Don’t you wish you had been more present in the party you last threw instead of worrying about taking care of the next thing. Why did you have to rush back to the kitchen just when your guest was about to tell you the high point of that anecdote.

Unless one has opted for a completely outsourced event, a host is usually seen drifting in and out of conversations and it is a real dampener for the host’s gratification index. So many parties are like a game of Chinese whispers, you hear bits of conversation and you have to make do with getting the download from your partner when the guests leave — and with the usual observation skills of most spouses, you will be found wanting to hear more. At that time you promise yourself that the next party you host, you will be more in the living room than in the kitchen or pacifying kids wanting attention of their parents.

There are a few things you can’t prepare in advance for. Then there are the heavy lifting stuff that needs obvious preplanning like what’s to be cooked, what’s to be ordered in, doing the festive or themed décor, the mixes and drinks to be readied all the way down to the shoving of the zillionth toy into that once empty shelf so the house passes as civilized dwelling. Maybe the last task wasn’t meant for you, but you get the drift.

The pre-prep I am talking about are the many tiny tasks that don’t take much time, but require you to make frequent exits in the middle of conversations. This is about the things that we don’t usually do before a get together because they don’t seem to be big enough chores to require them to be taken care of beforehand. Still, if done prior to the guests arriving, these tiny tasks can help you relax with your company by reducing the times and the duration of you being away from the middle of the party.

1. Plan out entertainment. For your grown up friends it’s easy; keep the props handy for the party games or if it’s a no prop one then just keep a ready list in your mind (see ideas on no prop games here).

Kids are different; you do not want to raise the wrath of bored kids — be prepared to set aside a zone for 3+ years kids if you want to have a good uninterrupted time with your friends who have kids. Keep a room free where kids can be left unsupervised with a movie playing on tv or tab and some board games laid out or lego/blocks set up at different tables. Kids don’t like to be told to do anything — even to play! They like when we give them the power to choose for themselves. If you have prepared entertainment for them and they enter a room with choices already laid out, you decrease the probability of them running back to the parents with the refrain ‘When will we go home???’. Do remember, they are kids, so remove breakables from easy reach or souvenirs you care about too much from that room. You can always show them some age-appropriate books if they like to read.

For toddlers, just lay out a mat or blanket in the living room with few unbreakable plastic spoons and lids if you don’t have baby safe toys — they are easiest entertained where they can see their parents but get to totter and roll around with things that make noise safely — hence choose plastic or fabric and not metal.

2. Serving platter assignment — No one usually does this beforehand coz we all are pros at improvisation. However, if Marie Kondo has been your sage of choice these past years, it’s highly likely you don’t have a cabinet full of endless supply of dishes and bowls (and spark joy to that!). It will help you save more than a few minutes if you choose the serve ware to go with every main beforehand, better still, keep the serving spoon handy with the respective dish to reduce decision making by a tiny amount later. Only then choose the serve ware for starters or munchies like nuts, chips, etc. This is also useful for avoiding infrared glares from your partner when you bring out starters in the bowl that they had reserved for mains.

3. Pre serve the munchies. If you take out starters too early then it may be a long gap for the main course. Hence its best to pace out each course or even each dish if it is a more informal affair. However, to bridge the transition, you should always have something to munch on — a bowl of chips or mixed nuts on the coffee table before the guests arrive. For other starters, if they do not need immediate prep or heating, you should plate (or bowl) them and keep it ready in the kitchen to be taken out when at least a third of your guests have arrived. This pre work saves on valuable time with your friends as it is in the beginning when guests are fewer that you can do real catching up one-on-one.

Do try and set out kid friendly munchies in unbreakable bowls at a separate table. They get hungry often and it’s in your selfish interest to let them be away from grown up ear shots.

4. Ready the garnish — People do keep the mixers and liqueurs ready. Wouldn’t it be nice if you also had some lime and orange wedges, mint sprigs, lemon grass pre-cut on a plate so you or your guests can just pop it in their drink during the party.

Bonus tips: Take out wine glass charms and park them at the coffee table or bar. You don’t need to do three loads of dishwasher when one suffices. Have coasters handy too if you’d rather avoid cleaning the wine rings on your furniture next day.

5. Play the music — Don’t wait for guests to arrive. To avoid awkward silences and unwarranted overhearing of next room conversations make sure there is always some soft background music in the party. Choose a playlist that fits the mood of your party, connect it to a speaker and start playing it beforehand. Do check out part 2 of the hosting easy series on this.

6. Send out directions — Send out google location of the entry point of the house or apartment, not your current location (which may lead to a back alley for all google map cares). Do text clear instructions for accessing your home and parking to your guests. It’s courteous to not let them struggle at the start of the evening.

7. Light the candles — Jo Malone or our very own sugandhco have been making candles for this very occasion of yours. Aromas and mood lighting of candles helps to relax and unwind so go ahead and light one as the last prep before your friends start ringing the doorbell. However, if you expect kids then rethink on subbing it with LED ones or place them away from curious toddlers and tornadoing tweens.

Mindfulness has become an overused cliché — but it is indeed the tool for better living. We can all gain by being more in the moment. To really live a moment, you have to give your mind less choices to wander around. “Are my guests hungry?”, “Are they enjoying themselves?”, “Do I have enough dishes?”, “How will he find the parking?” Go through what worries you in a party and try and address it through preplanning. Make that effort so when you are in the company of people you like, your mind can focus on enjoying that conversation with that zen smile on your face.

#hostingeasy #partyplanning #KidsEntertainment #prepforparty #mindfulness

Parties where conversation is the only entertainment are cozy, but may also get boring fast. You as a host need to have some ready ideas on how to alternate the energy levels in your get together so it doesn’t lead to a yawning epidemic. Getting together is fun and catching up with friends is a great part of it. However there needs to be multiple layers in your entertaining repertoire if you, as well as your guests are to have a memorable time.

We host people, because we want to open our homes, thoughts and entertainment to sharing with others. It is in shared experiences that we connect as social beings. Even the most introverted of us like being in the company of a select few because socializing is essential to human nature. We love to recount anecdotes or talk about our plans, while sipping on our favorite beverage and nibbling on party munchies. However, at some point it is also nice to have some more active kind of fun – this is why party games can add another dimension to a conversation and food only fare.

There are really fun games that you can buy these days. However, this article is about no or basic props games that can be played in a group of 4+. You don’t need any props beforehand except maybe pen and paper. You would have played all or most of them so you can skip reading the rules, but just in case you need refreshing on the method or rules, here is a pick of top 5 fun no prop games.

1. Dumb Charade– The eternal crowd favourite. Start with guessing movies, then go to books or songs if the group seems like a pro.

Rules are simple – one person whispers a movie name to the clue solver who will act the name out using only signs, without any verbal cues. The rest of the audience has to guess the name of the movie based on those clues. For larger group divide into two teams with a member of opposing team whispering the movie name to the clue solver in the other team. The rest of the other team then tries to guess the movie name. If they can’t solve correctly within the stipulated time, a point is rewarded to the opposing team.

It slowly turns from being a tame, proper rules fsollowed game to one where each team competes in getting more creative in coming up with movie names, it takes a few rounds to nudge the silent ones, but in a couple of turns, they are the ones more likely to come up with the whackiest names. Dumb Charades is a game that has no age bar, even kids love to participate as do grown-ups. It never fails to bring up the energy level of the party.

The group can set out some ground rules like thumbs up for English, thumbs down for regional, a name tag sign when acting out a proper name, denoting a circle to represent the globe and hence lead to the place where the movie is set in.  

2. Mafia – An exciting role playing game based on power of deduction, perfect to be played in a larger gathering of 7+ people. In fact, the more, the merrier is true for this one. Apparently devised as a research project, this game rose to popularity in 1990’s. Chances are you might have played this game at least once with maybe another name like assassin, werewolves, village, or in a board game format of Mafia or its derivative Resistance. The principle is same – it is game of survival in which either the good guys win by eliminating the mafia completely, or the mafia wins by becoming equal in number to the villagers.

Rules – There should be 3 good guys or civilian for every bad guy or mafia, one oracle and one moderator. The nomenclature changes based on the version you are playing; while oracle can be known as sheriff or detective, the mafia can be called werewolves. The civilians similarly can be known as villagers or sheep. However, all versions need a moderator. The moderator doesn’t play the game but conducts the different phases of games and has to make sure that rules are followed. You can shuffle a deck of cards to let people pick on the roles, or write the roles on pieces of paper and let them be drawn from a bag.  Everyone reads their cards and knows their role but are not allowed to reveal it. The moderator conducts the games and announces the different phases.

Game phases:

1. Night – Moderator declares night and everyone has to close their eyes. He then says “Mafia is waking up”. The mafia open their eyes to acknowledge each other and point through gestures only to the victim they decide to eliminate. The moderator then asks mafia to close their eyes by declaring “Mafia is sleeping”.  When moderator says “Detective (Sherriff or Oracle) is waking up”, the detective opens her eyes and points to a member she suspects to be mafiosi. The moderator signals to let her know if her choice was correct. Then the moderator asks everyone to close their eyes. He taps the detective’s choice (if they were identified correctly) to indicate they have been eliminated – they can’t influence the discussion thereafter. Usually the night time is accompanied with drumming of knees or tables by everyone so sounds of shuffling are masked.
2. Day – the moderator asks everyone to open their eyes together by saying “The village is waking up”. The players left after eliminations then open their eyes and discuss who they believe to be the mafia. The mafia join in to throw them off the track by accusing a villager of being a mafia. What follows is a fun exercise in power of deduction by an uninformed majority to identify the informed minority.  The day time lasts longer and concludes with a vote on who the members believe to be a mafiosi.  The moderator declares the result and the voted out member reveals his identity.  
3. The game repeats in phases from night to day, day t night, with maximum one person eliminated in each phase.
4. Game Conclusion – If all mafia are eliminated by being voted out or identified by oracle the villagers win the game. Else if the Mafia have eliminated or succeeded in voting out enough villagers such that the remaining villager and mafia are equal in number; then the mafia win the game.

Caveat – there are various versions to this game involving additional roles like Doctor, Don, or variations like not revealing the identity of the voted out among others. The version above is a tried and tested one which stays time bound. You can of course choose the one which makes it more exciting for your set of players.

3. Antakshari – every bathroom singer’s India’s Got Talent moment. Antakshari is a singalong with the rule of singing a song that beings with the last letter or consonant of the previous one. It can be played like a relay singalong with every player taking turns in a group. However, if it is a large gathering, the fun is to turn it competitive by dividing into two teams. The teams have to come up with a song within 1 minute of the previous team ending theirs else they forfeit a point. The game goes on till a team reaches a pre agreed points tally, say 10 or till as long as you want to.

Bonus: A trivia take on this is the game of ATLAS, where teams or individuals have to come up with a name of place starting with the last letter of the previous place mentioned. A game that involves kids engagingly and has been known to pass many a long car rides without tantrums.

4. Pictionary – At test is not the talent of drawing but of getting your message across with the clock ticking. Yet many an artists have been discovered in this game but even more thanked their stars they didn’t take up arts as career choice. One can either make use the Pictionary board game or make it even more fun by going rogue the dumb charade way. Again, it can be played in a relay format or in teams. One person writes a clue and hands it to the clue solver. The clue solver has to draw out the clues to help the rest of the audience to guess the word. Rules and conclusion similar to dumb charade or antakshari. Props needed are pencil and paper, but if it’s a larger group it would be nice to have an easel/board so everyone can see the drawing easily.

5. Lateral puzzles – if you want a more cerebral sort of fun then getting your group to solve lateral puzzles can be a very rewarding exercise in powers of discussion. Coined by the physici an/psychologist Edward de Bono in 1967, these puzzles don’t follow the logical deductive reasoning pattern and have to involve creative thinking to solve them. You will have to look up on some lateral puzzles online beforehand though. These puzzles usually involve a small story told by the moderator and the audience has to guess what happened by asking questions that can only be answered using a Yes/No/Maybe – A classic one to start the session:

 – A woman climbs up, climbs down, takes off her clothes, climbs up again, shrieks. What happened?

The session can go on till the group solves the puzzle or gives up and begs the moderator to take them out of their agony. The answer is the woman climbed up the weighing scale, in case you couldn’t really stop thinking about it.

These are few of the no/low prop games that you can play that can quickly transition a quiet get together into an actively engaged one. Even if people are averse to some game ideas in the beginnings, the energy slowly rubs off and everyone joins in enthusiastically. Your job as host is to see which game to play and not let a bit of fun go out of hand by turning akin to super competitive contact sports. Use your judgements to give leeway to the introverts and get the extroverts to slightly back off from taking over the arena.

Just because we have grown up, doesn’t mean we forget how much fun playing games is.

#hostingeasy #gettogether #partygames

Ever been to party where you look awkwardly at each other while you can hear the hosts arguing in panic in the other room?

You may not be able to avoid some last minute firefighting (the swiggy guy always needs directions when you have people over), doing it out of earshot might be a good idea, as also having some sound dampener like light music going in the background. This will also come in handy when that in sync end of conversations happens followed by the pin drop silence that no one wants to be the first to break.  No party is immune to the awkward lull of conversation, but there is vaccine to make it less painful when it happens – music!

For this some pre work is required, unless you’re ok to let your party be democratically run by letting everyone have a say in the jukebox, or worse, ruined by an autocratic guest’s taste in music.  

Here are the steps to make your party have the most memorable background noise and fewest awkward silences:

1. On any free day, just sit and create your own song play list titles. You may already have a library full of them, or you can use the preset playlists of music streaming apps as starting base.

Some ideas for play lists for different party moods are:

1. Rock
2. Soul soothers
3. Jazz
4. Retro
5. Instrumental
6. Classical
7. Bollywood
8. Dance Western
9. Country specific – French, Italian, Celtic (After our visit to Ireland , we played Celtic music in one of our get togethers – it was a refreshing change from usual genres and led to a lot of discussions on Ireland.)
10. Kid friendly. On a side note, don’t play nursery rhymes at kids’ birthday parties -Have you ever seen any kid really get that excited when ‘wheels of the bus’ starts playing, but must surely have secretly winced at the made up cartoon voices and jarring music that comes with this territory. There are a lot of songs which are kid friendly and still good for a grown up company (Happy, Wavin’ Flag, I Like To Move It…no baby shark please)

• Every time you hear a song that you like, add it under its mood list. You can have so many playlists, even the ones in languages you may not know - thanks to cloud and Shazam. Whoever says ‘those were the days’ show them a 100 song Spotify/Amazon Music mood playlist and see how it compares to the A and B sides of the mix tape. Just giving credit to tech and engineering where it’s due.
• Armed with ready lists, when it is time to have people over, you just have to ask yourself these questions to get the right playlist for your get together:
  • Who are your guests – If they speak different languages – English is a great unifier and European is a great leveler. If you all share a language then the easy choice is obvious.
  • What is the mood you want – relaxed or energized. It’s a conversation over dinner, keep it low volume and soothing music. If its an activity based evening or brunch, the music can be one that you can dance to too.
  • Who are you – what makes you happy, is there a part of you that you’d like to talk about through music – it’s your party, you have to be there from start to end so it should speak to you most of all. 

If it were to be laid out in a Venn diagram or Johari window exercise, you’d be left with a tiny pie of the universe which satisfies all three criteria– but thankfully we are only talking about a background noise we love and the songs are almost as abundant as humans on earth. So be assured, more than one playlist will find some common ground for your evening.

• Choose your speaker for the venue. You can play it through Echo kind of devices or keep the speaker bluetooth connection to your phone ready. Best to keep your phone on charging while it is playing so it doesn’t run out of battery coz the party will be long and you (ideally) shouldn’t have much use of the phone on your hand.
• Only intervention you may need is to increase the volume a bit once all your guests are there and conversation volumes have increased, making sure the music is a background element and never makes conversation strained by being overpowering.
• Add starting your playlists to your things to do before party starts. Along with
• Light the candles
• Pre-plate the munchies
• Spray the room freshener

More on the last minute preps later…

Till then, groove on to your music!

#hostingeasy #gettogether #partyplanning

Before pandemic struck and dealt a blow to our get together culture, most parties I went had two types of hosts, one where you were greeted with leisure and the others where the host couldn’t spare 2 minutes of uninterrupted attention on every new arrival. The former might not have the best spread laid out or the most beautiful themed décor going, but they did make the guests feel they are in for a night of relaxed fun and conversation. The latter, more often than not had great food but the host was so anxious that you are checking the watch (or phone) to gauge when is a good time to politely make your exit.

Let’s reflect on the amount of effort spent in preparing to host, then why not give it a good starting shot. Most likely, unless it is a compact group, you will not get this one-on-one time with your guest later in the party. It’s now that you can make them feel invited and welcome. Here are some tips to make welcome a conscious part of the get together. These are things we might overlook, or feel are not important enough, but they definitely get noticed if you do them.

1. Be there to open the door yourself.

2. Please don’t accuse them of being late, they might have legit reasons for it and you don’t want to get caught in a 15 minute recounting of the latest victim of murphy’s law’s . Welcome them with smiles and a tight handshake or hug.

3. If they have got a gift, give a minute to see and appreciate it. Adds to the free time you will get when you don’t have to send thank you notes for each gift you received. They will also know that you value the effort they put in. In case they didn’t put in that said effort, well , it might help their gifting game next time

4. Make sure you find them a seating even if they choose to stand and mingle.

5. Introduce them to a couple of friends and bring out some connection — a common city they have lived in, a hobby, or just how you know both sets of guests, in case they are new to the group just to give them a starting point for conversation.

Bonus tip : If you had time before — create a center piece at the door or entrance — either a shallow receptacle with flowers floating, a candle or lantern display , else anything that warms people to the theme of the season, especially if that’s the reason for the get together.

You may already be a great host and doing it anyway, or you may not have noticed how others feel when you let them in and rush back to check on the entrees. 

Every human interaction has one key ingredient to make it a success — empathy. Reflect on what you liked when you were hosted and try to do the same for your guests.

#gettogether 

Books are our window into different places, times and minds. The tribe of book readers is strong, so it was inevitable that we find a way to connect. One of the book clubs I founded had people from diverse backgrounds joining in. There were avid readers who joined, there were some who had turned away from reading due to demands of work or the million things that get in the way. Some like me, who find that while reading is an intensely solitary activity, the end of a book raises so many questions and feelings that you need to sound it out with others who have been through the same to wallow or float in collective emotion.

Like any group, that has to stay beyond the initial interest, we have a few guidelines to keep ours growing and exciting.

1. We ask for a volunteer to host the meet which is usually planned a month ahead
2. It is the host’s prerogative to choose the book of the month, though they often ask members to vote to help them make the final choice
3. Host sends out 10-12 questions a few days before the meet to give us enough time to dwell on them
4. On the day of meet up, we gather for some chai or wine and catch up before sitting down to discuss the main event- our book of the month 
5. Having a set of questions that are already shared, helps anchor the discussion and relive the entire book by  bringing out how each of us felt about different characters or events. We do need to practice a lot of self restraint to not mention our blanket yay or nay at the outset before we have gone through all our questions. This is gratifying because our opinions are often changed listening to how others related to the story and that surely is a sign of the open minds we are surrounded with. Some hosts have also introduced interactive activities that make us connect over the book in new ways.
6. Yes, we are a feisty group and conversations can get animated and loud so we then dig out a talking stick on such occasions that we pass on to whoever is speaking next, so others listen before following up with their thoughts.
7. Before parting, we ask for a  volunteer for the next meet and then the fun begins with anticipating the next title and date of meeting.

You can mix it up by having a diverse set of books to read, from murder mysteries to romance, to biographies as well as slice of life – easy reads, much needed, to get us out of our reading blocks or busy festive occasions.

It is a relief to find a set of people with whom you can argue for a character that is deemed a villain by another and then together, burst in laughter a moment later at a discovered plot hole. We look forward to these meetings when we can chat up over a delicacy the host serves, along with a little structure to our conversation.

The best aspect of book clubs is that they make you cross your comfort zone of usual suspects and make you read a book which you may never pick up, but for the hostess’ mandate. It makes me surprisingly happy to concede every time I fall in love with a book which I never thought was my usual genre – Circe, The Museum of Modern Love, All My Puny Sorrows spring to mind. Conversely, it is equally rewarding when people love a book as intensely as you did when you first read them like with Normal People, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry or A Gentleman in Moscow.

It is rarely the case that a book is a unanimous hit or a miss, and it is only by discussing and listening to each other’s views, no matter if they are contradictory to ours, do we discover what we may have missed while reading with our opinion blinkers on.

It is lovely to find fellow booklovers within your community. Go ahead and initiate a book club to enhance the joy of reading.

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!