Chances are, at some point in your career you will be asked to organize a party whether it being a Birthday, Halloween or even Christmas. It can be more nerve racking than organizing your 
wedding.
Following these 10 simple steps will help you on your way.
Step 1 – The Date
Before the invites go out you will need to set a date, time and venue. In doing so, you need to consider the family’s schedules as well as any holidays, school calendars or other events in the community.
Step 2 The Venue
Home parties can be a cost effective alternative to outside venues. However, some don’t fancy their homes being stormed by small children with their sticky little fingers that seem to get everywhere. Be sure to look into a budget friendly local church hall or community centre. These venues often provide tables and chairs and have a kitchen to use. Some questions you may need to ask yourself will I be allowed to decorate the room, play music and can you move furniture around. Do remember that you will need to access the room at least an hour before the party in order to set up.
If budget allows, there are many businesses that specialize in hosting children’s parties. Don’t forget to look into places like pet stores, craft stores, toy factories, fire stations and nature centers as well as the fun locations that most people think of when they want a children’s party.
The most important thing to remember is accessibility. Making sure that even the youngest children in strollers can get to the party is very important.
Step 3 Theme
The best way to plan a party is to choose a theme. Popular 1st Birthdays include Peter Rabbit, The Hungry Caterpillar and a Teddy Bear’s Picnic. For older children you may find Disney Princess, Star Wars, Superheros or even Harry Potter will be requested. When picking a theme, make sure to consider the likes and dislikes of the child of honor.
Step 4 The Guest List
Selecting who will be invited will depend a lot on your venue as many places have limits on how many children and adults can attend. Also, remember the bigger the numbers the more work you will need to put in. While not everyone invited will be able to attend, it is important not to assume that everyone will not be able to attend. Start by inviting just a few more children than the venue can handle. Then, you can have a backup list of people to invite if you have room.
Consider if you are inviting family members or just friends sometimes both. Have your charges help you come up with the list if they are old enough. These days a lot of schools will not allow you to invite children through the classroom unless the entire class is invited. So unless you are able to do that, you will need to make sure you have mailing addresses or an email address for everyone on the list.
Step 5 Invites
Create your invites around whatever theme you have chosen. There are a lot of options out there these days. You can go the paper route with pre-printed invites from shops or even have them handmade from sites such as Etsy, Vistaprint, or another online printing store. You don’t want to blow your budget on the invites though because most will end up in the trash.
Another option these days is to send Evites. You can create your own digital invite and just email them or use programs like Punch Bowl which will help you keep track of attendees and many other aspects of the party. Chances are that you will need a combination of electronic and paper invites because not everyone uses either.
Sending the invites out 4 weeks before the event will give people a good amount of time to respond, especially if you need to keep some names out as backups. It is also important to give a firm date for RSVP so that you have time to plan for the event.
Step 6 Entertainment
This can be the most expensive part of the party. If you choose a local party venue, the entertainment is often included in the location price. However, having party entertainers like magicians, animal petting, clowns, makeovers or superheros can be a real treat for your little one. The list is endless but remember the best entertainers get booked up months in advance.
You can also go the old-fashioned way with party games and crafts. Favourites such as musical chairs, pass the parcel, ring toss and pin the tale on the donkey can be great fun for children and adults. Having the kids put together a craft or two can also be a more budget friendly way to provide, not only fun, but something for the kids to take home.
Step 7 Catering
It is every party planner’s nightmare to run out of food when guest are still hungry. So it is important to make sure you have enough of each item to feed each child. And don’t forget to have something for adults who want to attend.
You also need to consider the timing of when you will serve food and beverage. Will the children play for a while, then eat? Will you serve the food right away and play later? Will you serve dessert at the same time or later on in the party? Presentation of the food can really add to the party in so many ways. Watch the delight in the children’s eyes when they walk in and see rolls that look like a caterpillar or crocodile. But you don’t need to create something from Pinterest. Sandwiches can easily be made into interesting shapes with fun cookie cutters. But be sure to make extra because you will find that these get eaten very quickly.
Step 8 The Cake
One of my favorite things to do for the families in my care is to create the cake for their parties. Below you will find a basic recipe for a cake which can be adapted to most tins or molds. If you do not share my joy for baking, then your next option is to order a cake from the local supermarket or go online and find out if someone in your local area makes them and delivers.
Get creative with the cake. Cupcakes can cut down on the clean-up and there are some really fun brownie or cookie cakes that you can make. No need to break the bank on this part of the party either. Lets face it, sweets are sweets and whatever form you offer to kids, they will eat it up.
Step 9 Party Bags
It seems today that every child and parent expects one but they don’t have to be elaborate or expensive. Keeping with the theme of the party will help you find something small and fun for the kids to take home. Rather than a bag full of candy and small trinkets that will be lost in hours, consider something slightly bigger that the children can play with for a while. A coloring book or notebook with some crayons or pens is a fun take-home treat for kids. Or a simple bag with a few toy cars can make a child’s day. No need to make this part of the day into a big production. Keep it simple, just give the kids something to take home.
Step 10 On the Day
With all that planning and preparing, you need to be sure the day goes off without a hitch. Prepare a written plan for the day of who you want it to run. Remember that things will likely go off course, but if you have a plan, it is a lot easier to make changes in the spur of the moment. Be sure to enlist as much help as possible for set-up. Divide up the work and let people help. This can be hard but remember that this party is for the children. They will not remember how perfect everything was but they will only remember how much fun they had. They are going to have more fun in a relaxed and happy atmosphere than a stressful and tense one.
One last thing. Don’t forget to enlist the help of others to clean up because at the end of the day that is the last thing you are going to want to do.
Finally!
Take a deep breath, relax, and above all, remember to have fun yourself. Enjoy the day. You deserve it.
Basic Vanilla Sponge
Sorry all you Americans, you will have to translate from metric. Welcome to the UK!
This will make 3 x 20cm round cake
315g self-raising flour
35g cornflour
1.5 teaspoons of baking powder
335g caster sugar
6 large eggs
335g unsalted butter room temperature
5 tablespoons whole milk
1.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract
Half a teaspoon of food coloring. (optional)
Add 2 tablespoons of sprinkles for an added twist.
Preheat your oven to 350F/GAS4/180C/160C FAN
Grease and line three 20cm sandwich tins.
Place the flour, cornflour, baking powder and sugar into a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract pulse until combined but make sure you do not over mix
Divide the mixture between tree bowls making sure you use bowls that are the same size. Weigh them to make sure you have equal amounts in each one.
If you want to make each layer a different color this is when you add your coloring to each bowl. Mix the color in and add the sprinkles too.
Pour the mixture into the tins.
Bake in the oven for around 20-25 minutes placing the tins on the middle shelf. To make sure the cakes are cooked place a skewer into the middle of each cake and it should come out clean if not cook for a bit longer.
Remove the cakes from the oven when cooked and leave them to cool off in the tins for around 10 minutes before turning them put on a wire baking rack.
Once they have completely cooled then you can ice them.
by Helen C McCarthy NNEB
2016 Nanny of the Year