Birthdays are a big deal!
Especially to children. You have to make the day all about them. (Ok, when you have multiples, they have to share their day, however, you still need to make the day all about however many kids are sharing that birthday.)
When planning a successful and memorable birthday, having twins actually works in the parents favor!
(Savor it, it doesn’t happen often.)
During their life, you find yourself paying double everything else, including college and braces. Birthdays, on the other hand, you can go all out and you technically save money since you don’t have to go all out TWICE. Even if you have a boy/girl twins. They may not agree on a theme but would likely both like bouncy houses or Chuck E. Cheese. (But more on themes later) I’m going to share some tips and tricks to make a successful birthday party but also ways to amp up your parties to make them more memorable! TIPS ON CREATING A SUCCESSFUL BIRTHDAY PARTY 1. Cupcakes Cutting up a cake is messy. And time-consuming. Those kids at your parties are impatient and will want that cake immediately! What better way to do that than to let them just reach up and grab a cupcake? This lets you do a few different flavors to satisfy multiple kids’ tastes as well. You could do a smaller cake for the adults to accompany the kids’ cupcakes, so you can have a say in flavor too!
2. Opening Presents If your party is not at your house, you should never open presents during the party. Other kids will get bored, and you’ll likely lose something. If you’re at your house? You probably should still avoid opening the gifts during the party. Again, your party is filled with kids, and they’ll be getting bored. Some will have no interest whatsoever, while others will be right up on your kids while they’re opening the gifts, making it virtually impossible to get good pictures. 3. Thank You Cards Buy a pack of “Thank You” Cards and put one with each present. When they open a present, help them quickly fill out a card before moving to the next present. This helps you actually get the thank you cards done but also helps you remember who gave which gift. 4. Activities Activities come in many styles and budgets. They can be as simple and cheap as pin the tail on the donkey, sack races, or piñatas. Or as complex and expensive as renting bouncy houses and slides. Activities keep the kids active and happy and helps create fun memories with their friends. The activities can play into a party theme and/or can double as goodies in the goody bag too. I remember one party I took my boys to where the activity was making a tie-dye shirt which they got to take home as their “swag”.
Speaking of goody bags… 5. Goody Bags So you’re having a birthday party for your young kids. Their friends are coming and are also young… To avoid boredom or jealousy (and possibly pitch-in on creating the “growing problem” I keep hearing about where kids only understand instant gratification..but I digress) goody bags make kids happy, and don’t have to be extremely costly. WAYS TO AMP UP A BIRTHDAY PARTY 1. Themes Kids jump at the chance to have themed parties. Much of what’s in this list actually potentially falls into subcategories of themes. Decorations? Build it into the theme if you have one. Hand crafted cake? Theme. Special Guest Star? Theme again! Whether it’s superheroes, Star Wars, Barbie, Paw Patrol, or pirates, there are supplies to be found!
Party City, Walmart, Target and so on all have party aisles with themed party supplies. Oriental Trading Company is another good source online or by catalog. These all have your plates, napkins, cups, table cloths and so on. But, as said above – what do you do when you’ve got a boy and a girl? Or a boy-boy or girl-girl that just don’t agree on which theme to have for their birthday party? What works for me is inception. I take them to a popular movie or watch a show they both like, and it becomes a family thing. We talk about it and laugh about it. So, when it comes time to start thinking of a party theme and ideas start flying, I say “you know…we could do a theme on that movie or that show…” And, the kids jump on it! If you still have holdouts and simply must mesh two themes together, you could try compromise. Superhero themes could easily cover Superman and Wonder Woman. Or, you could literally make a spectacle of it and have 2 themes interwoven. Barbie tablecloth, Superman centerpiece. If nothing else, it starts a conversation among party-goers and creates funny memories. 2. Kids Helping on Homemade Decorations Not everything in this list has to be expensive. Craft out the decorations. Then, you not only have decorations , but a fun activity beforehand that the kids can take part in. The kids will also be able to show pride that they made the decoration when people get there. For a Minecraft theme, we made a giant cardboard Creeper and a Ghast that hung from the ceiling to “fly”. 3. Hand-Crafted or Otherwise-Special Cakes The birthday cake is the centerpiece of the party. Because if this, it should be special. You can order special cakes with pictures on them, which is already a step up from the bakery cake at your local grocery store. You can also make a special cake with your own hands and love. I bet you just hesitated right? “Uh…I don’t think my cake would come out very well.” You’d be surprised. First of all, it isn’t as hard as you may imagine. Second, when you’re frosting the cake, the frosting really allows for AND covers a lot of mistakes! Conflict with the cupcake tip above? Maybe. Or you could get creative, making the small cake for grownups and the cupcakes fit together to make an overall themed dessert. 4. Special Guest Stars This, of course, works in very well with a theme. Batman party? Invite batman. Harry Potter party? Bring a magician. You can usually find local performers fairly easily. You could also check here to do some really specific searches.
5. Destination Parties Expensive. Yes, but memorable. As I mentioned before, this is one realm where having twins works in your favor! Other parents take one kid to Chuck E. Cheese…and then four months later, the other kid wants to go too. They pay twice! Parents of multiples finally catch a break!
It doesn’t all have to be Chuck E. Cheese though. You can get really creative with these.
There are bounce house places.
Trampoline places.
Pool parties.
Escape Rooms.
Bowling.
Roller Skating.
Camping.
Movie Theaters.
You can really tone it down, and just go to a local park and rent a park shelter. There really is a fun place for most everyone and each age level! Either way, simply putting effort into your child’s birthday parties will not go unnoticed by your little ones. They’ll have fun and feel the love!
Be sure to check out our other parenting advice.