Keep the guest list short:
It is not necessary to invite everyone you or you child can think about. 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.
Time the invitations:
A child’s birthday party invitations can safely be send out two weeks before the party. People tend to forget and the invitation can get lost amongst other letters if you send it out earlier. State the time the party start and end clearly on the invitation. That way people will know not to overstay their welcome.
Don’t expect everybody on the list to let you know that their child/children will attend the party. It is good practice to phone the ones that have not responded to find out if they will attend so that you can cater more accurately.
If parents drop off their children for the party, remind them about the time they must pick up the children again or else you will have a few tired, grumpy kids on your hands until the parents eventually remember to pick them up.
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!
[...] to have a party here at my site and in the process (because they did not know how to properly plan a theme party…) they messed up [...]
[...] face it, with all the things that go into the planning of a birthday party for your child, tempers can flare up unexpectedly and before you realise it, the mother of all [...]