Tip Tuesday: Tips for Planning Kids Parties

When I first started writing today's tip I started out with the intention of sharing five tips.  However, I realized halfway into the post each tip had a backstory and a lesson and this post started to get too long.  So, I'll be posting one tip for the next five Tip Tuesday posts.  It's like a series!

I have had four (going on five) years of practice when it comes to planning my own kids' parties and let me just say that with each party I have taken away a great deal of knowledge.   One of those things is learning why less is more.

Today's Tip: Eight is enough

If my parties were a 70's era hit tv show and Willie Aames was my brother, I would have known that inviting too many people to a kid's party is not the best idea.  I also would have taken a clue from those fill-in invitations at CVS that only allow ya to invite eight people.  I could never figure the reason behind that until last year when I had a house full of kids and felt a smidge overwhelmed. 

In the past I have had a house full of family, friends, kids & parents over for my kids' birthdays.  Anyone that knows me will tell you I love a good party, but really, I can't remember anything about them except how stressed I'd get from doing so much.  This might not make since for an event planner, but we're talking about my daughter and son here.  I should be able to see how excited they are and not why my poor child didn't get a piece of cake at her own party!

I think a good rule of thumb is to invite a maximum of eight guests to your child's party  if they are under eight years old.  I once read somewhere that you should invite as many kids as your child's age plus two.  I always thought that was a silly concept - until The Mini Diva's last bday party.  In hind site there were too many people, too many kids of different ages, and she got pushed out some activities and games when the attention should have been on her.  I was so busy going back and forth between the parents and my friends and the kids, that I was too overwhelmed to know that she wasn't having fun as she should have been. 

It really makes life easy for you and also allows your child to enjoy the party guests if you keep the guest list at a low number.  A good example of how this works best is another party we threw for The Mini Diva.   I got rsvp's from six kids and only two girls showed up.  At first I was a little sad for my daughter because she was so excited about the party - but there were so few guests.  I was also mad at the parents who didn't show because I'd bought all those cute party sets and favors from Party City and then not to show up - ugh.  Well, when it was all said and done I realized she had just the right amount of party guests and I didn't feel overwelmed.  A good time to be had by all!

In the next Tip Tuesday post I'll share with you why you should steer clear of the grocery store bakery - I have a horror story that will make you cringe!  .....and don't forget to enter to win this week's Princess and the Frog DVD GIVEAWAY!!!!