Our youngest turns four-years old next week, and we’re having his party today after school. Our area is maybe a bit above average when it comes to going over-the-top on parties, although hardly reaching the epic elephant and clown parties held elsewhere. Probably the best kids party I ever missed was for the daughter of John Smoltz when our middle son was three or so. The boys went to a pre-school that also included the children of Smoltz and Greg Maddux among others (and no, this was not an Eastern European academy for the athletically gifted, although…). My wife almost got into a fight with Maddux as she was trying to leave and he was trying to get out of his truck.
Anyways, Smoltz had just had his Tommy John surgery, and his daughter was in our son’s class. The party was at one of those kids gymnastics kind of places, and I got too busy to take him, so my wife went. There was some sort of craft that included painting, which he had no interest in (mostly girls at the party, I think). So as my wife recounted it, he decided to pull Smoltz into one of the foam pits and test his shoulder by jumping and wrestling with him. Had this gone bad for Smoltz, we might very well have quickly relocated to Alaska or Prague to escape the wrath of Braves fans.
We’ve done parties at different locales for the boys (the video game place and the laser tag place among the example). I think the funnest are the ones we wing here at the house ourselves. There are many great websites to help in planning, but here are a couple quick hints for throwing a party for your kids (especially directed at dads!).
- Make it co-ed Probably 95% of the parties our older boys have gone over the last six years have been boy-only parties. I think that’s the easy way out for everyone involved, as locations and themes become much easier if only boys or girls show up. So many activities kids are involved in are boy-only or girl-only, and I’ve always tried to push us to have co-ed parties whenever we can. The kids have fun regardless really, and it’s a good way to broaden your own circle of friends as you invite other parents into the mix.
- DIY parties I’m a big believer in hosting a party at your home and planning everything yourself. It is much more work to do-it-yourself rather than showing up somewhere and plopping down your money for the Birthday Package. I think I’ve been more connected to the birthday experience when I’ve been involved in planning a party. The best party I threw was for our middle son’s 9th birthday. I coerced my wife into inviting girls by telling her I would handle the theme and activities. We invited maybe 12-14 kids, and I put on the Survivorlympics. The kids pulled bandannas from a bag to split into tribes, then I led them through a variety of fairly stupid challenges (bird seed relay where they had to pass birdseed to each other using their bandanna, Grab the Hat where they played musical chairs by running after these totally goofy hats). The goodie bags (the least favorite thing about parties) became a grab bag of all the stupid props we used, including these $1 gigantor leprechaun hats.
- Give them pictures My other best thing about that party was taking photos throughout, firing them into an 11″x17″ poster I’d already designed, then printing them to give to everyone at the end of the party. Very easy (OK, the 11″x17″ requires having a home office with a $5k copier/printer, I realize), and a unique thing to take away.
- Give them free time Just having time to do nothing at a party can often be a great thing, although free time should be sprinkled throughout. You don’t want kids to group up and exclude the uncool kid (especially if that is your child), and you have to be pretty careful about younger kids. A little free time does kids good, though.
More hints later today.
