Themed Birthday Parties and How to ThrowThem
I am grateful that Birthday’s are just once a year! Thank goodness we don’t have to
celebrate unbirthday’s too. We put so much pressure on ourselves to do what we
think our little folk want.
Join us this week for some great tips on getting birthday ready.
Be Birthday Ready
Good Morning,
Its been a funny few days hasn’t it? cold, hot, raining, thunder and sunshine! It has
meant that I’m not in a place yet where I can rotate the winter clothes for summer!
Meaning at the moment the clothes are all out everywhere ready for all the season’s
(well this is what we tell hubby to ‘justify’ all the clothes)
So we are putting the rotation of the clothes on hold and sitting down to get lost in
the rabbit hole that is party planning.
Have the best week big folk.
Sammie and Soph xx
Come With us to a Plan of Pure Imagination
Themes
I think before you can go any further the first thing you need to think of is the theme! I
personally have always found it best to have a couple of ideas too! If you start
researching and budgeting for the top idea and its getting too much or too hard then
you already have an idea in mind for the next plan. Adopt the good better best model
in your mind and apply it to either 3 different themes or the same theme on different
levels.
I think Pintrest*** is a frenemy here, there are some incredible ideas and stunning
set ups but its not always cost effective, in fact as you start to price up to the cost of
the inspired photo you soon realise that the accounts posting these aren’t worried
about what they are spending. As we head into trying times financially remember
budget is key, set it and follow it.
We are super organised (because we are told by the little folk) what next years
theme is before the current day is over! We can honestly say we have a micro micro
manager to contend with.
Over the past 5 years we have done:
Peter Rabbit
Hey Duggee
Toy Story
Pokemon
Cars
The ideas usually starts to develop around the cake (most important part, of course)
Next year we seem to be circling back to Pokemon, in all fairness the first one was a
lockdown celebration. Next years cake…. Let me take you on the journey here… We
have asked for a Snorlax lying down with Pikachu and Score Bunny sleeping on his
belly. A little side figure of a man with a flute (yes real music is required) as the
music is played the Snorlax has to sit up! Insert blank expression here) I don’t know
if I should laugh or cry at this stage.
Set the Budget
Be realistic in what you want to spend. Set each element a budget and use that as your guidance. Put down the top end of what you want to spend and allow yourself to be pleasantly surprised when you come in under budget. Think about budgeting for
· Location
· Entertainment
· Decorations
· Food
· Invites
· Party favours
· Outfit
Let’s break down each part of the budget to look at.
Location
Think about the best location for both you and your guests. Think about how much you want to do or how much you want the venue to do for you. If you can look for somewhere that is a neutral colour and cater for all themed ideas.
Entertainment
What entertainment are you going to have? So many companies offer lots of different options. It's wise to consider the number of guest you are going to invite to make sure that the entertainment is sufficient. Soft play, bouncy castles, clowns, garden games. A really cool idea that’s now upcoming is a bubble party. Here is a link to Bubbly Heaven to show you what kind of things a bubble party offers.
One popular entertainment to consider a possible rethink on is face painting. It is really popular at parties but will result in long queues and a lot of waiting around.
Decorations
Balloons seem to be making a comeback for party decorations, and my goodness there are some pretty stunning displays that you can get or even do yourself. If you search on Instagram you can find some amazing companies local to you to help out. But there are ways to do this yourself, see these videos.
Banners are amazing and there are lots of options available on Etsy which also supports small businesses. Some shops on there will of themed goodies. If you are looking for a quick fix Ginger Ray offer some amazing decorations that can fit any theme.
Food
Getting creative with food can be an amazing way to decorate a party and keeping on theme.
Pintrest is really good to get some inspiration from.
Invites
Etsy really is amazing for finding some amazing options for invites that are all customisable for you party. If you put in your theme idea and then invites you’ll get so many options.
Party Favours
This is probably the easiest place to end up over spending against budget. Also consider the use of the things going in the gifts. Are they sustainable. People are thinking about this more and more now.
Some good websites to check out are:
Baker Ross - if you sign up to the newsletter you can get 10% off too.
The life of the party - these guys are amazing for eco friendly ideas.
Pound Toys - is a good mix of items on here that you can fill a party bag with.
Outfits
Now onto my favourite part. The outfits. I love that is now a thing that people consider for their little folks special date. I also love all the messages I get when people tell me that they have ordered certain prints for birthday themed parties.
Of course we have our very own birthday collection that caters for ages 1-4 and a generic one too for all ages. We do get lots of messages about others designs being centred around the theme of the parties to.
Take a little look below at party ideas and our inspired designs. It might help you choose a theme or even maybe an outfit.
Hungry Caterpillar
Check out this blog by Laura Maclean.
One Sunday morning has been a really popular design with you all since its release in Spring. I can see it making a really gorgeous birthday outfit. Including so stunning cake smash photos. It's so fun and vibrant that it's perfect suited for birthday celebrations.
Peter Rabbit
We do love a DIY project here. And this Pintrest board gives us all the DIY feels be warned you may end up down the rabbit hole with this one.
Dear Zoo
Check out this amazing set up for a dear zoo theme I think it’s a really stunning set up the theme speaks for itself and with the crate options there is a lot you can do to add your own stamp on it.
I think you can go on and on with pairing our core designs to birthday themes, other popular ones are Tigers and Tea, Paddington and Gruffalo. (link to the designs)
Uppy Birthday
Our statement Birthday piece is our Uppy Birthday design, which is available in age ranges from 1 to 4 and a generic option. We also have some personalised tee option to pair bottoms with, all celebrating your little folk and their age. Of course they look cute as tops and dungarees too.
We hope you enjoyed this weeks edit and found some of the tips we have shared useful. The biggest piece of advice we can give you is don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Your little folk are going to remember the moments you shared together not the party bags or invites. One thing don’t think you can get away with is the cake. Its always the thing that gets remembered! (wish me lucky with next years Pokemon masterpiece)
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