Birthday party checklist

Birthday party checklist

The greatest birthday invitations mean very little if you don’t have a party to invite people to, this is why we decided to provide you with a useful and extensive checklist that you can use to plan your very own or somebody else’s best birthday party ever.

Birthdays… they happened to all of us, each year again and again while we go older and each time this day passes it marks something for most of us, the idea that we have aged yet another year. Some will dread the concept while others look forward to this day but all of us deserve a great party to celebrate and leave the worries of last year behind us for just one day.
To make the planning of a birthday party a bit easier for all of you we have provided a checklist below, feel free to use it anytime you wish to plan your birthday party ever year all over again

 So let us take a look:
What are the basics that any party needs and what you should keep in mind. We wil discus this in detail first and give some examples for each.

1           Keep a eye on your budget

Expensive partys can be great fun on the day but could cause you quiet a headache for the rest of the year. Everything you plan and everything you buy will have a cost and so it is very easy to loose track of your budget if you dont keep an eye on this.

2           Location        
   
Do you have a place to keep the party ? reminding ourself of the budget while looking for a location. it’s good to note that its always cheaper to keep the party at your place or in the garden if the weather allows it if you have the room for all the people you wish to invite.

Example  :

-          Own House and backyard or indoors
-          Restaurant
-          Bowling alley
-          Local gym
-          Amusement park or zoo
-          Outdoors or a local park
-          Go Kart track
-          Rent a auditorium or movie theater 

3          How many friends and family to invite

Considering the above you should ask yourself how many do i want to invite and how many can i actually fit in the space i want to invite them in. If it is at your house do you have the place to invite all of them or will you be forced to make choices ? note that the more you invite the more expensive it will become regardless of location but you will fortunately also get more presents !

Keep a list of those you invite and also keep track of those that respond, this way you will have a better idea how many will show up(or promised to) while you are planning the rest of the party.

 In short :

-          Send your birthday invitations by email, social media or regular old mail
-          You can also invite people by phone or in person.

-          Keep track of those that confirm and those that cannot make it to the party

4           A theme, color or everybody normal ?

Do you want people to show up in costumes or does everybody have to show up in your favorite color(purple for example) ? or will it be fine if your friends and family come as their regular crazy self’s

A few possible themes could be

-          Thinker bell
-          Pirate
-          Comic book heroes
-          Random costume party
-          80’s rock star
-          Rock and roll
-          Specific decade
-          Western
-          Dinosaurs
-          Pets/animals

5           Decorations

When you consider decorations you should always keep your budget in mind as this single piece of the party can become very expensive very quickly.

Things like green tablecloths, pink balloons, orange stickers to yellow cups filled with treats are all potential elements you can add a as a decoration you can go as colorful as you want or follow a specific theme. Decoration should be decided on well in advance.
Some examples that could be used to decorate your party

-          Balloons
-          Spirals
-          Lanterns
-          Flowers
-          Piñata
-          Lights
-          Disco ball
-          Banners

6           Food and drinks

This is probably one of the harder choices for some people while for others this may be the most obvious thing in the world, what food and drinks will i serve the people i invite to this party ?

Will it be pancakes or waffles with soda ? or perhaps you rather have a more formal party with a 3 course meal in a fancy restaurant it’s all possible depending on the budget and taste of your guest of honor.

A good recommendation usually would be to ask the person you’re throwing the party for what he likes to eat, i don’t think that a kid would like it if you give oysters as a appetizer for example and I’m somewhat in doubt that a 40year old man would prefer waffles over a nice dinner (although i would love waffles) .
                Here are some ideas what kind of food you can give on this birthday party

-          Pancakes
-          Waffles
-          Panini’s
-          Muffins
-          Pizza’s
-          French fries
-          Sandwiches
-          Candy
-          Ice cream
-          cupcakes

Or if you’re looking at a little older public you may wish to give out anything from

-          Oysters
-          Tortilla wrap
-          Hot dogs
-          chocolate
-          fruits

7           Date and time  

Something that should never be forgotten is the time, some people celebrate on the birthday itself and others will wait for the weekend to throw a party. People have to know when they should come when you send them a birthday invitation. 
Will it be on Wednesday 3pm on the birthday or will you for example throw a party at 7pm on Saturday to celebrate all night ?

this should never be forgotten since even if they know the date it still does not do them any good unless you also give them a hour. 
Otherwise you might end up with visitors at 1pm midday while your still preparing for the evening or the opposite where people show up at 7pm but the party is already over

 often the best times to plan a birthday party is either on the birthday itself or in the weekends on Saturday or Sunday afternoon to evening.

8           Activities & entertainment

games, music and artists are some of the many ideas you can use to keep the guests busy and give the birthday boy or girl the time of his life on this special day. Depending on the age or preferences one may do anything from hiring a magician or storytellers. Or perhaps you would rather organize some games or sports to keep the guests and birthday boy or girl entertained ?

another good idea if the party has a theme may be the use of animals or costumes or a show with somebody relating to that theme or play games related to the theme such as walk the plank if you have a pirate party.
These days for example most young adults and teenagers would certainly love a DJ at the party to provide good music or arrange for a dance.

Here are a few good examples to make any birthday party the day of the year for the guest of honor.

-          Hire a horse or pony so the kids can go for a short ride
-          A magician
-          A storyteller to keep the kids in suspension
-          Use a costume theme and hire a actor dressed for the occasion to make a appearance
-          Hire a inflatable castle for the backyard and perhaps a trampoline
-          Hire somebody to paint the faces of the children
-          Hire a DJ
-          Organize games such as a water balloon fight or a sack race
-          Puppet show
-          Arrange a swimming pool in the back yard