How to plan a kids party – Post Covid
Having your child’s friends and their parents over at your house is bound to make some of the parents nervous. Whether you have the party at a venue or at home, ensure that you have health and safety protocols in place, to put the parents and guests at ease.
While there are many Super-Woman and men out there who have the ability to host a party for 20 children at their home with no serious effort, this article is for those of us for whom this endeavour is a little more nerve racking.
When you know your child’s birthday is coming up, there is many questions to answer; What is the party theme? What age is the children that is invited? Should the parents also be invited? Are you serving cake? Are you serving party packs? Are you providing lunch or only snacks, both, or none? Is your house large enough? Do you want to arrange everything yourself, just some of it, or none?
Hopefully this will guide some of the things to think about
The Venue Offering
Should I have the party at my House? To answer this you need to ask what would make a good venue, ie, spacious, preferably some grass/ area for children to play outside, a play area, enough bathrooms and ablution and lastly the ability to enforce hygiene and Covid protocols.
The Location and the Views of the Venue
Should you choose a venue, it is recommended to choose a convenient location, close to your child’s school or friends. Consider how far your guests will be traveling and what other requirements they may have
The views of the venue can be very important for memorable events. Make sure the venue looks good and is aesthetically pleasing both to the eye and in photographs. A relaxing atmosphere can change the entire feel of the occasion, this can be enhanced using smart décor and arrangements at home or at a venue.
Capacity of the Venue
Ensure that the venue/ home is spacious and can accommodate the required guests easily. Large open grass areas and plenty of ablution is important to ensure your guests is not crammed in with each other. Make sure you have an accurate idea of how many guests will be coming. Most venues will accommodate additional late comers at a party, but for a price.
Please also note that most venues will charge you for the amount of guests booked for the event, even if they do not all show up, as the cost have already been incurred by the venue days before the event during preparation.
Do they offer Décor
Some parents really enjoy going to arts and craft shops, buying strings of coloured paper and materials, brainstorming with their children on how the party should be made up and what décor they will require.
Some parents just don’t want the hassle, for those parents a venue that makes up the party according to theme is first prize.
Include the Meals, snacks, and party packs
Some venue options are for venue only, in these cases the parents bring the décor, party packs, food/snacks and cake to the party.
However, most child friendly venues now offer the option to cater everything from the themed party packs to the lunches and even the cake.
The cost of the venue
Parents often reckon they can throw a party a lot cheaper themselves than it will cost them if they hire a venue to do it all for them. This can be the case, and if you are a parent who thoroughly enjoys the challenge of creating an Instagram worthy kids party, then you need to do it yourself and enjoy the organising as part of the birthday experience.
For other parents, this may be unnecessarily stressful, and the cost saving may sometimes not be worth the stress. After engaging with many parents who have done both organising a large party themselves and having a venue do it for you, I can tell you now that the difference in cost is often very small.
Conclusion
As a parent of three small children, the first prize for any parent is to have a well located, child friendly venue, capable of setting up the venue according to party theme of choice, orchestrating the entertainment for the children, supply the food and drinks, offer alternative food and drinks to the guest parents and most importantly – to clean up after the party have concluded.
Sometimes it is worth paying for convenience, leaving the parents relaxed to focus on their children, instead of all the nitty gritty arrangements.
For Events and birthday party enquiries please email Jeanine at info@gemstoneguesthouse.co.za