5 Steps to Easy Birthday Party Hosting

Happy New Year! In our family, once the holidays are over, we jump right in to birthday celebrations. This can be tiring since we like to spend the holidays baking, cooking, and celebrating many December birthdays as well. 

Instead of trying to host the most epic Pinterest or Instagram-worthy party of the year, I focus on what will be most meaningful to the guest of honor (for my husband, caramel cake, and my kids, friends and bubbles), and center my time, energy, and budget around those aspects.

5 steps to easily host a birthday party to remember

Pick a budget and stick to it

One of the biggest and most lingering stresses is not the party itself, but the cost of throwing a fabulous celebration. Decide how much you could spend (let’s say $300) and how much you’re comfortable saving up for and actually spending ($150). 

There’s no need to share this number with anyone other than your spouse or fellow hosts, and repeat this: don’t feel guilty about the amount. 

For children, the most important part of a party is cake and having a good time with their friends. For adults, especially older adults, getting everyone together is usually also enough.

Tip: “shop” your house and see what paper and plastic ware you already possess, what decorations you can repurpose, and what ingredients you have in your cabinet. I used edible pearls from my son’s baptism cakes to decorate the mermaid themed cupcakes of my daughter’s third birthday. 

Allow 2 months for planning

This may seem like a long time, but if you’re still shocked how fast 2019 came and went then 8 weeks is a blink of an eye.

As soon I’ve picked my date and secured the physical location (park reservation, a relative’s house, or restaurant) then I move on to the invitations so my guests have plenty of time to schedule the party on their calendar.

Tip: If you’re considering an outdoors event, choose a place with cover or shelter in case it’s too hot/cold or raining. If that’s not possible, use your house or a willing family member’s as backup.

Narrow down your theme

This is probably my favorite part of any party planning! While I love a good Pinterest search, this where you can easily overwhelm your time and budget (remember tip #1). 

The point is to celebrate and host a good time for your guests, not to be a stressed-out, sleep deprived host/hostess because you slaved away creating mini edible dinosaurs or having the most epic balloon wall. Time = money so even if you saved money DIY-ing everything, think about the expense you paid on your, and everyone else’s time.

I like to pick a theme and write down all my ideas for how to execute the theme. This is where time is on your side, if you have 5-7 days to debate over plastic tea cups versus a teapot cake, then you allow yourself more time to decide what matters most and what you’re willing to spend your time and money on.

For my eldest’s first birthday, I chose her nursery theme (Alice in Wonderland) for her party and decided to put my effort in making a 3D teapot cake I saved many years ago and complimented it with teacup laser cut invitations. The rest of the decorations were simple (yellow, white, and lavender balloons, streamers, and polka dot plates). 

Tip: I used the “remainder” of her baptism napkins because I forgot to pack them for her actual baptism celebration (which was hosted 2.5 hours away from our house). No use crying over the details because no one was outraged that I didn’t have fancy napkins at her baptism and the mint green looked cute for the tea party. 

PS. I don’t foresee creating a teapot cake again in the near future.

Prepare food ahead of time

Unless you are fully catering an event, you will have to make some things ahead of time and freeze to save you and the members of your household from being in a mad frenzy in the days leading up to the party.

If you’re making your own cake/cupcakes, bake and freeze the unfrosted cakes a week in advance then frost the day before. (I’m going to tell you a secret, many commercial bakeries will do this with cakes you order; besides, if the first batch goes awry, you have time to bake another).

Tip: I order a small veggie or fruit tray for parties because time spent cutting and preparing the tray is better spent elsewhere to me. Also, always order a size smaller than you think you need for the veggie tray; guests generally nibble less from that than the fruit or dessert table.

Combine forces

The best decision I made last year was to host my kid’s birthdays together. Missy and Buddy have birthdays that are 6 weeks apart and knowing that I was going to invite the exact same guest list, I threw one party. 

This worked out well for 2 reasons: it was a (mostly) family-only affair and since they turned 3 and 1, there wasn’t a huge friend list to consider.

Since I still wanted them each to have their own theme (Little Mermaid and Oh the Places You’ll Go! from Dr. Seuss),  I kept the decorations simple (teal, purple and white balloons, with a special mylar balloon for each child) and solid colored plates. The goodie bags included bubbles and stickers. 

The invitations were designed to fit in the same envelope (to save on postage!) but you could decide on one theme that suits both (I also considered animals, jungle, or Sesame Street).

Tip: Make cupcakes and decorate half according to one theme and half to the other. You can display them on one tiered stand or group together with other decorations to embody the themes.

I hope your next celebration is full of fun memories and less pressure on your time and wallet.