Mom Fuse » Party Planning

The Secret To Creating Fantastic First Birthday Memories

Jessica Fuqua — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:50:21 +0000

The day has arrived, quicker than you could ever imagine, your baby’s first birthday! You want to make this first celebration of life fun, significant and memorable for both your little one and your guests, but how? We suspect you still find it challenging to shower and dress by noon, let alone plan an elaborate complicated party.

Your baby’s first birthday should be a day more about fun and celebration and less about stress for Mom, so we’re going to give you a few ideas to create affordable, unique, once-in-a-lifetime party memories in a snap – and free-up more time to clean-up the mountainous piles of diapers, wipes tubs, toys, and peas splattered on the wall next to the high chair before your guests arrive!

Picture/video montage

Chances are you went and purchased a digital camera sometime ‘round week 13. Admit it – you have a ton of pictures on your camera that you haven’t yet uploaded, right? Now is the time!

• Check the software that came with your camera;
• Use pictures from birth to present;
• Add your favorite tear-jerker songs and let it run during the party on your PC!
• Or a create a DVD for playing on your television!

If you want to get really ambitious use some cute font from your word processing software, insert your favorite picture, and print out “CD covers” to create additional CDs or DVD’s for your guests to take home. If you need help a quick Google search will give you some great pointers.

Framed “Guest Book”

Let your guests write “guest book” entries on a canvas and create a piece of art your baby can keep for a lifetime. Any craft store will sell art canvases (those for acrylic paints work best) you can use for this project. The same store will usually have open wooden frames (no glass) that fit the canvas size you choose.

• Decide on your color scheme: dark blue and silver, dark red and gold, or light pink and purple, for example.
• For the background, choose any of the multitude of acrylic paints (Hint: The most expensive isn’t necessarily the best; you shouldn’t pay more than $5 per tube for this project, and one larger tube will paint a large canvas.).
• Select one or more paint pens and choose colors that will show up well against the background.
• Allow your guests to write a message to the baby with the paint pens on the canvas as they arrive.

After the party, use the wooden wedges provided with the canvas, place the canvas in the frame, and with a few whacks with a hammer you have professional looking framed art!

Life Predictions Scrapbook

At the same craft store, go to the scrap booking section. Before you do this however remember that you could seriously go nuts, so unless you want to spend a chunk of Junior’s college fund we suggest picking a theme and keeping it to a couple items.

• Choose some great looking card stock paper and a blank scrapbook (Hint: You may be able to find cheaper scrapbooks at the dollar store and make sure you check out the clearance section at the craft store.).
• You can get some additional decorating accessories in this section if you want to jazz up the pages a bit.
• You’ll need scissors and Tacky Glue later.
• Cut the paper into note card sized pieces and hand them out to your guests. (Hint: Use the paint pens but make sure they have something underneath the paper when they’re writing.)
• Ask your guests to predict what the baby will be later in life, either their personality, job, anything they want to say.
• Encourage them to have fun with it – and make sure they sign their names!

After the party, glue the notes into the scrapbook. It will be a blast to go back and read the notes 17 years later!

First Birthday Time Capsule

A final idea is to ask each of your guests to bring one inexpensive item to add to a time capsule to be opened on baby’s 18th birthday. Allow them to choose anything they want and only place the restriction that it can fit in a sandwich-sized Ziploc baggie – you’ll be happily surprised at what they come up with! Use some of the leftover card stock and label each of the items, seal them up and place them in a sealed box.

Remember, this day is about fun and celebration, so don’t knock yourself out creating a 5 course spread for 100 people. Invite your closest family and friends, fire-up the BBQ, toss the little tyke in a walker with their own cake to destroy (patio & hose work best for clean-up – both the patio and the baby), have fun, and don’t forget the camera! Using the suggestions above you can create lasting memories of this day – and a yearly tradition – with fun items you can go back to reminiscence with year after year.

About the Author:

Jennifer Kirkpatrick is a mom turned entrepreneur who creates and sells unique items for kids of all ages. Visit her online store Pipsqueak Boutique for unique first birthday gifts. And check out her new clothing line, Define*Me Clothing for fun first birthday shirts.

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Children’s Parties – Tips and Tricks from an Expert

Jessica Fuqua — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:58:56 +0000

While children’s parties are supposed to exude happiness, from clowns to cupcakes and pinatas to presents, planning one can create quite a task! I say this from experience – my daughter will be turning two in February and I have been planning her party since July 2008. Every parent wants their child’s party to be memorable and enjoyable for both the children as well as the adults. With so many options today along with the stress of the economy the best thing to do it plan wisely.

Ketty aka The Detail Diva, who is a professional event planner offered some of her tips on how to plan a children’s party without driving yourself insane (leave that up to the clowns). Ketty has been in the industry for a while now and has had to coordinate parties for some of the most competitive parents around, the New York City parents! I hate to admit it, but I am one of them, and when I need advice on how to outshine all the other parents in my “Mommy and Me” group, I turn to Ketty!

About Ketty – The Detail Diva

My name is Ketty and I am a Certified Wedding & Event Specialist which really means, I am a wedding and event planner. My business is located in New York City and we also service Northern and Central New Jersey. I decided to become a planner and actually go through all the motions of opening my own business because I believe everyone needs assistance during these celebrations so that they can be present in the moment not worrying about what they need to do or where they need to be. Able to just relax and enjoy the celebration at hand. Keeping in mind your idea of a perfect day, realizing a budget and using all of our resources to make your event one to remember is our goal.

I take the approach of good listening, careful and thorough planning, creative ideas coming to life and follow up on every detail very seriously. The planning experience for all involved can be fun and fulfilling when you stay in the right frame of mind and always remember that the event is a celebration of life. With life’s busy schedule, it’s nice to have at least one day where it’s all about you.

Party Planning Tips

If possible, begin planning your party 4-5 weeks in advance. Allowing plenty of time for on-line shopping, cake orders and enlisting any friends or family you may want to help

Pick a theme. Whether it’s an elaborate royal kingdom theme, or something easier, like your child’s favorite color, selecting a theme will help you organize your thoughts. You’ll then plan all of your party supply purchases, party games and decorations around that theme

Children remember what they did at a party, much more than what they ate, what the plates and napkins looked like or whether the house was spotless. Don’t sweat the little details!

The best party times are……1:00 – 3:00 or 2:00 – 4:00. You won’t need to serve a meal but a few finger foods are advised. For little ones try 10:00am -11:30 to work around nap time.

PARTY GAMES
No one should go home a loser! Competitive games are enjoyable only for the people who win. A party should be fun…Avoid tears by selecting games where everyone gets a chance to succeed. For example, if it’s a game like musical chairs, when a player is called “out”, assign that player the task of playing the music. After one round, that player will rejoin the group. Better yet, plan a few cooperative games, in which the whole gang faces a challenge, such as following a treasure map, then they each receive a prize or split the treasure evenly.

Be Prepared!!!
Try setting up your party in activity stations to lead the children in the direction of the party focus. The stations need not be fancy or expensive. The birthday child can pick what they want to do i.e. blocks at one station, dollhouse at another, play dough at another etc.
You should not need more than four stations. Prepare ALL of the activities, games etc. before the party. This enables you to focus on the kids when the party begins.

Ask a friend , family member or neighbor to help with the party. It’s likely you have a neighborhood teenager who would love to help, when offered a few dollars for their time.

Party Favors
In choosing party favors, it’s better to spend more creativity than money. Give a wonderful thank you item/items that reflects the party theme; a flower pot and seeds for a garden party, modeling clay for an art party. You can even send the kids home with a treasure they’ve made during the party. The birthday child should hand out the favors. This will remind her to say “thank you”.

For the Parents
Many times parents drop off the children and then pick them up about half an hour before it ends or if they are like my friends and family they stay the entire time. Which I’m perfectly okay with because to us is more of a culture thing so we are used to it. Anyway, either way I always suggest some coffee & tea with maybe some cookies & donuts or finger foods with some sort of non-alcoholic beverage for the parents. You can set a table away from the area where the children will be and offer these goodies to the parents while they socialize amongst each other. Don’t worry too much about catering to them, after all, it is a kids party. Just set the table and that should be good enough.

Remember to have fun and enjoy the celebration of your child’s birth!

Ketty – Detail Diva Events

Posted by Nicole Ibarrondo, former editor here at Mom Fuse

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