Hosting Easy

Pandemic had a few silver linings – one was when we relegated to a small group of your kid’s friends and celebrated the special occasion with just the basics – cake, balloons, snack boxes, musical chairs, all within our living room or garden.  We could see that was all that was needed to make your child and the friends happy – a lot of free play with the only people that they care to celebrate – their friends, some sugar rush and loads of carbs to keep them going for a few hours.

But with pandemic’s retreat (thank goodness for that), we are also shutting out the simplicity of the life that was in its wake, So we are back to the days of fancy birthday parties which rival weddings of a generation back. I still feel we should try and keep the focus on the child and what she wants rather than our idea of what is expected from a social do. If you still want a full fledged affair, go with a party planner but if you want to keep it intimate, you will do well to just keep in mind the basics and let kids be, because they already know how to have fun without your orchestration.

Theme:  Choose a theme. Everything else will flow easily once you have decided an overarching guide. It could be simple like Frozen or Avengers where thousands of products exist in the market to help you plan, or it could be based on an idea like a magical forest, or FIFA fever where you may have to do a little more research in applying it to your party but will be worth it of your child has a connection with it. Your choice of venue, cake, entertainment and return favours can all be streamlined if you decide on a single theme first. If your kid loves to paint then having an art theme for your birthday can be as simple as having an artist come over to do a paint party while explaining some techniques. The entertainment is painting and the return favour could just be kids carrying back their art work.

Venue: This is the most important item on your prep. This will determine whether you need to prepare every other item that follows on your own, or it will be taken care of by the services at the venue. The venue is the hardest to get by and is determined by your location, centrality to guests, dates, and number of guests so book this up first

Easiest – Games arcade, go karting arenas, playgrounds for cricket/ football etc. : for slightly older kids age 6+, you just need to chaperone the kids while they play. Later take them to a restaurant adjacent. You need not book in advance but just call them to check if they are not closed for a private event on your day.

Need to book in advance – a play area set up like funky monkeys in Bangalore where the kids stay busy for couple of hours and the food is served by their in house restaurant. You just show up with cake and return favours and you don’t need to worry about décor, entertainment if you don’t want to.

Club House of your apartment – this might avoid you having to arrange for chairs, tables, crockery and may be catering if there is a restaurant attached. They are usually busy so should be booked and paid in advance. It also saves on the commute time for hosts which on the day of party is one less hassle avoided.

Hotels and restaurants – with a charge or a per person fee, they will provide a designated area for you to set up your party. You avoid the hassle of catering and arranging for furniture, and may also provide custom cake.  There are some restaurants that also specialize in activities – some allow petting of dogs and cats while some cafes have bake your own pizza or paint your own vase activities offered. It would perfectly suit if you have a barnyard, chef for a day or art party theme respectively.

Party hall or open air grounds – here you get just the venue and you have to arrange for everything yourselves, though there maybe tie ups of each venue. Would be highly effort intensive unless you have other reasons for choosing it like vicinity, higher number of guests, specialized theme.

Your own backyard or living room – the easiest to source, you will have to keep away everything that is fragile out of reach. This is obviously cost effective, but is also the most rewarding because your house  will be filled with the laughter of children.  You will do well to set out designated areas for different activities in advance – you can have a low table with lego blocks ready, small tables with chairs with board games , a cozy corner with books laid out. Do make sure there are 2-3 activities over and above these stations to make for a memorable party. These could be a newspaper dance, twister, treasure hunt, passing the parcel or you may also outsource it to an able emcee,

Cake: There are a lot of good options for cakes that don’t need too much pre planning. However, if someone you are going with a boutique/ home baker, it is better to book the slots in advance. Do clarify if they will deliver the cake to the venue as it will be an added to do on the day of the party to run to the cake shop for pick up. Do ask your kid which flavour and theme they want so they are part of the planning. Not so popular but tip nevertheless – avoid fondant and go for butter cream or fresh cream finish, kids love to look at fondant figurines but only one in 10 actually likes having them.

Catering: Having been to multiple ones and hosting quite a few, it is safe to say that kids don’t care about food at all, unless it is junk, but it is the parents that do. It’s a birthday party, pick your battles and just let the kids have their carbs overload to supply the energy to run around the place. Universal kids’ favourites of pizza and live pasta counter are safe mains. They would love pop corn, fries and juice too but for the rest, you can look at your invite list and choose the menu and the caterer based on what you as a parent would like assuming there are grown ups at the party too. This however changes once your kids start playing proper sports and come back with a lion’s appetite. Then add finger food like burgers, sandwiches and lots of thirst quenchers.

Entertainment: If you go with venues that are linked to activities you may not need it . Else read on the world of options.

Tattoo artists, Face painting, arts and crafts activities like card making, bracelet, necklace making engage kids thoroughly as they choose to get their favourite characters painted on them or looking for their stickers and beads to create crafts with them.

Bouncy castles are ever present in birthdays and a great draw for kids. However it soon gets too much of a good thing. It is not very conducive to allow kids of all ages to play peace fully, invariable a younger kid is getting petrified by the boisterous older one. The pull of bouncy also means that it is a herculean task to peel the kids off it for any other activity or civilized gathering for cake cutting. Hence think about these aspects and decide if it is for you.

Magic shows – kids above 5 years start enjoying magic shows. Magicians are usually stuck in the past but there are a few who might surprise you with their tricks and are great with communicating with little kids.  

Emcee: If you are at a party where the emcee keeps the kids engaged and happy throughout, get up from your seat and ask him for his visiting card at the next break. If you don’t get a chance to get their contact info, text the host to thank for having you over and ask for emcee’s details.  People usually love to help and both parties are richer from the experience, not just the one seeking help. Emcees who are patient and keep the kids happy are a relatively rare find so the universe should have a wider circulation of them.

While part of entertainment, you don’t need many extras if you have a good emcee. He/she will keep the kids engaged through games like obstacle course, find the treasure and dance offs while alternating between high and low energy actions. However, it is a very individual driven performance so it is better to not go with someone totally untested. If you have not had first hand experience, do not shy from asking for videos of their work. Have seen a few parties turn sour because of unsuitable emcees

Emcees assume they are supposed to entertain everyone at the party. If you are like me, who want to catch up with your friends while kids are safely and happily away under someone else’s supervision, please do communicate clearly to the emcee that you Do Not want adults included in the activities. I’d rather sit with my cup of coffee in hand than be summoned for a tug-o-war I have no intent/potential of winning.

Return Favors: You can go crazy or just a book is also great. Do take the effort of packing it nicely because the kids look forward to them. There are so many options but slime, playdough , cute stationary, notepads stay crowd pleasers. For younger kids an assortment of gifts is a novelty, but for older ones a slightly more functional gift is better. Some return favours which were a hit with parents too have been personalised goodies (not mugs please, they are bulky and no kid really drinks from them becoming a souvenir you can’t use nor chuck out), good quality dress up/costume accessories, journals, and a tried and tested board game, since these usually get a use and are not discarded after the initial excitement.

In the art theme or pizza baking party themes mentioned above, kids will love if you get them their own apron , brownie points with kids if you can get their names emblazoned on them. But do not forget to gift wrap something, however small for return favours. If the kids have already seen it, it doesn’t count as return favour in their minds.

Do try and get a personal thank you note from the birthday kid printed. You can design them yourself of canva or pay a small amount on etsy for someone else to do it. Get it printed at any of the printers like Printo. It always adds a thoughtful touch and ties the theme of the party together.

Bonus tips – Keep a playlist ready and avoid kiddie nursery rhymes lest you want to see an enthu parent proving her devotion to child rearing by singing along the entire length with her reluctant kid. As for kids, they really couldn’t care less as long as there is enough space for them to run around chasing a balloon. Do make sure the lyrics of the songs you are playing are age appropriate though.

Want to keep grownups happy, arrange for caffeine kick for them. I have never seen more grateful eyes than when you offer coffee to a parent who has just successfully managed to drop off a kid in the midst of the chaotic and loud gang of children.

And yes. there will always be the treasure hunt for matchstick when the cake is ready to be cut, and kids’ patience, which they had little reserves of to begin with, gets running out fast. So pack candles and match box in your bag. Always!