Toddlers' Birthday Parties

I found it such a big stressful event each time until this year.  All our friends and us got caught up the "big party" thing where you spend hundreds of dollars on getting a jumping castle, or clown or some paid entertainment, putting out party food for the kids,

1.  We had to address the expense of the parties

2.  I hate it when the kids go to a party and just gorge themselves on crap, then cant fit a proper dinner in, and as my son reacts badly to colours, I try to stick to healthy or homemade foods.  He might have fun at the party but when his behavioural reaction surfaces, it's not pleasant for him or the rest of the family.

We decided, this year is for old fashioned, parties for my 3 year old and son turning 5.  Just a few kids, only, for 1 and half hours and I would do all the parties and just make a coffee for the mums on arrival, leaving me free for 1 solid hour of entertaining the kids, game after game after game.

Food

For food, I did a "picnic snack pack bag" so we had a picnic on a rug outside.  Each child had a bag, with

1 popper

1 arrowroot biscuit with icing and face made out of lollies

1 small natural confectionary packet of lollies which is sealed anyway that mum would have to open

1 small fairy cake

This way, each child didn't gorge themselves and as it was afternoon tea time, would have been not too much more than they would usually have.  They ate on arrival at 3.30pm so not too close to dinner.  All food preparation could be done ahead of time and NO MESS TO CLEAN UP!

Games/Entertaining parents and kids

Games were all fairly standard, but they kids were young enough, they either know all the games and like them or didn't know any different.  We had some games that the winner won a prize and some that were just for fun.  It doesn't have to be a competition every time, parties are meant to be fun.  As I only had the mums to entertain, I could just focus solely on the kids, which I couldn't do at the big parties. 

Then after games we had cake and fruit and the mums had a coffee and a chat together, while the kids played freely til home time around 5.30pm. 

Keeping the group small meant that mums that didn't know each other had a chance to chat to the others and it was only an hour they had to wait for my attention, whilst they had a drink and biscuit/cheese etc.

Party Supplies

I refuse to pay $5 for 5 plates just because they are buzz lightyear or lightning mcqueen or some other licensed product!  Sorry to sound so stingy, but it does blow out your costs. This year, I found pictures of Strawberry Shortcake (just do a google search on any image and you'll be surprised at what you find!) and then loaded them onto a lolly bag design which I also found on google search and downloaded into Publisher, then printed the lolly bag onto photo paper and put them together.  Yes , took a little time, but the personal touch was there.  Actually, I couldn't even find Strawberry Shortcake party supplies!

For the picnic bags, I used popcorn packets and stuck a picture of Strawberry shortcake on the outside, and the food was easily prepared and bags filled up before they all got there.

Lolly Bags Contents

I usually only put 1 lollypop in and put a fun pen and little notebook or gimicky game, stickers, anything but food in the lolly bags!  For really young parties, or for babies, I just put a small baby-hand sized ball in - babies dont care about this sort of thing! 

My husband and I used to hide the lolly bags and end up eating them ourselves which is not good either and the kids do look for them now so we dont do it now.

For some kids, lolly bags are just a disaster - my son is one of those kids.  He's so lovely, but add colours and too much sugar, it's like Jekyll and Hide.  Be considerate with your lolly bags and party food.  It can be healthy and still fun.