Landon's 5th Birthday Party

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Overall Landon's 5th birthday party was a fun afternoon. 
But it was also crazy!
14 five-year old boys, 3 three-year olds and one little brother (who actually retreated to his bed to escape the chaos) = a crazy good time.

Hosting our first drop-off party was a learning experience.
For those Mama's out there a year or two behind me I want to share some of my Dos and Donts so you don't make the same mistakes I did.

DO
- Use Paperless Post for invitations. Their free e-cards are really cute, simple to design, and free.

-Do have a "Favorite's Thing" theme. Instead of having to scour Pinterest for the perfect Pirate Party favor bags and cake topper just let your preschooler choose all their favorites. A Turbo cake, Ninja Turtle napkins, Lego plates, a Lighting McQueen jump house, etc. This makes party favors especially easy - anything goes! (We did pool-noodle light-sabers.)

- Have the party on a Sunday afternoon. Then your entire weekend isn't overtaken by the birthday party.

- Have activities planned! At the last minute I assumed we might need more things to do than just a jump-house. Thank goodness I had that forsight. Without a few fun games for the kids we would have been seriously up-a-creek. We decorated Easter bags, did an egg hunt, a water balloon toss, and played Freeze Dance.

- Have a dance party. It's amazing.

- Employ help. I hired two 11 year old boys from church to come be my helpers. I paid them in Patagonia gear and they were worth every tee-shirt. RJ and I couldn't have done it on our own - or even with a few other parents present. We needed those two young men to do all the little tasks that 5 year olds won't wait for - hunt Easter eggs, fill water balloons, scoop ice cream, etc.

- Do have the bounce house come early so your family can enjoy it before the other party guests arrive.


DON'T

- Do not ask your birthday boy/girl who they want to invite. They will rattle off every friends they're ever known. Tell your little parties, "You may have 8 friends. Which 8 friends do you most want to come to your party?" and then don't worry about hurting feelings. You have to stay sane. (Major lesson learned.)

- A birthday party is not a great place for a first play date. I found the kids most difficult to harness were the ones I didn't really know - friends from school who hadn't had a play date at our house yet. They didn't really know me and I didn't really know them and with 16 other little people running around it's not the best time for "get-to-know-yous." 

- 2 hours is plenty long enough. Don't have a 3 hour drop-off party!

- Don't forget to take photos! I got a few but i wish I had a designated photo taker for the entire party.


We only allow our kids a birthday party every-other-year (the off years we do something as a family like the zoo or even Legoland), so I'm not looking to have another drop-off party for at least two years, but when I do I'm feeling much more prepared!

Do you have any tips or tricks to add?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

We are going to have our first drop off party in June, I'm nervous. lol. I think we are going to have 8 little 6/7 year olds for an almost sleep over. Great idea about hiring some kids to help and getting a designated picture taker. It looks like he had a great party!

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