Anatomy of a Birthday Party

Spend some time trying to plan a nice birthday celebration for your child, and you might notice that many of the party packages offered by local businesses have certain ‘big picture’ details in common: you have to bring the kids and the cake, for example. Most parties last for 90 minutes, with 60 minutes allotted to activities and 30 minutes to consuming cake and pizza.

The rest varies along with the price—do you want them to do everything but wipe your mouth after a bite of birthday cake, or are you looking to supply the frills (invitations, decorations, goody bags) yourself?

Costs sometimes seem to vary more than they actually do. For instance, party spots whose cost involves a per child fee usually require a minimum number of children to attend. So if they charge $25 per child and require a minimum of 10 children, the net result is the same as if they charge $250 for 10 children. Those with a flat party fee charge an additional per child fee for every child above the allotted number.

Some spots involve a higher flat fee but include a larger number of children. I might balk at a party that advertises a whopping $459 fee only to realize that because this fee includes 18 kids, it actually ends up being cheaper than the party that charges a flat fee of $279 but only includes eight children. Those additional child fees can really add up, which means I have to think carefully about how many children I’m inviting and predict how many of the invited guests will actually attend.

My idea of a good party spot for children is one that a) involves lots of physical activity, and b) doesn’t have a hook that involves me spending money after, like a gift shop or game area of some sort. I realize that birthday parties are huge marketing events for the businesses that host them—the point of a business is obviously to earn an income, which means attracting new customers. I respect that, and I’m certainly discerning enough to decide whether or not to sign my son up for classes offered by these businesses. But gliding smoothly past a gift shop or game area requires a different level of strategic planning.

My son has celebrated 10 birthdays and attended something like 60 birthday parties (conservative estimate). So what did kind of experience did  each party offer, and which were the most memorable? Let’s see…

Kids U, Norwalk

I think of their parties as the BMW X6 of birthday parties—everything familiar that’s already out there but on such a grand, souped-up scale it’s compellingly extraordinary. Kids U’s package takes care of all the details: they provide supervision, invitations, decorations (including helium balloons), and even party favors (for an additional fee). They do theme parties, like LEGO, Star Wars, Fairy Princess, Superheroes, and cars, among others. And the staff will dress up in costumes. My son never had one of his birthday parties there, but he did attend a few. They were highly regimented but fun! There’s no elaborate gift shop, so I didn’t need to plan our exit strategy, and he definitely left these parties fully worked out.

Baseball Party Supplies – Baseball Themed Party

What sports fan out there doesn’t love baseball? After all, it is America’s national pastime. That said, there is no better way to have memorable summer party themes than to include baseball.

Having a baseball themed party is a really cool way to allow people to show their team spirit but also have a lot of fun. Baseball themed parties are really popular among young boys who are currently involved with youth sports.

Having a baseball themed party is seen as a fun way for them to celebrate a birthday or any other occasion that they want to make as memorable as possible.

Having a few banners at a baseball themed party is an awesome way to enhance the feel and look of the area. One of the best places to put the baseball banners is outside of the house. When people drive up they will see a banner that has baseball stuff on it and realize that they are in the right place. In addition, the banner can have the name of the person whose party it is as well as the date. Another place where banners can be hung is in the main party area. If there is games setup you can have a banner above each game with the name of the game on it. These banners will help to create the feel that you are at the ball park getting ready for the big game.

Every baseball themed party should have a good amount of decorations to help set the mood a bit. One of the easiest baseball decorations to have is balloons. In short, the best baseball balloons will come in the shape of the ball. These balloons can be blown up and hung around the house or outside area. In addition to balloons, another good decoration would be pennants. Hanging pennants up on the walls with some team names will really make the party look and feel like it does at the ball field. If you want to go one step further you can have cardboard cut outs of the grandstands on the walls so that it feels as if you are down on the field and that there are fans up in the bleachers watching you play.

Each attendant at a baseball themed party needs to get a few favors to take home with them. With this type of party some of the best favors include things such as stuffed baseball and a plastic bat. These favors are nice because they can be used by the kids that attended the party at a later date. If you get the guests quality favors they will be able to get a lot of use out of them in the present time as well as in the future. If you want to opt for something else another good favor for a baseball themed party would be mini tattoos of baseballs or possible a small pennant with name of each guests favorite team on them.

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