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If you have children over two years old it is likely that you have experienced the chaos of a kids' birthday party. Pre-planning can help reduce the stress and craziness of the big day. Low Stress Party Planning Checklist • Pick a day and time that works with your family schedule. • Make sure you have enough adults at the party to help out. A good ratio is one adult for every three kids (less if the kids are above five years old). Activity Choice • Plan out two to three age appropriate activities or crafts for the group. Your child will love to be involved in this stage. • Allow time for cake and present opening. One suggestion is to have the kids get started right away with one activity. This will get them focused. • Schedule crafts that involve painting or gluing early in the party. That way they will be dry before it is time to leave. • The last activity should be one that is self-contained. In case you don't have time for the kids to finish it, they can take it home. This can make a great item for the goodie bags. The Party Day • If you choose to have goodie bags, have these made up before the party. Don't forget to put the kids' names on these. Many party places will do these for you. • Stash the bags away in a box or a closet until the very end. It's amazing how quickly these get lost or scattered around. • Scatter the activities. A good party plan suggestion is: one to two activities, cake, another activity, then present opening. • Assign an adult to write down which kids brought which presents. Your child (or you) can use this for thank you notes after the party. • Ask other adults to do specific jobs, such as setting up the cake and candles, or running specific activities. The more you can delegate, the less stressed you will be at the end of the day. • Be flexible. If you don't get to an activity, don't worry. Put it in the goodie bags. After the Party • The worst part of any party is the clean up. Better to get this over with as soon as possible. If you are at It's Play Time!, you get to skip this step. • Don't forget the thank you notes. Finally, If we could offer one suggestion for your next child's birthday, it would be to outsource! At It's Play Time! we have over twenty-five activities including Arts & Crafts, Science, Building and more. Kids can choose from painting animals, birdhouses, wind chimes, tea set or plates, to making race cars, discovering pirate treasure, threading beads, or act as an archeologist uncovering ancient dinosaur bones. Best of all - we do the clean up. We believe the best present your kids will get (besides a fun party) is a less stressed parent and a big hug when everything is done. Contact It's Play Time! at 612-927-play (7529)
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