Birthday parties are a very important time in the life of a child, and especially for young children. Forget your child’s birthday and you will never live it down. Make a mistake while planning or throwing their party and you are in big trouble. There are so many ways that a birthday party can go wrong. Many parents stress out trying to throw the perfect party for their child and meet a child’s unreasonable demands such as the desire for a real dragon or superhero to show up or their want of an entire fireworks show just for their birthday. These are impossible requests to fulfill so parents can only do their best.
The key is to create a birthday party that your child will enjoy. The best way to create a fun party is to plan carefully and get an idea of what kinds of food, games and music kids like at a party. Another important, but oft overlooked, element of a party is the party favor. I highly recommend putting together goody bags for the kids to take home with them. Brainstorm ideas for goody bag items with your child. Your child knows better than anyone the sorts of things that their friends would like.
Goody bags not only show that you really care about the kids but they convey your appreciation for their coming to the party. They also tend to add excitement to the party which, in turn, increases the fun factor for the birthday boy or girl. An added benefit is that they tend to increase your child’s popularity.
Here are some basic ingredients that every good party goody bag contains:
1.) Good candy. You do not need to get anything particularly extravagant or expensive for the goody bag. Basic, inexpensive candy that they might buy at the local corner store such as dumdum suckers or gum will do.
2.) Stickers. Kids love things like stickers representing their favorite animals, superheros or movie characters. They can decorate their backpacks or school notebooks with them.
3.) Gift certificates to fast food restaurants or to movie theaters. You can get these in denominations as small as a dollar. You can also get refillable gift cards for McDonald’s, as an example.
4.) Some sort of toy. I also recommend some sort of little toy such as a pencil eraser top or maybe miniature dolls for girls and action figures for boys; something with which to remember the party.
5.) A short, hand written note from the birthday child. Have your child write a short, personalized note of thanks to each child; this makes a big difference. A personalized note also shows that you are thinking about them and that you are thankful for their gift.
6.) No goody bag is complete without a cool party bag for all the goodies. Simply giving an old paper bag does not express the sort of sentiment you want at a party. Find a colorful bag, one with a theme to match the party perhaps. There are lots of party bags with images of superheros or cartoon characters on them. If you’re an arts and crafts type and you have time, you might even consider buying plain white bags and decorating them for each child.
Even the idea that each child gets a different bag will make them more excited. They can also re-use the bags after the party. There are in fact many more things that you could put into the bags. Try different combinations and see what the kids like most. For example, if you did an animal themed party, your goody bag could have gummy worms as the treat, a toy animal of some kind and animal stickers all put into an animal print bag.
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