-You-Note for their friends and put these at the beginning of the DVD.  This unique kind of  Thank-You-Note will be both more fun your child to create and more interesting for younger recipients to receive.

Technical Tips

There are plenty of detailed tutorial websites that can help you with the technical side of home movie making, but here are a few of the most useful tips for filming a children’s birthday party.

• Use a tripod

Smooth videos look far more professional and are much easier to watch.  Modern cameras may have image stabilization but this is not a replacement for a tripod.

• Light your environment well.

Dark videos will come out grainy and unprofessional looking, make sure you are allowing in as much natural light as possible and turn on any artificial lighting you have available.  If the party can be held out doors this is ideal for lighting purposes.

• Keep the camera still

Although there is room to be creative with the occasional camera pan or zoom, generally it’s best to keep the camera still.  Film something for 9 or 10 seconds and then cut to another angle or activity.  This will help to keep the video interesting and professional looking.

• Edit the video

Videos should be edited; in the future you are more likely to want to watch 20 minutes or highlights rather than attempt to relive the entire party again.  (You can always keep the footage you cut on a separate DVD)  In your edit try to keep shots short.  In most professional productions the shot will change with in 10 seconds.

If you are planning to add any special effects to your video it is best to do this in the editing stage as in camera special effects are normally permanent meaning you can’t change your mind later.

• Make a B-Roll

The filming you do of the actual party is you’re A-Roll. The B-Roll is shots you take separately of things that are not part of the action. If you make a B-Roll you can put footage from this in between cuts from you’re A-Roll.  For example as people are arriving at the party you can cut in shots of the outside of the party location and close ups of party decorations to let people know where it is.  If you are filming party food being served you can put in close-up footage of the food sitting in the kitchen waiting to be bought in.

You can break up long sequences of the children playing with close up footage of birthday cards or gifts.  This all helps to keep the video interesting and professional looking whilst helping you to remember any decorations or food you made.  If you let the children record there own personal messages for the birthday child you should treat this as B-Roll and use them to break up long scenes when you edit.

• Have Fun

The more practice you get making and watching your videos the better they will become, have fun with it, and even if you struggle at first, remember in 20 years time you won’t be watching how smooth your cuts were,  you will be watching how small, unbelievably small, your child used to be.

Author
Ewan Cambell MacDougall has spent several years working with children at Kids Summer Camps.  He currently works in online marketing with several different companies including Sony camcorders

If you are the parent of a child with a food allergy (or any other allergy, for that matter), this can be a [...]]]>

In a few days it will be Halloween again and children in many countries will do the rounds of trick or treat or attend/give parties with lots of candy and other sweet treats.

If you are the parent of a child with a food allergy (or any other allergy, for that matter), this can be a nightmare for you and your child. Should you allow your child to go to a party where he or she is sure to eat foods that can be dangerous to his or her well being or should you turn into this monster mommy by keeping him or her at home while all the other friends are having a good time?

You don’t have to feel bad or alone. According to statistics, one out of every 25 children has food allergies and has to be really careful about what they eat. However, that does not have to keep your child from feeling excluded and missing out on all the fun by not attending parties.

There are quite a few basic things you can bring to the hostess’s attention when your child is invited to a party; the first and foremost is whenever your child is invited to a party, to contact the mother/parents and inform them of your child’s allergies and ask what kinds of food will be served. If there is nothing that your child can eat, why not offer to provide some snacks for the party and arrange with the hostess that she will serve these  snacks to your child? I think that she will be only too thankful not to have to provide extra food for your child amidst all the other party planning issues she has to deal with.

Likewise, if you host the party, you should really make a point of mentioning on the invitations that parents with children who suffer from allergies, should please inform you beforehand so you can make provision for their children as well. If need be, ask them for a list of  “safe” foods and go the extra mile to prepare special snacks for these guests or even ask the mother/s if they would mind preparing some snacks for their children to bring along to the party.

In serving these snacks together with all the other snacks, it can also be a good opportunity to make the other party guests aware of the fact that there are children who are not as lucky as they are in eating ordinary/everyday food.

Let your child  join his/her friends in having a fun-filled Halloween this year…  download your copy of Healthy Halloween as well as Celebrate Halloween even with Food Allergies. Right-click on the link and choose “Save Target As” or “Save Link As” to download and save the files to your desktop or to a preferred folder on your computer.

Happy Halloween

Kids of all ages love to [...]]]>

Birthday party food does not need to be elaborate, just kid friendly, and in some cases, as for toddlers, age appropriate. The theme of your party will play a role in the kinds of food you are going to serve but does not necessarily dictate it.

Kids of all ages love to eat potatoes, so at your next theme party, instead of  buying a few packets of potato crisps,why don’t you make some mashed potato snacks?

This is another of my favourite recipes because you can change the basic mashed potato mixture into many different snacks by adding different seasonings, fillings and coatings. The mixture can also be used as a filling for cold meats. It can also be prepared a day or two before the party and kept in the refrigerator which will add considerably to the time management of your party planning.

How to make mashed potato snacks for a kid’s theme party:

Basic mixture:

-  4-6 large potatoes
-  Salt and pepper or seasoning of choice
-  Mayonnaise
-  Crushed potato crisps

To make:

Peel the potatoes by hand or use an electric potato peeler if you are short on time; add to water in a saucepan and boil until soft  Remove from pan and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes, add salt, pepper and just enough mayonnaise to form a very stiff mixture. Leave to cool.

Form small balls or sausages and roll in finely crushed potato crisps of choice. Store in refrigerator until it is time to serve it.

Tip: Substitute the mayonnaise with cottage or cream cheese.

Ring the changes for different potato snacks:

• Seasoning

-  Aromat (flavoured seasoning salt)
-  Salt and white or black pepper
-  Lemon pepper
-  Celery salt
-  Garlic or onion salt
-  Soup powder of choice (be careful not to add too much to the
mixture as soup powder can make it too salt)

• Add to mixture

- Crushed potato chips
-  Grated Cheddar or cheese of choice
-  Grated onion
-  Finely chopped chives, chopped parsley
-  Finely chopped celery
-  Chopped nuts
-  Fried, crumbled bacon pieces
-  Hard boiled grated eggs

• Fillings:

-  Cheese cubes
-  Ham cubes
-  Gherkin slices
-  Vienna slices
-  Filled olives
-  Small radishes
-  Small cooked mince balls

• Coatings:

- Crushed potato crisps
- Crushed savory biscuits
- Sesame seeds
- Finely chopped nuts
- Finely grated cheddar or Parmesan cheese
- Finely chopped parsley
- Shredded biltong (if available in your country)

Other snack ideas using the mashed potato mixture:

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and pipe onto polony slices. Spoon the mixture onto ham or other cold meat slices. Roll up and secure with a toothpick or tie a chive around it.

To serve as a vegetable side dish, roll the mixture into bigger balls, put into fridge for 30 minutes, roll into beaten egg and dried breadcrumbs. Put back into fridge for 30 minutes to one hour and then deep fry until crumbs are crisp and golden brown.

Idea: If you look at the many different ingredients that can be added to the basic mixture, you should also take the age of your child and the party guests into consideration. Don’t stretch your budget by buying expensive ingredients when your child is still a toddler or a little older, keep to the basic mixture. Tweenies and teenagers will love the more exotic ingredients.

Tip:  When it comes to kid’s party foods, be on the safe side by contacting the parents of the guests and find out if their kids have any food allergies so that you can make special provision for these guests.

Enjoy the mashed potato snacks and remember to have fun planning your kid’s theme party.

All photos © 2007  Elsie van Rooyen

Having their faces painted, allow kids to be turned into whatever character they want to be; comical or fanciful, fairies, pirates, hairy monsters, animals or movie stars, patriots with their country’s flag painted [...]]]>

One of the most exciting and fun activities you can come up with for your kid’s theme party is a face painting session.

Having their faces painted, allow kids to be turned into whatever character they want to be; comical or fanciful, fairies, pirates, hairy monsters, animals or movie stars, patriots with their country’s flag painted on their faces… the possibilities are endless.

Face painting is bound to be a hit among your kid’s party guests and you can easily hire a face painting artist for your kid’s theme party if your budget allows it.

On the other hand, armed with the necessary tools for face paintingand a lot of patience you can easily do it yourself… (The patience is for curbing the kids’ excitement when they have to wait their turn to have their faces painted…lol)

I can hear you protesting now that you are not an artist to come up with the intricate designs that you see on faces  in magazines and on the internet. Neither am I and you really don’t have to be a professional face painter to add some fun to your kid’s theme party.

All you need is some knowledge about buying and using face paints and to have some simple face painting designs that you can use as guidelines.

Young children are cool in that they do not mind about that “perfect” design, as long as they enjoy the face painting session and you share in their fun and excitement, your kid’s theme party will be a success.

In today’s modern [...]]]>

A camera is a device used to take pictures (usually photographs). Some film cameras feature date imprinting devices that can print a date on the negative itself. The first permanent photograph was made in 1826 by Joseph Nicephore Niepce using a sliding wooden box camera made by Charles and Vincent Chevalier in Paris.

In today’s modern world a camera is a device that needs batteries to take pictures and if you do not have one set of charged batteries in the house, you cannot take pictures!

I wanted to show you in this post how easy it is to make your own gift or favour bags from gift paper BUT when I tried to take a few photos this afternoon to post here, I discovered that my camera’s batteries were flat.

Normally that is not a problem because I always have another set of batteries that are charged. Not today!  So the photos (I was going to post a video tutorial) have to wait until a later stage.

I once again realised how important it is to have a checklist when you plan your kid’s theme party.  How awful it would have been if I had to take photos of my granddaughter’s theme party or any other special event today only to discover that flat camera batteries were going to rob me of those precious moments.

I don’t want the same thing to happen to you, so click on the link and grab your free Theme Party Checklist now before you start planning your kid’s birthday party.

Take a look on things to do in the section – 2 Days before Party – and you will see the following: Check batteries for camera AND Buy extra batteries if needed; maybe I should keep this checklist at my side permanently and not only when I plan a kid’s theme party…

Oh yes, before I go… the interesting little story about what a camera is, was found on the following site: http://www.hscripts.com/freeimages/icons/electronics/camera-clipart.php

Have fun planning your kid’s theme party!