Comments on: How to Stay Sane with Kid’s Birthday Parties

By: Laree

Laree — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:58:48 +0000

I saw someone bake the cupcakes in ice cream cones, and then frosted them like ice cream. It was kind of a two for one idea, but you wouldn’t have to worry about the liner that way - that’s my plan for my girl’s 4th coming up soon. We’re doing a polka dot theme. I’m excited for it!

By: Steph @ Problem Solvin Mom

Steph @ Problem Solvin Mom — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:36:41 +0000

Great topic - I will definitely be bookmarking this for when Sweetpea is a bit older and ready for parties with friends. We have at least one more year left of the family party, as she will be turning two this year. Even with our family parties, there are 6 other littles of various ages in attendance, so I’m always looking for ideas to entertain them while the adults chat.

How precious is your son, and I love his theme, totally adorable!

Thanks so much for the link! Oh, and my coworkers are still raving about your rice krispie treats with sprinkles recipe ;)

By: Kara

Kara — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:11:35 +0000

Henry turned four this year and we’ve never bothered with games or structured activities at any of his parties. We usually have a very mixed age range and getting even the majority of kids to do the same thing at the same time seems like way more work than I want to deal with. Right now we treat birthday parties as extended playdates with more food and a cake.

The kids play for an hour or so and the adults graze on food, we sing happy birthday, we eat cake, and the kids run around for another hour or so and burn off the sugar. Around here it’s about 50/50 on whether presents are opened at the party or not. We don’t do it, the kids are usually having fun playing with each other and it gives the birthday kid something to look forward to after the party is over.

By: Allison

Allison — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:03:32 +0000

Love the tips! I’m doing a cookie theme for my son’s upcoming second birthday and we plan to pull a “Midwest Airlines” and fresh bake cookies for our guests (all family). I’ll serve them with milk and offer ice cream with chocolate syrup for the true sweet teeth out there. Plus, I’m hoping the smell of baking cookies will make the theme. We like to keep it short (2 hrs) and sweet and at home, at least while he’s so young.

By: Marie

Marie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:41:51 +0000

Kim - I love the birthday idea of offering them the money spent on a party instead! I’ll have to do that as they get older.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:58:16 +0000

These are some great ideas… I only have one problem… we have a REALLY Big family so there are always a lot more children! I think we’ve done well with not trying to “structure” every minute, but rather have things set up for the children to “explore” on their own or with the help of a parent. I always have parents stay, just because it’s mostly family anyway and they want to celebrate as well. This past year, both of my kids did invite a couple friends as well… but we are also close with their parents!

By: Yvonne

Yvonne — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:11:05 +0000

Great tip. I would just for fun let you know how I do birthdays in Norway. A normal birthday lasts two hours. We open the presents after everybody has arrived. They are not played with but put on a shelf or something. Then hot dogs or pizza is served. Then they play something free. Run around exploring. After about one hour I serve the cakes and the candy. Usually they don’t really have time for that. Normally one game is prepared and organized. Mostly birthday are at celebrated at home. At the end most kids get a bag of something small and candy in a bag. I don’t like to do that - I leave lots of candy on the table. They hardly touch it.

I love reading about your birthday experiences. I’ll be back.

By: pamela

pamela — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 05:49:40 +0000

when my son turned 4 we had a party and opened presents last –in two seconds the presents were everywhere -lost, destroyed and my son was a wreck over sharing his new toys. Unless your kid is laid back I would save one last thing “to do” after presents.

By: Pam

Pam — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:11:28 +0000

We have decorated cookies with frosting and sprinkles - because we have a b-day close to Christmas. That seems to replace cake. I agree totally about keeping it short! Even an hour and a half for a six year old party was too much. The games were declared “stupid” by an older neighbor and the rest of the kids promptly poo pooed them. That was when I decided to keep parties short and small (for next year!)

By: april

april — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:00:41 +0000

Thanks for the tips! I can use them this time of year. It’s birthday season at our house.