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Our oldest son is turning eight tomorrow. He wanted to celebrate with his entire class. I don’t know about you, but birthday parties can get really expensive. And, with at least four parties a year for our children’s birthdays (one each!) that can get pricey really fast. Birthdays are important. My family always made our birthdays special growing up and my husband and I both feel it’s really important for our children to have this special day each year. Does it have to break the bank? No.

Let’s look at options.

We have tons of kid friendly birthday themed places to choose from in our city- Houston. But, again, price is an issue. Most places charge per child and inviting an entire class full of kids is a lot. We also like to include siblings, mainly because our kids have so many siblings and it’s always nice (but not necessary) when they are included too.
How about a party at home? They are fun and the kids always really have a great time. I opted “no” on this option this time, because it is a lot of work for me personally and I kind of have a lot already on my plate at the moment.
So, we thought about the park down the street from our house and our son’s school. We could have a party right after school on a Friday afternoon. We went for this option.

Here are the details:
Invite all of the class via evite.com or other web service
Our class list is posted for our class only on our own website run by our classroom mom
I just retrieved the emails from there and pasted them into the evite
Party time: immediately after school on a Friday for 1.5 hours
Serve Pizza (kid choices and parent options) – I ordered locally and asked that it be delivered to the park 15 minutes after the party start time
Pick up cupcakes (we purchased ours from Sam’s Club 30 total -15 vanilla and 15 chocolate)

What to bring:

paper towels (in case it is windy, napkins will fly)
one cooler filled with ice, water bottles & juice bags/boxes
lighter
birthday candle
pizza cutter to make the pieces smaller if necessary
wipes
sanitizer
trash bags (I had these, but they weren’t necessary)

FUN! This was a really fun party for the kids and it was super simple for the parents.

Happy birthday to our very great eight year old boy! We love you!

So, I can’t say I’m an expert in party planning. However, I have hosted four brunches at my house which started right when I arrived (right after church.) And, I’ve definitely learned from mistakes along the way.

When I think about what makes throwing a party easy and fun, it’s always about the preparations. How much can I prepare ahead of time? The more I can do before the party begins, (the day before, preferably) the more I enjoy the party.

Here are the tips from my home to yours:

1. think about your guests, the kind of mood you want to have and set your menu

2. choose a menu that can be prepared almost completely ahead of time

3. choose a menu that will use a variety of colors and look beautiful and appetizing on the table

4. choose beverages and make preparations (ie. preparing the coffee pot so it only needs to be turned on when you arrive or setting the timer

5. set the table with your decorations; tablecloths, flowers, serving items the night or day before

6. have time (ask your husband or a friend to occupy the kids for a while so you can have the necessary time) set aside to cook

7. make as many dishes ahead of time as you can. The menu I chose for this event was:

Ina Garten’s tri-berry muffins

Ina Garten’s easy cheese danishes

Maryana Vollstedt’s brunch bake (a quiche-like egg dish) needed to

heat this dish at the beginning of the party

sides of fresh salsa for egg dish

fresh watermelon (cut ahead of time)

cake (ordered from H-E-B)

orange juice, champagne for mimosas, decaf and regular coffee,

assorted juices, sodas

8. Once the food is on the table, enjoy every second! At this party, I actually ate! Which is a miracle. I’ve definitely come a long way in party prepping!