How to survive a child’s birthday party

Article originally published on January 21, 2021

Well yes, children grow up. We could tell ourselves every day “oh-la-la, how fast that goes” or ” the days go by like cars », we are always surprised when D-Day arrives and we see our very little child, who is no longer a child, blowing out the candles.

Personally I relived it this weekend, since my daughter celebrated her four years and I wanted, as a good loving and caring mother, to organize a birthday party worthy of the name for her.

Thanks to this event I was able to draw up a list of things that it is better to avoid doing when you want to start organizing this type of party, so as not to throw yourself on the Prozac box before the end of the day, as unfortunately was my case. Don’t thank me, it’s a gift.

Tip #1 for organizing a birthday party: choose your guests well

This is the ultimate rule: don’t invite the whole school over to your house for your precious one’s birthday.

There is a well-known adage that helps determine the indicator of guests: “Ideally” the number of guests should be equal to the age of your child.

That is to say, if your child turns 4, it is advisable to invite only 4 people, and you will only have to manage “only” 5 children (yours included) during the afternoon. .

Do you think that’s not enough? Let’s calm down, your bacon isn’t Kim Kardashian, she doesn’t need to have her whole class of hers in kindergarten to be happy.

Because it’s nice to want to invite everyone, but you risk quickly becoming overwhelmed and, at the end of your life, wanting to grab shots of vodka to keep up.

Later, if the king or queen of the party wants to invite only a few friends: so much the better! Don’t force him to invite more people to reach the ideal number, it makes no sense to push on social relationships, he will have plenty of time for that later.

And if you think I’m exaggerating in wanting to limit the number of guests: try visualizing the atmosphere of a 50m2 apartment with five sugar-addicted kids. Personally, I didn’t come here to suffer, huh.

Children high in sugar, allegory

Tip #2 for managing a birthday party: bchoose the place of the party well

Yes, because it is a non-negligible aspect: you have to anticipate the place where the action will take place. If you’re lucky, your child was born in spring or summer, or even early autumn, and it’s entirely possible to hold the party outdoors, in a garden or public park.

If you’re damned like me, your daughter was born in January and her birthday falls HAIRY HAIR on the only day it snows (but not fresh snow for fun huh, no I’m talking slippery snow that turns brown because we live in Paris).

There you have less choice: you have to do it at home. So yes, you could also rent an outdoor space, but it often costs a fortune.

So here’s my second tip: if you have the opportunity, try to organize the party outside your small apartment and have children who have the good idea of ​​being born in a season other than winter.

Tip no. 3 to survive a birthday party: bchoose your weapons

So no, I’m not talking about guns harming children, I’m not that type of person, thank you very much. When I say “pick your weapons,” I mean what you have planned to host Jean-Kevin’s birthday party.

Are you going to work alone or with parent 2? Unless you’ve been planning to hire someone whose job it is? Will you lead workshops on coloring and sticking stickers or will you let the children play freewheel in Marie-Cystite’s room?

Your decision will obviously depend on several factors, first of all your mental capacity to manage several kids who have eaten too much candy and who are as excited as Trump about the attack on Capitol Hill. But that’s not all, because you will also have to take into account the number of guests, the age of the children and your budget.

Ah well yes, the budget counts, since it will allow you (or not) to hire an intermittent show clown to enliven the party, or a storyteller who can also make balloon animals.

Personally I had a budget close to 0, and I decided to organize everything with my daughter’s father. We divided up the tasks as best we could.

He supervised some of the kids in our daughter’s bedroom, who were throwing literally anything tipper, and me in the living room, sitting on the floor with the kids coughing all over me, to lead a workshop. very little success, it must be admitted.

Kids are less and less creative, it’s crazy! (That’s not true, my lab was really bad, I understand them, I also didn’t want to color).

There you have it, these were the three tips to know before embarking on organizing a tea party for kids!

Oh yeah and one last tip: avoid putting pressure on yourself. As long as there’s candy, applesauce, friends, and balloons, you’ll be fine. Truly, this is the basis of a successful birthday party.

Good luck

Photo credit image of one: Modern Family series