Birthday Parties…Love Them or Hate Them. Here Are My Tips To Successful Planning

Even though my kids are 3 years apart, their birthdays fall only one month apart. Which means that for me, between July to October I’m in full party planning mode.

As many of you already know, ALOT goes into planning a kids birthday party. So for me, getting one over and done with doesn’t matter, because when the first is done, I’m right back at it working on the second.

Birthday parties…you either love them or hate them, am I right? It is definitely hard work and very time consuming. Not to mention stressful.

My boys have many of the same interests, but they can’t have the same themed party. So with two themes, comes different shopping and my To-Do list begins!

Here is a list of my go to’s to help make it easy for you!

1. Dollarama

The dollar store is always my go to for party supplies and even loot bag options. I get all of my plateware, cups, cutlery, tablecloths, bowls and any other decorations that I need from there. Plus you can find $2 bags of chips and candies if you want to serve them on the tables for the kids. I was also lucky to find an amazing loot bag idea there too (Bey Blades) and the prices can’t be beat!

2. Cakes

For the last number of years I’ve gone to one person for my birthday cakes, Baked With Joy. Her cakes are not only amazing to eat, but they are nut free and dairy free. Joy can make any design you want and they are always spectacular!

3. Loot Bags

I try to get creative with my loot bags because who wants random crap sent home with their kids? I know I don’t. I don’t need more pencils, erasers, or playdoh. If I’m going to do loot bags, I want the kids to be able to enjoy them. And for this reason, I sometimes have to spend a bit more (depending on how many kids come), but the excitement on the kids faces are priceless when they see these. My go to for original loot bags is Little Miss Henna. What’s great about her products are they can be personalized. I’ve done hats, toques, hockey pucks, hockey towels, you name it she can do it!

4. Venues

We have tried out a number of different venues over the last 7 years. Places like Mini Mania, Bowling, Glow In The Dark Mini Golf, Laser Tag, and most recently Sportball.

Ideally you want a venue that includes a party host (cause you need help getting everything ready), plus you want to be able to enjoy your kids party, not be too busy dealing with all of the set up and clean up!

We just held T’s 4th birthday party at Sportball. He’s really into sports, and here they let you choose between different activities to make it fun for everyone. The kids had an amazing time!

Parties at Sportball are an hour and half. They begin with an hour of coach-led active fun in a large gym setting, and the last half hour is the birthday celebration in another party room.

Parties can be booked at official Sportball locations (we held ours at their Glen Cameron location in Thornhill) or at a venue of your choice.

They have incredible coaches that provide all of the equipment. And to make it easy, they also have printable and email invitations included. This add on made it so easy for me to hand out to all of T’s classroom!! You can easily book online and someone will contact you to finalize all of the details.

It really was one of the easiest and most enjoyable birthday parties I’ve been too!