Party tips

Avoid Distractions

We can’t advise strongly enough how important it is to keep the room free from distractions, whilst your party is taking place. E.g. toys, loose balloons on the floor, bouncy castle, open buffet for kids grab food, garden toys/ equipment (if the party is outside). If distractions like these are accessible to kids, a lot of the children (if not all) may focus on these rather than the show, which can in turn, distract the rest of the kids from the show, and they won’t enjoy the entertainment as much. Our entertainers are very experienced and excellent at what they do, but even the world’s most experienced entertainer can not do a show for the kids to enjoy if there are distractions like this around. Removing them makes a BIG difference. So do please avoid these where possible. If you have a bouncy castle, then we’d simply advise having it deflated during the show. If you have balloons you want to use for decorations, simply fix them somewhere visible, but out of  children’s reach. If you have toys in the room, please put these somewhere children cannot see or play with. If you have an open buffet, then we’d advise covering the food up so children know the food is for later. This just helps maximise the children’s enjoyment during the show.

Table

It’s very helpful for your entertainer to have a table to set up, at your party. If you’ve hired a venue then usually they have one available. But if your party is at home its very helpful if you can have a table made available in the room for them to set up on. As well as helping the party run more smoothly, it does look much better from a presentation point of view.

Mains socket

Its very helpful if the entertainer can set up close to mains power supply. They can advise you on the best place for them to set up when they arrive, but if you have a specific place you’d like them to set up already, then please bear in mind they’ll need to be close to a power socket.

Parents/ Background noise

It is only natural that a lot of parents will want to stay at the party. Its a great chance for parents to enjoy the fun to and to catch up with one another. However, to help us give your children the best show possible, we do advise trying to keep noise levels to a minimum. This is purely so the noise of parents chatting in the background doesn’t adversely affect children from hearing the show. Your entertainer will have a microphone if needed, but we find this doesn’t always solve the problem, as what can happen is parents begin talking even louder to make themselves heard over the show, and the noise simply escalates, which can have have an adverse affect on the children enjoying the party. We realise there is only so much anyone can do to control this, so its not something to worry about too much, but we would advise just being aware of this and where possible, encourage parents to keep noise levels to a minimum.

Be ready for unexpected numbers

When planning food and drink, or party bags, be ready for more kids showing up than you expected. Its always better to over cater than under cater. Its often the case that kids who have not RSVP’d may still show up. (or vice versa of course). Or some parents end up bringing their siblings too.

Should I invite the whole class?

To save upset, it’s best to. It’s just easier inviting everyone instead of trying to work out who you want to leave out. Plus you run the obvious risk of upsetting some children (and parents) if most of the class are invited except for them. Some schools in fact have a policy where if you are sending out invites at the school, you have to invite the entire class if you are having a party.

How far ahead should I plan the party?

The earlier the better. Parents can take a very long time to RSVP so be prepared for that. Try to send out the invitations at least four weeks before the party otherwise you might run into problems, such as someone else you know having a celebration on the same weekend. Always ask for an RSVP on the invitations and follow up the invites a week or two later, by speaking to parents at school or calling them before the day so you can finalise numbers. You are able to print off our free party invitations from the bottom of this page if you so wish.

Do I need an entertainer?

If you want to save yourself a lot of stress and hassle then yes. Children’s entertainers know what keeps children entertained (the good ones anyway!) A lot of kids have a professional entertainer of some sort at their party. Also, make sure you book one early as the good ones are often in high demand, and can be booked up months in advance.

Do I need to hire a hall?

If you have a good sized room in your house that can comfortably fit the number of kids you’re inviting then usually this is absolutely fine. The obvious advantage of having a hall is that you don’t have the mess in your house and you don’t stress about food falling on the floor or carpet. Loads of parents have parties in their homes and they are a roaring success but if you are worried about mess or things getting damaged and you have a lot of children coming, then a hall would be better. If you are hiring a hall then book as early as possible, as popular halls can get booked up very quickly. Why not use our venue finding software to help.

Do I need party bags?

Right or wrong, the children will probably expect something to go home with. It’s almost an expected feature of birthday parties now. But you can always opt for something else like a gift wrapped item for each child, or a small toy, a mini book, together with a piece of cake, so long as they all have something to take home with them at the end.

What are good party bag fillers?

There are loads to choose from. Girls love items such as bracelets, hair bobbles, fairy wands, sunglasses, and stickers. For boys they’re a big fan of sticky wall crawlers, bouncy balls, water pistols or stickers. It’s best to go for a few quality items rather than lots of little cheap nasty things that they won’t like and won’t last. We provide party bags should you need them. Kids come up to us at the end of the party proudly showing us what they’ve got in their bags, so we know we’ve got it right.

What food should I serve?

No celebration can be without sweets, crisps and all the chocolate goodies that kids love. But don’t just pile on the E numbers without something else to balance it out. It’s a good idea to have a variety of fruit and vegetables too. Mini raisin boxes go down well, as do carrot and cucumber sticks or cherry tomatoes. Mixed fruit such as strawberry’s or pineapple chunks are popular as well. Not forgetting a mixture of sandwiches and fruit juices.

Should parents stay or go?

If the children are three or under it’s important that the parents stay. With ages four or over, unless they are extremely shy, they will just be interested in having fun and joining in without Mum or Dad being there. So unless you want to have a separate social gathering with parents while the kids are entertained, it’s probably best that they go. Also it’s worth knowing that if parents stay and are talking in the background it can make a fair amount of background noise that can make it harder for the children to hear the entertainer during the show. If parents do stay and you are having a parent gathering as well then it’s best if this takes place in a separate room or it can disturb the main entertainment for the children.

When’s the best time to have a party?

There’s really no optimal day or time. Its down to what works best for you. The weekends are the best times obviously as that’s when kids are mainly fee. But it’s becoming more and more common to have parties during the week after school too, which then frees up your weekends for other things.

 

Get our free party planner app!

To help make life super easy, we have created a free app that helps you plan your party! It allows you to create and send invites from you phone, as well as manage RSVPs so you can keep track of guests and chase up those who haven’t replied, create to do lists and more.

Download on Android  or Apple.