After years of throwing children’s birthday parties, it can be hard to think of fresh, new ideas and the prospect of yet another birthday with the same old games, decorations and activities can fill parents with dread. Here are some quirky and unusual ideas to help you throw a children’s birthday party with a difference.
Quirky Themed Parties
Themed birthday parties can be a lot of fun and a theme makes organising a party that bit easier as everything can be chosen based on the theme, from music to food to games. The conventional kids’ party themes, such as princesses, cowboys, astronauts and pirates, are popular for a reason and most supermarkets and party shops will stock party goods to fit these themes. Alternatively, you could think outside the box and choose a quirky theme. Choose a shape, such as ‘circles’, and have circular food items, iced circles on cakes and cupcakes, polka dot tablecloths and tell guests to come wearing spots or polka dots. You could also simply choose a colour such as pink or green and have everything be that colour; food dye can turn icing and other baked goods the desired colour and you can specify in invitations that all guests must wear your colour of choice!
Seasonal Parties
A seasonal party is another interesting take on the conventional children’s birthday party. In the summer months, for example, you could hire a bouncy castle for the back garden and organise a water balloon fight. In autumn, you could decorate the house with pumpkins, butternut squashes, nuts and ‘bouquets’ of yellow, red and brown leaves.
A Girls’ Night Party
For a girl’s birthday party, you could organise a ‘grown-up’ girls’ night and turn your house into a spa for the evening. You can buy cleansing face masks cheaply in most pharmacies and if you provide a few bottles of nail varnish in different colours, the girls could do one another’s nails. Set up cushions and blankets on the sitting room floor so that when the girls are done being pampered, they can all lie down and watch a film. You could even serve them juice with ice in fancy glasses to make them feel extra special.
An Eco-Friendly Party
Why not be eco-friendly when planning your child’s birthday and enlist your children to help you make handmade invitations from old magazines and newspapers? You could also make decorations with painted old newspaper and other scrap paper.
Parents are sure to be impressed by your innovative ideas when they drop off their kids at the birthday party – you could even set a new trend for quirky kids’ parties in your neighbourhood!
This article was written by professional party planner Sheila O’Byrne on behalf of a leading provider of bouncy castles Dublin.