Planning Tips for the Perfect Children's Party

Childrens parties should memorable, magical and above all, lots of fun for the special guests and of course, you! It should be a day full of great memories. However, children's parties can often be stressful and do require planning to ensure success.

We’ve created these handy hints to help you create fabulous parties whilst avoiding potential headaches and heartaches.

1. Set a budget - how much are you willing to spend?
From £50 to a couple of hundred pounds, a few thousand pounds, or even more! This will help you to determine everything from the number of guests to invite to the type of event to hold. You can create a perfectly lovely party on a shoestring. Or you can create an indulgent extravaganza that will have your children and friends talking for years. The Smile High team can offer advice for all budgets.

2. Set the date - weekday or weekend?
If your child’s birthday conveniently falls on a weekend, hold the party on the day of the birthday itself. Alternatively, try to get it the weekend just before or just after. However remember that weekends book up fast, so consider having it during the week after school. Also bear in mind that with more parents working full-time, parties on a weekend can eat into family time. There’s nothing worse than two conflicting children’s parties amongst the same group of friends. Try to find out whether any other parties have already been booked for your preferred date and get your invitations out early! If there is a conflict, you might want to talk to the other parent about sharing a party or discuss moving the date. If your child is under 3, it’s best to have a party that starts at around 10am and finishes by 12. This is usually the period when most toddlers are awake and happy. If your child is over 3, anytime goes but popular times are 11am -1pm, 2 - 4pm or 3 - 5pm.

3. The Entertainment
Themes, activities and entertainers A theme helps tie a party together and differentiates your party from others. It could be as simple as a ‘superhero dress up’ party to a complete transformation of the venue. Put your thinking hat on and ask for your child’s views.

Hiring entertainers might be a good idea but make sure that the entertainment is age appropriate. For example, a magician might be too boring for kids under the age of 8, while a clown might not interest the kids older than 9. If you decided to hire a clown (we hope you did...),  make sure the children are not afraid of the clowns. Generally, you will find that the clowns serving the parties for kids, wear little make up, leaving a lot of skin exposed so the children would not get frightened. You can always ask a clown not to wear any make up and do balloon animals, face paining and so on without being dressed as a clown, although due to scheduling reasons this may not always be possible.

Book your entertainer in advance. And keep in mind, almost everyone wants an entertainer on Saturday or Sunday between 2 PM and 4 PM. By keeping your schedule flexible and booking early, you get better chances of finding a good entertainer.