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What if you want to throw your child a great party, and yet you, as the parent, don’t have a lot of energy to keep up with the kids?
I was recently asked this question by a mom who was pregnant. She wanted her first child to have a great birthday party and have fun but also needed to not overexert herself.
For kids under the age of 5, most parties should not last more than ninety minutes. If your child is between the age of 3–5 and your budget allows for it, this would be a good time to hire an entertainer for the kids. The entertainer should provide a full hour of entertainment. Some also provide balloon animals and other little party items. If you hire an entertainer who offers this stuff, I would not get any further goodies.
Basically, with an entertainer providing the fun, games, and goodies, all you will need to do is serve cake and ice cream. That is quite easy and fun.
If you are not going to hire an entertainer due to your child’s age and/or budget reasons, there are still a host of easy games and activities that can be done to entertain your party guests.
Some easy games include:
- Red Rover
- Pin the Tail on the Donkey (or any version of this game that you like)
- Mother May I
- Musical Chairs (or any version of this game)
- Balloon Catch (have one child hold a balloon, then call out another kid’s name and let the balloon go; the other child must catch the balloon before it lands on the ground; he or she is “it” next)
- Tag
- Hide and Go Seek
- Duck, Duck, Goose
- Hot Potato
- Red Light, Green Light
- Simon Says
- Telephone Line (send a birthday message in whispers around the circle of birthday guests; have the birthday kid be the last to receive the message and have him say it aloud)
- Bean Bag Toss
All of these games will most likely be known to your guests, easy to conduct, and inexpensive. You can also throw in bubbles and balls, which will have them playing outdoors without a lot of help from you. I would definitely get another adult to help out with the games and supervision, however. That will leave you to serve cake and ice cream.
Some tips on this situation:
- Keep it simple. The tried-and-true work really well.
- Get additional help.
- Limit the party to ninety minutes.
- If you hire an entertainer, make it for the full hour and have him or her provide goodies. Spend the last thirty minutes serving cake and ice cream, opening gifts, and having free play.
- If you don’t hire an entertainer, play the simple games that the kids know and love for thirty minutes. You can then slow it down with a story, and have them make an easy craft or color a banner for the birthday child. Free play, cake, and opening gifts should take up the rest of the time.
- Enjoy the party by not overdoing it this year!!
