SETTING UP PARTY FOOD AND DECORATIONS
By now you have decided on the date and time, you have planned your budget, decided on the theme you are going to use, sent out all of the invitations, hired your planner (or requested some helpers), and planned the activities and games for your child’s party.
Now we are going to talk about how to set the stage for your party. This is the decorating part.
If you choose to add some balloons you can create a fun and festive atmosphere with balloons and streamers, you can buy these to go with your theme or even just use the same color as your theme.
Check out some of our previous parties for some custom decoration inspo.
The best way to use balloons is to hang them in groups or bunches. Placing them in areas like doorways, light fixtures the curb and whenever possible curling the ends of the string are a great idea and create a more visually appealing decoration.
The games and activities portion of the party is ready to begin after everyone has arrive and everyone is comfortable. This is the perfect time to start your planned activities for the theme of the party. If you have chosen a party package from your local party planner like the high tea party for example, your hostess would set up the area and during this portion, the hostess would introduce the games and the party would begin. Plan for this portion of the party to be about 45-60 minutes, in the case of a party planner event the party can last up to 2 hours.
If you plan to fill balloons with helium, wait until it is closer to the party, the morning of or the day before to ensure that your balloons float as they should.
When you add streamers have fun, using streamers is a great way to add an array of colors for your party room with just a few simple steps.
First step is to gather 6-8 steamers and attach them to your walls, and then what you do is you twist them and if possible attach them to the ceiling (preferably in the center of the room.)
Now you want to focus your attention of table decorations, these decorations are best when placed around the birthday cake, or if needed on the food table. What you do is you lay out a themed table cloth to protect your table as well as set the stage. If you don’t have a themed table cloth you can use a bed sheet or inexpensive piece of cloth. The choice is yours.
Cut some curling ribbon and curl it, lay the curls along the table and in front of each guest’s place setting. If you have your party planner there already, your hostess will be setting up this part but you are welcome to join in if you would like or you can leave that to your hostess while you make sure your child is dressed and ready for their party.
Specialty decorations can be a fun addition to your party. If you have some of your child’s toys that match the theme you can move them around the house and place them in various places to create a more theme like feel in your home.
Your party planner will help set up the party area for you so you don’t have to worry about that part, if you want to decorate outside of the party area you can enlist some helpers and make it a fun activity that you can all do together.
When you have your party you will want to have party food. Whenever possible stick with your theme, ask your party planner for suggestions on how to do this and have fun with it but keep it simple.
Serve kids what they like and they will be happy. Fruit and veggie trays are fun and most kids like them so you can serve that with confidence, some other options would be pizza, sandwiches, hotdogs, etc.
Keeping in mind that for children nothing is better than good old fashion finger food, cheese and crackers, fruit, veggies, and dips are great and they work very well. If the children are younger avoid choking hazards.
Remember the drinks, juice boxes are a good idea, but if you have a lot of children you may want to make punch in a bowl or you can even offer ice and a variety of drinks that the child or parent can choose from. Be sure to remember the water, having water available as an alternative to drinks is very important to ensuring that every child has a beverage available to them.
When you plan your food items ahead of time, this makes it easier for you when it is time to prepare the food. This way, you can have some things done in advance and leave yourself time to take care of other thing. If you don’t have the time or money for the food, whatever you do, make sure there is room for the cake.
The cake is the most important part of the party and the part that the children especially will remember so make sure that if all you have are some pretzels in a bowl and a fruit and veggie tray that you have at the least a nice party cake.
