How To: Throw a Toddler Birthday Party

My “How To” segments aim to make your life easier in any way possible. This first instalment is all about throwing a toddler’s birthday party.

I absolutely loved planning Mia’s 1st birthday last year. Although on the actual day, I have to admit was super stressful. I was so worried about everything. Is there enough food? Are the drinks out? Is everyone having fun? Is the music on? Are the kids having fun? Am I talking to everyone? Is anyone taking photos! Well if you have thrown a birthday party, I am sure all of these thoughts run through your head on the day. Even though I was so happy that we threw the birthday party, at the same time I collapsed on the couch that day and thought to myself “I can’t possibly do that again next year…” and well here we are a year later and I did it again. But this time, I got some help along the way.

Here is my step-by-step guide for all you Mummas with toddlers wanting to throw a birthday party.

1. Get a theme

Ok, so obviously this is NOT a must-have, but I love themed parties. I feel like it gives me some direction on what kind of party I want and the decorations I need. I actually try and theme the invite, decorations, cake, lolly bag, outfit and entertainment on the day. Now theming doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune. There are plenty of stores that sell cheap themed party ware and invites and if you don’t have something specific in mind, then just have a look at what’s cheap or on sale and then use that as your theme. My favourite bargain party stores would have to be:

• The Reject Shop
• Big W Party Store 
• Discount Party Supplies
• Spotlight
• eBay

2. Get an invite

I trawled the internet endlessly trying to find an Alice in Wonderland invite that I liked. I finally came across one on eBay and the price was so reasonable compared to others I came across. It was customisable and I ended up paying $1 per invite plus free postage and the invite also came along with magnets that you apply to the back of the invite, which I found super handy. I really loved this invite and it set the scene for the party as I continued to use the blue and white theme when it came to table ware.

3. Get decorations

Now at this point is when I was fortunate enough to come across Fly by Fun. This is a children’s entertainment company that can provide everything and anything you need for a party (minus food!) but the rest they can do, and did do for us. Which leads to me saying this right now – they alleviated ALOT of the stress that I faced first year round, plus they were amazing when it came to setting up and styling the party in the theme of Alice in Wonderland.

The first photo pictured below is the table I styled for the adults and which would hold snacks and lunch. I bought my blue and white partyware plates, serviettes, cups and straws from The Reject Shop. The balloons was a gift from Mia’s Godmother’s fiancee.

The other two images was the set up from the party stylist from Fly By Fun. They brought the tables and chairs for the kids and set up all the table ware for them. It was absolutely adorable! They also provided costumes for the kids to dress up in as part of the entertainment. It was fantastic!

4. Get food and drinks

I learnt my lesson from last year, and we ended up with too much food. I’ve been to several kiddie parties now and realise that I don’t even eat that much. It is lunch after all. So this year we made things easier on ourselves. We decided on easy, quick to make food. We had a total of 50 guests so we decided to make hot dogs. We bought the hot dogs and buns from good ol’ Aldi. We also grabbed tomato sauce and mustard sauce from them. I can attest to the fact that they are cheaper than Coles or Woolies. And then all we did was cooked some onions on the day and our hot dogs was an absolute hit with adults and kids alike. We also decided to order some chicken from Il Pollo which is delicious. They cut the chicken up into 8 pieces ready to serve and we made two salads to go with the chicken. And that was it! All our snacks and drinks we grabbed at The Reject Shop. Again we found they were cheaper when it came to buying chips and bottles of soft drinks.

5. Get entertainment

So what do you do with the kids when they come to a party? Well at Mia’s first birthday I didn’t really worry about it because most of the kids were around 1 so they were only crawling. We had organised an inflatable pool and filled it with plastic balls and the kids pretty much stayed there playing the whole time. Now that Mia and her friends are a bit older, I knew that they needed some sort of entertainment and this is where Fly By Fun delivered immensely. They have a range of entertainers for any theme or interest that your child is into. They luckily had an Alice and Mad Hatter to attend Mia’s birthday. They were superb. For 1.5hr they had the kids complete attention as they played games, balloon twisting, prizes, music, dancing and every kid LOVED the glitter tattoo. Mia still can’t stop staring at hers. The greatest joy was watching each parent get involved as they loved seeing their children’s reaction to the entertainers and the happiness the kids had when they got to play games. I highly recommend getting a children’s entertainer. It brought such happiness to see Mia having a ball and enjoying it with her other friends.

 

5. Get cake

I can’t even tell you how in awe I was when I first saw the cake, and I have to thank Fly By Fun for organising such a gorgeous cake as they are the ones who ordered the cake for the party. Seriously no words. The actual cake itself tasted amazing as well.

 

6. Get ‘thank you’ bags

I call them ‘thank you’ bags because when it was Mia’s 1st birthday, I thought it was a waste to put together a lolly bag, when most of the kids were young and not at that age where they were eating lollies. So instead I had bought a bunch of plush giraffe toys off eBay, and gave them to the kids as a thank you for coming. This year because we used Fly By Fun, they organised a candy buffet which included the most gorgeous lolly jars for all the kids to take home. The set up was just AH-mazing and it was the first thing people saw when they walked through the door so it really gave it that ‘wow’ effect.

 

 

7. Get an outfit

I love dressing up Mia. Given the theme, I wanted to put her in a pretty dress and I came across this gorgeous dress by Ted Baker. And those pretty little ballet shoes was such a bargain find that I managed to grab at Aldi! And they were super cheap.

 

8. Get to the party

Yes! You are ready to party. Just some other tips:

• Photos. If you are too busy to take photos, then hand your camera over to someone else. I always give my camera to my Dad because he loves taking photos.
• Music. Have some music in the background. Organise a portable speaker to make it easier on you.
• Enjoy. My lesson from organising Mia’s 1st birthday party, was that I didn’t get to enjoy it as much because I was so frazzled about things going perfectly and that all our guests were happy. What matters is that your child is happy and to enjoy the day with them. Everything else will just fall into place, and if hiccups happen along the way, then oh well. Your birthday girl or boy wouldn’t have a clue and at the end of the day…its their day.