Share your top tips for children's birthday parties with Cadbury and you could win a £200 Love2Shop voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

Cadbury would like to hear your top tips for hosting a great themed birthday party for your DCs.

From pirates to Peppa Pig, baking to science - if you've thrown a great children's party, what theme did you choose and how did you bring it to life? Did you use decorations to set the scene, choose party food to fit with a fantasy world, or tailor activities you knew the kids would love? What did you put in the goody bags to go with your theme? And did you create a special birthday cake?

We'd love to hear about all the different ways you incorporated your child's favourite things into the day - to help inspire other parents who are party planning.

Everyone who shares their birthday party ideas and inspiration on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to where one MNer will win a £200 Love2Shop voucher.

Please note your comments may be included on Cadbury's pages on MN, their social media channels, and possibly elsewhere, so please only post if you're comfortable with this.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

[WannaBurger2016]

DIY cupcakes - provide sprinkles and icing etc and let the kids do their thing!

[glenthebattleostrich]

Get someone else to run the party. Far less stress.

And party bags. Never forget the party bags.

[glenthebattleostrich]

If you have kids with allergies attending do individual food boxes. It reduces the risk of sending a child to a & e which is always a bonus.

[ohlittlepea]

We held a teddy bears picnic themed welcome to the world party...it was fun! Lots of bears (luckily a couple of friends are keen teddy addicts). Bear face and paw cakes, using chocolate buttons. Colouring sheets with bears. Lots of coloured blankets in a field for the picnic, personalised bubbles for party bags:) we had an owl theme for her first birthday party...as my baby never slept :) we did a posh hot dog bar for the grown ups at that one which went down well :)

[SoftBlocks]

Don't just have music for Pass the Parcel etc. we had some music on all through the party - pop music, jazz, world music etc in the background like you would have at a grown up party. It really warms up a big village hall and you can keep the liveliest stuff until the end and have a bit of a dance before they go home.

[IWasThere4Aug12]

Party bags seem to be essential for young kids but as a parent I hate the tat that's often in them. As a compromise I try to fill ours with a themed book (can usually buy sets reasonably cheaply at The Book People or The Works) plus a themed pencil/rubber (useful for homework!), sweets and cake. Older DS seemed very happy with a small football instead when he went to a football party

[IonaAilidh11]

hire your local hall/community centre much cheaper and some have bouncy castles to use, take your own food and that way you can invite all their friends and not have to stick to just a few friends

[Snog]

A piñata always makes a party end with a bang...loved by kids and adults too! I stuff my own to make sure good stuff comes out of it!
Making your own beforehand would be a fun thing to do with the kids too.

[Purplehonesty]

My top tip is to ask the child, no matter their age what they would like and get their input.

So far I've done a pirate party for my ds - he chose the cake (a pirate treasure chest) and we asked everyone to come in fancy dress. I thought that was good as it's easy to make a pirate outfit and doesn't cost a lot.
We played some pirate games, I ordered themed Lunchboxes and balloons etc from Amazon.

My 3yo dd wanted a Christmas party for her birthday in the summer! So I went with it; got the Xmas decs out of the loft, made her a Santa cake, did Xmas party food too.
Everyone came and had a laugh and we played Xmas music.
When she first asked me I thought no way but it was be cheapest party I've ever done as I already had all the stuff!

I make cakes for a living so usually ask the children to choose what they want and then get on with it. They are tough little critics tho!

I think it's fun for them to get involved, choosing what to put in party bags and making decorations if necessary.

Ds chose a cinema party and Pizza Hut last birthday so I said yes fine but there would be a limit on the numbers due to cost. It was great actually and no stress or cleaning up! We took the cake with us to Pizza Hut too.

[sharond101]

Lots of free space, toys, juice and nibbles. Pleases them all with little expense.

[Theimpossiblegirl]

Traditional party games and party food still go down really well with younger children. A village hall with a bouncy castle/music/games means you can invite the whole class.

My DDs always had the choice- big party, small present or small party big present. They always chose the party.

For party bags I have done books, baking kits and craft sets, but the most popular were when I just did sweets.

[WarmHugs]

Ooh, I do love a good theme!

My top tip would be Pinterest. Most themes have been done to death, so there are plenty of ideas out there.

We have done a Frozen themed party, the food was just normal food with fancy labels! Throw a few ice cubes on the table, and colour everything blue!

[DG2016]

No sugar of any kind at all. It's poison. No soft drinks. No sugar substitutes. Just good traditional food and lots of great things like chicken veg etc.

That also ensures no sugar rushes and that everyone is healthy. Serve tap water to drink. Nothing to eat in party bags.

Sadly that does mean the secret is avoiding Cadbury products but that's not the end of the world if it helps cure the diabetes and obesity issues of the nation.

[FedoraTheExplora]

Bet the kids are clambering to come to your parties DG2016

[mammmamia]

Always team up with another parents whose child's birthday is near yours and have a joint party. The children don't seem to mind and you get to invite the class and have a lovel party for half the cost. Most of the parties my DC go to are joint. They are twins so you'd think I only needed to have one party but no last year they wanted to do different things (boy and girl) so ended up having two parties joint with friends from their class.
This year they both want soft play so I have booked and just having one party for the two of them.

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

Go out or get someone in (should budget allow).

We've done a party room at soft play when DD was pre-school age. Was at a farm park so loads to do after the party.

Most recently had a lady come to ours for jewellery making. They made loads and took it home in little organza bags (no party bags needed)

[stealthsquiggle]

Themes I have done include - pirates and princesses, Knights, jungle, spies, space, dragons, pottery, Mad Hatter tea party. Some of those twice.

The theme has generally been a joint choice between me and the DC in question. Once chosen, Pinterest and other web sites are my main source of inspiration. My main tip would be that if you are going with a theme, theme everything. Invitations, games, decorations, food, cake, party bags.... You are basically only adapting the normal party food/games/party bag tat, but the more it all fits with the theme, the more memorable the party will be.

[Cambam2010]

My son usually sees a cake idea that he wants and the theme developes from there. I've done, Trains, Octonauts, Pirate and Minecraft. But I find that Soft Play parties are the easiest and most of the children enjoy them. It takes the stress out of it all.

[TeaTowelQueen]

A lego theme is quite a good one as the shapes and colours are pretty easy to adapt to food, cake, invites etc.

We prefer a book, funky pencil and/or a balloon with a slice of cake for goody bags - both for giving and receiving.

Days out are our new thing though, one friend and a treat - cinema and dinner, or Legoland/Alton towers etc, parties are so much work and I don't get to enjoy the time with my ds, days out are more special for us.

[Elliecherry]

Most of our families birthdays are in the summer, so we have bbq's, fruit and snacks for food. The last theme we had was pirates and mermaids, where we had lots of dressing up and themed party games like treasure hunt outside.

[ThePrinceofParties]

I've never a had theme for our parties - unless 1980s retro style counts?

My DCs friends are a pretty unsophisticated bunch, and have been happy to play traditional party games. Biggest hits are always a treasure hunt, the chocolate game (the one with hat, gloves, and a knife and fork), apple bobbing, and organised/routine dances like the Agadoo and superman.

Decorate your own party bag is a good activity to do on arrival as people can just join in as and when they get there, and then the party proper can start when all the guests have arrived. My DC have muslim, hindu and vegetarian school friends, and so I do a totally vegetarian party tea to avoid stressing over who's eating what.

I don't cater for parents, as they are most definitely NOT invited. I don't have the room at home for 10 kids plus their parents as well, and I don't want an audience when I'm leading the Cha Cha Slide .

[sarahs999]

We always do themes depending on what DS1 is into. SO we've done Star Wars, Dr Who, Harry Potter, James Bond, and when he was younger, Lazytown and Superheroes.

Our trick is to always use the same, tradtional games but have a twist depending on the theme. (i.e pin the wand on Harry Potter/pin the lightsabre on Yoda). We decorate in the theme and make props (lightsabres made from pool noodles and gaffer tape were a big hit - use them to play keepy-uppy with balloons!). Each party has a 'challenge' to it (use your skills to become a time lord/jedi/wizard/secret agent) and then they get a certificate at the end, which they love even more than the party bag. We always end with a big themed pinata, which we hang outside and they get to smash open using up all their excess energy (it's been the Death Star, the Dalek planet Skaros and Voldemort!). Once we figured out the format for the parties they became really easy to throw. Oh, and always a themed cake. Love doing them!

[hermancakedestroyer]

We make up a huge batch of pizza dough and divide it into individual pizza portions. We then set up our dining table with various pizza toppings, tomato puree, grated cheese, pineapple, chopped ham etc. in the middle of the table and the children make their own pizzas for their birthday party tea.
It works really well and is so cheap to do.
We are not fans of the party bag so we give a piece of birthday cake and a book from a set of books purchased from the book people.

[clopper]

I always cut sandwiches into small bite size shapes using cutters as I find they are more popular. I have different areas e.g a craft corner, construction and Lego corner. The party is 1 1/2 hours long... Definitely no longer. We have lots of games including memory games, pass the parcel and musical statues. Balloons are always good fun for games. Cheap party bags filled with tat from the pound store always go down well.

[Catsgowoof]

Rainbow theme, gender neutral, rainbow cake and lots of colourful plates and decorations