I’ll admit it, birthday parties are my thing. They make me so darn happy. I don’t know why I love them so much…I just do. Every year with our girls is magic, and I love celebrating their milestones with a special party. Lyra is our December baby, and her party always ends up being just before Christmas. It is a lot to pack into an already busy month, but the wonderful memories are always worth it for me in the end. Lyra is our social butterfly, and combined with her dance buddies, she ends up with about 20-25 kids at her parties (we are so grateful for these wonderful friends and their fantastic parents). Over the years, I’ve developed a few strategies for great kids parties…
- Find a theme and run with it – Pinterest is my favorite source for amazing idea’s!
- Choose your party plates and then base your color scheme off those. This will make your whole event look pulled together and stylish! 3 main colors work great for birthdays! For this party, ours were Tangerine, Lime Green and Lemon Yellow.
- Make a Timeline to work off of. Decide how long your party will last and estimate about how long each section (guest arrival, activities, games, cake and ice cream etc.) will last. Make sure you have enough going on to fill the entire length of the party.
- Activities, Activities, Activities. I definitely don’t want this many kids running crazy, so we keep them busy and focused with fun activities. For Lyra’s science party, each guest was greeted as a Scientist and given their tasks for the day on a clipboard. They had to register, make a security clearance name badge, don their safety gear, and then start their experiments. There were 3 experiments to complete, and after each experiment, the scientist would present his findings to a Sr. Scientist (aka Lyra’s older sister and her friends) to receive a reward before moving on the the next activity. I was surprised by how seriously the kids recorded their findings – great young minds at work!!!
- A few nice treats (syringe pens, safety glasses, buttons) are way better than a treat bag of tiny junk that will clutter up bedrooms. I hate clutter and I know most other mom’s do too!
- Cake and Ice Cream at the very end. See above, no crazy kids running around…don’t sugar them up until it’s time to send them home 🙂
The Senior Scientists listen to the Jr. Scientists findings (serious stuff!)
A bride once told me she chose the 11th for her wedding day, because she had always thought the number 11 looked like two people standing together, that thought made me love the number 11 too! I am standing together with you Lyra Day, cheering you on, and can’t wait to see all the magic Level 11 brings you!
Science Experiments: String Slime, Crystal Tree’s, Test Tube Adventures
Dry Ice – from the Harris Teeter Grocery store
Featured In
Magazine May / June 2021 Issue
