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On a birthday, I found out that I had diabetes, and my first thought was that I'd never be able to have another birthday party with cake, ice cream, and the works. That feeling of impending loss was over whelming and so, at least to me, this article is written from the very heart of my feelings about being diabetic. With that said, I must admit that I haven't given a child's party for some years, and so, I went to the library for help from current experts. To my satisfaction, little has changed from the first excitement to the abject fear when one child refuses to separate from the parent and won't enter your home.
I will share with you a special theme that we used successfully with our 5-year-old son, who is now the father of a 8-month old. He loved the zoo, and our photo albums attest to our many visits to view the wild animals. We therefore planned an animal party. Here is what we did with some additions gleaned from those books I told you about.
Let me digress first to share with you the titles of the books that I read to help with this article. I borrowed five books, but for my purposes, used only three. These are The Penny Whistle Party Planner by Meredith Brokaw and Annie Gilbar (Weidenfield & Nicolson), an excellent source for how to plan a party with tips about child behavior; The Happiest Birthdays for Young Children by Michaeline Bresnahan and Joan Gaestel Macfarlane (The Stephen Greene Press), a source of excellent patterns for invitations, cakes (ours comes from one of their ideas), and games; and Birthday Parties for Kids by Penny Waarmer (Prime Publishing) which has more games than you ever imagined as well as ideas for parties and foods, etc.
First step is to think of a theme. Now is the time to include the birthday child. Why give a Cinderella party for a girl who loves Winnie the Pooh or outer space? Our party's theme is zoo animals. Since most of us have to work, plan parties, and be parents, chief cook and bottle washer, etc. it is important not to bit off more than you can chew. Next, make a list of what you plan to do, who will help do what, when it has to be done, and what you will job out to professionals. Let's start at the beginning.
What You Plan to Do:
This is a party for very young children , many of whom have a rather short attention span so we are planning a 2 hour party with outside entertainment, games, lunch, and finally, "going home." A word to the wise about planning the entertainment. Our children grew up in Washington, D.C. where there was a clown called Gene who was wonderful with children, and therefore in great demand. One year our son went to six parties with Gene as the entertainment within three months.To be honest, we were one of those parties, but luckily at the beginning of the run. Don't try to one-up other parents. It won't work. There are always those "creative" types out there, or the just very rich, so just pay attention to the parties your children attend and more importantly to what they like. These are things of which memories are made.
First of all we decided on zoo invitations and were prepared to cut out elephants and giraffes, but found some ready-made which saved us time. Next we had to decide how many children to invite. You know the old warning about inviting the whole class or just a few so that those not asked are not crest fallen, but twenty-five 5-year -olds in my rec room was scary. To our son's credit, he suggested that we invite the boys in this class and since he attended a school with small class sizes, the party started off manageable. If you wind up with more children, do enlist your friends, relatives, or high school neighbors to come and keep order. We asked two of our friends to bring their children and stay. Our next decision was whether or not to have each child come in costume as a favorite zoo animal. We opted for a compromise. We asked each child to bring three facts about his favorite animal and come with a home-made mask of that animal. The pictures from that party are a delight, and we've delighted many an executive, banker, doctor, etc. with a copy of the pictures of them wearing their masks and "cutting up."
Our menu came next. Since we were serving lunch, we made animal-shaped sandwiches using cookie cutters, decorated our cake in the shape of an elephant, and served non-staining sodas. Our decorations included Easter basket grass on the table with small stuffed zoo animals and birds (borrowed from our children) hiding behind home-made trees (held up by tongue depressors), animal crackers in a circle around the grass, and around our cake. One word of caution: If you are using packaged cookies, always buy twice as many packages that you think you will need as many come broken. The plates were purchased at a local store carried out the theme as did the paper cups.
Each child was given a paper hat and a small basket to carry home trinkets from the jungle, plastic animals, and souvenirs from the zoo. Next, we called around to find someone who would come to our house with non-threatening animals. Important! Get references! We, the adults, had a blast touching the animals and learning about them. The children, who seemed to know more than we did, had an even better time. After a few games like hunting for wild animals in the garden for prizes and opening the presents, the parents arrived to take the children home. As they left, each child was given a family admission ticket to the local zoo. Since their parents will then in attendance, we knew the ticket got home.
Who will help do what?
No matter how few children you invite, you can bet that one child will need special attention at this age, and if you are with that child, the party can fall apart. If you have a husband or wife get them involved. No hospital rounds, golf date, or tennis match today. This is your child's party and it will be remembered, I promise. Give the people you ask to help a time line for the party and what they are expected to do during each activity. For a reward you might ave a simple lunch set up for them -- something they can eat while standing or helping a child.
When it has to be done.
Since most of us work you will need to start planning any party early so that you can fit it into your schedule. Do get a theme at least 2 months before, and start to think realistically about what you can handle in terms of number of children in your home, outside or in, and contingency plans, where the party will be held, home or at the bowling alley, time of day, exactly what you will do, and who you will need to hire out, decorations, favors, prizes, etc. Next just start. Find out about your entertainment or the bowling alley, clown, movie matinee, or whatever so there are no surprises. Do talk to the other parents who have used that facility. We once gave an ice skating party at a local rink and found that their dining area had not been closed to outsiders so that we wound up entertaining our daughter's guests and a bunch of strangers. Get the invitations and send them out at last 3 weeks ahead. Make sure to put on your calendar a date to call those who have not responded to get an accurate count. Decided on the menu. If you have a big enough freezer you can bake a cake and freeze it ahead of time. Get the decorations in the house by the morning of the party, as well as the favors, and have any games ready to go. A few days before the party, one last phone call to those who will help. If the flu hits you still have time to beg another friend to help. Remember to say you'll reciprocate for them some day. Be sure to have a first aid kit in the house. Children will be children and sooner or later, when you have them in your home, one will fall, get bitten, or eat too much.
Caution: The following cake is for special occasions only. It's only appropriate when one's blood sugars are in reasonably good control and then only in the portion indicated. If in doubt, check with your physician or dietitian before you decide to serve it.
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