If you’ve planned a birthday party before, you know how overwhelming it can be. Creating a timeline and breaking it down into smaller tasks will make the process easier. This quick guide will help you determine when to accomplish each party, making the process easier than ever.
Two Months Before Your Party
- Talk to your child about what theme they want for their party. Start thinking about how you can incorporate their theme into your decorations, cake, party favors, and other little details to make it all flow together.
- Set your date.
- If you aren’t hosting the party at your house, book a venue and entertainment. There are several options in our area.
- Order your invitations or get supplies to make your own. Paper invites not your thing? Download the Punchbowl app and send a personalized birthday invitation.
- Establish a budget.
- Create your guest list.
- Start shopping for presents.
One Month Before Your Party
- If you haven’t already, get your invitations from a local party store.
- Put your invites together and fill them out. Once you have included all the information (party’s start and end time, contact number, address and directions, and the theme) it is time to get them in the mail.
- If your child still takes a nap, you should plan around that. If so, their friends are probably still in the napping phase too. Consider hosting the party either in the morning or last in the afternoon to ensure the party is a hit.
- Get your party supplies. Shop for decorations or the stuff you need to make them. Purchase your party favors. Getting this done early allows you plenty of time to order things online if necessary.
- Order your cake if you have not already. Local bakeries often book months in advance.
Two Weeks Before Your Party
- Purchase or make your party favors.
- Determine what food you are planning to serve.
- If you have small children, you might ask a relative, family friend, or babysitter to watch your children the morning of the party. This will allow you more time to bring your visions to life and as you finalize all the little details.
- Choose what games and activities you want to have at the party. Gather the supplies you need for them.
One Week Before Your Party
- Reach out to those you invited who have not yurt RSVP’d.
- Create a party agenda. Use our 2-hour agenda at the bottom of this article for help.
- Contact the venue and/or entertainment, if you booked either of those.
- Ask your birthday kid if they want to donate some of their old toys to a local charity. This is a nice way to help out those who may not get to have nice toys and to make room for new ones.
Two Days Before Your Party
- Go shopping for groceries and prepare the menu items that won’t go bad.
- Wrap presents.
- If you are ordering food, like pizza, now is the time to call and place your order.
- See if your neighbors or friends can watch you pets while the party is going on. This tends to make things easier and can be beneficial for guests that might be allergic to or fearful of them.
- Purchase any party supplies you still need: plates, cups, napkins, dinnerware, candles, etc.
One Day Before Your Party
- Make sure your camera and video camcorder are charged and ready to go.
- If you are showing a movie, go ahead and rent it.
- Clean your party area.
- Decorate if you can.
- If your party spot won’t be bothered between now and the time of the party, set the tables, set up party games, and get out your servers that you can fill with food right before the party starts.
- Make your cake or confirm a pick up time with your baker.
The Morning of Your Party
- Confirm Your food delivery or other food arrangements.
- Finish preparing the foods you are making.
- If you choose to have someone watch your kids at this time, go ahead and drop them off with the sitter so you can focus on getting everything together.
- Drop your pet off at your friend or neighbor’s house, if you planned to do so.
- Pick up your balloons and cake.
- Finish decorating your party area.
- Finish setting up games and other fun activities.
- Get out your party favors.
- Put a sign in your yard or tie balloons on your mailbox to make your house easier for guests to find.
Right Before Your Party Begins
- Pick up your children, if they are still with a sitter.
- Get out food and drinks.
- Turn on some good music.
- Set out the birthday candles and matches or lighter so that you are searching for them when everyone is ready to sing the birthday song.
- Put your camera and camcorder where they can be easily accessed.
- Get out a pen and notepad so you can write down which gifts were given and from who. This makes writing out thank you cards much easier.
- Take some pictures of your hard work. You’ll like having memories of the decorations and the cake before guests arrive.
The 2-Hour Party Agenda
0:00-0:15: Guests Arrive
0:15-0:30: Everyone eats foods
0:30-0:50: Play games or complete activities
0:50-1:10: Time to open presents
1:10-1:30: Sing happy birthday, blow out candles, and eat cake
1:30-2:00: Free play and say goodbye to guests
After the Party
- Clean up your house or the venue.
- Return rented equipment or wait for it to be picked up by the company.
- Settle any existing bills with venues or entertainment companies.
- Put away gift bags that you can reuse– good way to recycle and save money.
- Toss gift wrap and recycle what you can, such as paper or cardboard.
- If your child is able, have them write and send out thank you cards within a week or two. If not, do so on their behalf. It is always fun and appreciated to send a picture of your child playing with each guest’s gift. It shows how appreciated their present was.
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