I have recently planned and hosted a party for Archie’s 4th birthday and have been asked some questions by other parent’s doing the same. I thought I would write a post on this as it’s also handy for when I do them again in the future.
The first thing I did was book the hall as once that is booked you have a date and a venue which helps if you are booking mascots or bouncy castles etc. You can then also send out invites! We went for a hall which already had a bouncy castle , disco and music. We the booked the mascots and face painter from a separate company.
Theme
Once you have a theme in mind which is usually whatever your little one is in to , in our case it was Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. Have a search around for party accessories , the best places are Amazon , Ebay , Poundland and Wilko. I got the plates , cups , napkins and tablecloths all from Wilko they were quite reasonable. Poundland have a range of character partyware too – I have seen my little pony , frozen , paw patrol in store and also unicorn , princess and pirate and if you don’t have a theme they have standard Happy Birthday printed items too.
Party bags
I’m not a fan of the plastic handle party bags as they never fit all items in and things fall out easily when storing and transporting. I always go for the paper bags which I buy from Amazon , they come in loads of different colours. I then buy thank you for coming to my party stickers to seal the bag , you can get these personalised and with characters too. Here is an example.
What goes in to the party bag?
- Bubbles
- Mini pack of Haribo
- A flump
- Stickers which I buy from Amazon
- Tattoos
- Party favours these can be bought in Poundland or Wilko – for example I bought princess wands , pirate patches , cars , rubbers , crayons – there is so much out there you can choose to put in
Food – What and how much
Based on 22 children and at least one parent with each or maybe two and other family members I had invited.
- Sandwiches – I went for ham , cheese and tuna mayo. I used the Toastie Warburtons loaves which are slightly bigger. I used 4 loaves and cut these in to four triangles each time. I did a loaf and a half of tuna and a loaf and a half of ham then just one loaf of cheese
- Sausage rolls – I bought the frozen mini ones you cook in the oven and cooked 80 these were from Iceland
- Mini sausages – I bought 3×20 frozen sausages from Iceland
- Mini pizzas – I bought 2×18 from iceland but you could buy say for example 4 normal pizzas
- Cheese – I cut up a large block of cheddar in to cubes and filled two bowls with it – you could add pineapple if you prefer
- Spring rolls – I bought 20 veg and 20 meat bought these in Iceland and aldi
- Crisps – I bought 6 large party packs – I went for things like cheese puffs , cheese savoury biscuits , prawn shells and salt and vinegar twirls – supermarket own brand alwyas have a variety
- Chocolate fingers – 4x boxes of milk and white
- Party ring biscuits – 4x packets
- Fairy cakes – 3×12 supermarket fairy cakes
- Angel layer cake and Swiss roll – cut up and put on to plates
- Humus dips x 2
- Carrot batons and cucumber on a plate to dip
- Chicken nuggets – 2×30 packs
Obviously you can add more or have less than this , these seem to be the party favourites that I went with. We did have a little bit leftover , but I would rather have leftovers than not enough. It was a fab buffet enjoyed by all children and parents, I think I spent around £70 on food. Also always check for allergies and have an alternative , ensure that the alternative does not touch the other plates of food. I had one gluten free guest and made up a plate beforehand.
I had the cake made by an amazing lady I know – but there are alternatives such as Supermarket cakes , Asda have some fab ones , also you can make your own.
Party games
- We did good old pass the parcel which I wrapped a mini chocolate bar for each child to win something. I had a craft tub as the last main prize. The children loved playing and got so excited to see who was going to win
- There are loads more you can play if you have the time , a quick search on google will bring loads up
Mascots and face painters
We used Characters N Co who I cannot recommend enough. The costumes were amazing and so professionally made. The turtles themselves interacted with the children , danced with them and even got on the bouncy castle with them. They made the party! The gentleman in charge was fab and so professional , they also provided a face painter and she was incredible so good with the children and the designs were great. Obviously these were local to us but a google or Facebook search will bring up the ones in your area.
This post is in no way sponsored just to help out some fellow party parents.