So you’ve planned your party theme, booked your venue and your guestlist is coming together.
\What’s the next step? Now here’s to planning the night. From party games to speeches and dancing, it’s important to plan out an outline of your party and a fun-filled night for your guests. In this post we’ll run through some fun and easy birthday party ideas that work for any guestlist and any theme whether you’re planning an adventure-themed birthday party or a high tea birthday party, we’ve got some tips and tricks to make sure you have the best birthday party. If you’re not quite ready yet and still need some ideas for venues & transport read part one of party planning here.
Planning the birthday party
The first and possibly the most important thing is getting the cake right. Since the key ingredient of your party is the birthday boy or girl, you need to make sure you’re getting a cake that not only matches their age but also fits the theme of your party. For those interested in taking it a step further and trying something a little different, make sure you’re considering a cake design or flavour that can be recycled the next year too. Once you’ve chosen your cake, it’s time to get your guests involved with helping with the planning. If you’re going for a more informal setting or a smaller guest, it may be a good idea you have the opportunity to invite your guests in to help you plan out the party itself. Once the cake, guestlist and party transportation have been arranged, you and your team of planners can start to plan the extra special fun activities you know all the guests will enjoy…
Quiz and games
Game nights are a lot of fun. From going around the room to ask some quick-fire questions, to something with more of a competitive edge. From Trivial Pursuit to Taboo, everyone has their own favourite quiz game. Challenge your guests to some party games and see if they can beat you. Another fun game is charades, or taking a film role for your guests to act out.
Here are some simple and fun-filled games perfect for any birthday party:
- Treasure Hunt
- Button-Button
- Charades
- Obstacle Course
- Fireball
- What’s In the Bag?
- Simon Says
- The Floor is Lava
- Musical Chairs
- Pass the Parcel
We find it’s often best to bring in some simple games that anyone can get involved with. These also serve as great icebreakers if you have a guestlist where not everyone knows each other. What was your favourite birthday game to play as a child? This is often a great place to start, bring the games you once loved as a child.
Food
Food plays an important part in every party and having the perfect dinner for your guests is important. When planning your party there’s so much to consider with regards to ingredients, cooking times and guests preferences. However, for one-off parties, especially smaller or private parties, small snacks such as veggie burgers, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, rice, cheese and crackers, fruit and veggies, and dips, are a great alternative. On the other hand, if you are planning a themed birthday, having a menu that matches the theme will take your party to the next level.
The speeches
Speeches, you either love them or you hate them. Having a designated time slot for speeches doesn’t work for every party so it’s important to consider your guestlist and what you want the tone of the evening to be. Having speeches at a party tends to make the event slightly more formal and therefore is not always the best option for a kid’s birthday party. However, if you’re celebrating a milestone such as an 18th, 21st, 30th, 40th, 70th or 100th birthday speeches are a great way to commemorate a birthday milestone and share the love for the birthday girl or boy.
The dancing
Depending on the age of your guests, it can be easier to pull off a disco party or a classic-themed party. If you’re planning a birthday party for younger kids, they tend to love to dance. Some of the favourite dance party anthems over the past few years include Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper, Only Girl (In the World) by Rihanna and many more. Whether you’re hiring a DJ or planning a party playlist yourself, it’s important to go for a genre of music that your guestlist will love and know as well as catering to the theme of the party if you have one, it’s also easier now more than ever on how to plan the perfect playlist for your party as you can use Bluetooth, AUX or Spotify to play all the tunes throughout the entire party!
Conclusion
You want the night to be perfect but no party would be complete without its mishaps and surprises. So while it’s important to plan the night out, also remember to leave room for guests to get to know each other and do their own thing throughout the night. You’ve planned the party, that’s the hard part done now go enjoy yourself at the celebration.
