On your kid’s birthday, the day is all about her! What a fun idea to have your kid awake to a special birthday banner hung in their room saying, “Happy Birthday! Welcome to Your New Year!” It will be a delightful surprise.

If you want to further embellish the fun, have a birthday note placed somewhere that is prominent and can easily be seen. On the outside of the note write, “READ ME.” Inside the note, tell your kid to follow the balloons to find breakfast. Have small balloons leading a path to the kitchen or a favorite spot in the house to enjoy their birthday breakfast.

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A great resource to check out if your kids love Sesame Street ~ and perhaps you did too ~ is the Sesame Workshop Partyworks site.  It has lots of fun and fabulous party themes for the Sesame characters ~ check out the awesome listing of Muppet Party Themes, showcasing all of those favorite characters that we love.  The site also includes themes more general than just what their characters offer, expanding to science, music, and nature themed parties as well.

The site has very good tips for parents regarding each element of the party from favors to decorations to activities they have well-organized tips for planning parties.

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Wow! Wow! Wubbzy is some character on Nickelodeon and Noggin ~ always solving daily problems together with his friends Widget and Walden. He’s a darling little guy, and your kid may want to have his next party revolve around Wubbzy and his friends. If so, check out the following resources: Noggin has some fun computer games related the Wubbzy and his friends, and Nick Jr. has printables, menu, cake, and decoration ideas to match the theme. Check out the Wow! Wow! Wubbzy Birthday Cake ~ it looks great!

If you like the computer games that Noggin has put together to match the theme, but don’t want your party to revolve around the computer screen, use these game ideas for inspiration to bring the party to life, i.e. have the kids dress up like Walden does in his game, put together a ring toss for the kids to throw rings around Wubbzy’s tail, play a game of kickity-kick ball, play Pin the Tail on Wubbzy, etc.

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I still have a classic Magic 8 Ball ~ do you? If you are having a tween party soon, a very fun game uses the Magic 8 ball to spin some party magic. Here’s how it works:

Before the party, write down silly things to do like “Will I have to run around the room and balk like a chicken!” At the party have the guests sit in a circle pass the Magic 8 Ball around to music, like Hot Potato. When the music stops, the kid with the Ball will take a slip of paper from the basket, read the question to everyone, then shake the Magic 8 Ball and follow its reply. If the ball answers “yes” the kids do what the paper says. If the ball says “no” or does not give a definite answer, put the slip of paper back in the basket and continue playing. If the person does the action, then keep this slip of paper out of the basket so it will not be repeated.

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Recently, I had a birthday party for my three year old son. I was expecting my life-long best friend to give a wonderful present to him for his celebration, especially given the great lengths I took to host a great party for the kids an adults alike, and also because I always give her three kids very nice presents that are thoughtful. The present she gave my son was no more than $3 and was really not anything he was even interested in. I am terribly disappointed, especially because I know she has the money as she is always talking about how much she is constantly buying for herself and her family. What to do?

It is very interesting that people who are not under any financial hardship will not spend a good amount of money on other people’s presents, but will on stuff for themselves. Some ways to handle this with friends can be to have an open discussion and decide what is the amount everyone feels comfortable spending on kids’ presents, this way you won’t be overspending and being on the cheap end.

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My kid’s first “real” birthday party is this summer at the beginning of July. I mean “real” because this is the first year she has gone to school and wants to invite a ton of friends; she is turning 6. I am worried about people being away on vacation and not being able to attend. Also, people may not be around to receive the party invitations and will not RSVP. Should I have the party earlier to avoid this scenario?

I can completely empathize with this situation, as my birthday was always at the tail end of June and it seemed like a lot of my friends were not able to attend because they were on vacation. Given your daughter’s age, I am sure she would be thrilled to celebrate early. You would then not have to worry about the invitations and people not being around to attend. On her actual birthday, you can take her to the park or play a special game to mark it together.

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Looking for an edible, magical fairy wand for your upcoming Princess party? Have your guests make chocolate fairy wands. They can make them as a party activity, and either take them home as a goody or eat them as a treat at the party. Try one of these ideas:

1. Use long stick skewers for the wands, and skewer large or small marshmallows on them. Be sure to leave room at the end so the kids can hold their wands. Dip the marshmallows in melted chocolate, sprinkle with star candy confetti, and let them dry.
2. Follow the same concept described above, but use pretzel sticks.
3. Skewer Rice Krispie treats on the end of sticks in the shape of stars, and partially dip them in chocolate.
4. Here’s a chocolate fairy wand using breadsticks from Oz.

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