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

We haven't really had themed parties but I do enjoy choosing things for party bags; mostly I've bought packs of things that can be split, like bubbles, mini pots of play dough, little notepads. I ordered crayon names for my sons friends, which were fun, they had little Lego shaped cartons or butterfly crayons at the end of the name and were wrapped prettily in a bow. We went to a party where the children were given a lovely cellophane cone of popcorn - my children loved them!

Plan in advance and order party supplies from many of the various party websites online. You can get much better deals than randomly buying stuff on the high street. You can also get loads of little party bag fillers from ebay in bulk to be given out to all the kids. And don't agree to a sleepover!!

i dont think enough traditional party games are played nowadays. Pass the parcel and musical statues are great fun and kids today still love playing them!

Kids love face painting.

got to have party bags. I used to love them as a child.

Get an entertainer so you can relax a bit at the actual party. Don't leave bouncer castles etc too late or the choice is not great.
If you are worried about having too many guests leave sending out the invitations until as late as you dare.
Drink wine after party.

Marking place.

Make sure you have enough adults prepared to stay and help you. Don't try to do everything yourself.

Write each child's name on their drink carton otherwise you'll end up with 25 cartons each with one sip drunk and no one knowing whose is whose.

The local pound shop is a great source of things for party bags.

We had my 7 year old daughter's just last night and it was the easiest one I've ever done - I have learned over the years. Indoor slide barn so there was loads of space for the 27 little cherubs to let off steam - big enough for them not to be queueing or squabbling about not getting enough turns. Kept the food really simple - filled rolls, bags of crisps, tomatoes, carrot sticks with cookies, muffins & grapes for after. Stick name labels on their drinks - that way they can have a slurp, leave it and come back to it. I had put individual cakes into the party bags already - so no need to cut up & wrap the birthday cake - we just had a small one to do 'candles' and sing. The slide barn was at an animal park - so party bags were themed that way, animal pens & pencils and note books - along with a few sweets & a Cadbury's Freddo chocolate frog!

In house keep them to 1.5 hours

30 mins craft, 30 mins games , 30 mins food

Pinterest is your friend

Get a good helper or two on board

Have a theme and use for each part of party - craft/ games/ food/ cake/ party bags

eg peppa pig
Peppa pig pass the parcel- use PP wrapping paper or pink with a PP gift inside

Food: do cake and candles first then it can be sliced for party bags by a helper while kids eating

Aliexpress is good for cheap but cool party bag fillers if you buy in advance eg zip bracelets,

Go with a standard set of games and just rename them for your theme. Do not do, what I did this year and attempt to make each child a space helmet out of paper mache (just before Christmas).

I think I will take the advice of all my friends next year - go bowling and have pizza!

Don't feel pressured by the other mums with their 'super-party one-upmanship' - if your child wants something small and simple let them have it.

Get as much help as you can from other mums, makes it easier when organizing games, food, clearing up etc.

1. Pay for someone to do it, much less stressful!
2. Give plenty of notice
3. Invite extra, always end up with people who can't make it

we are currently planning our sons 4th birthday. as we will have at least 10 children, we decided to have it at a soft play place with the room next door for the food. it will be spiderman themed. we have brought spiderman plates, cups, napkins, goody bags and tablecloths. the cake will be a plain one from Costco and I have brought various items off Amazon to decorate it myself. we didn't want to go over the top as he is still young but old enough to want to run around with his friends

Pinterest - a blessing and a curse. Bursting with brilliant ideas to steal, but some overachievers just make you feel inadequate.

Buffet for the grown ups, perhaps with a little wine and beer. They are much more inclined to help stay around and supervise their kids.

Giant garden games, good music.

Only works if you have a summer baby, but we have always done DS's parties outside. Either on the beach or at a local park. 6 or 7 friends, an easy pick-nick or BBQ and a selecting of outdoor games for the kids to play. They have a fab time and best of all there is no tidying up to do at home afterwards :-D

Don't even bother having it at home, find a free hall there are plenty around.mhaving one at home isn't worth the hassle!

My 7 year old daughter and her best friend had a joint party, we just had 12 girls and hired a pink limo and 2 hours at a beauty salon where they had their nails painted, hair curled, glitter tattoos and a little bit of make up. It was brilliant, they felt very special and as we split the bill between us, it worked out the same as having a single party at a play centre. It was the best party we had had.
The year before, we had a Pizza Express party where they made their own pizzas, that too was good.

We had a princess and superhero party in the local church hall, it was easy to plan really as I bought napkins, paper plates etc with those themes (which are easily available) and the children obviously came in their own costumes (which meant about 15 Elsa from frozen costumes!) I kept it simple for the food, just the usual party foods and the cake was a princess cake (sorry boys but it was a girls birthday), I think theming the food would be hard and would put little children off. My one big tip is to ask the other mums about allergies etc, and I found that where there was a child with special dietary needs their mums were happy to bring along a suitable plate of food for them which was great as I'd have felt awful if they hadn't been able to eat.
The venue was great as plenty of space to.play games and dance

Lots of presents and birthday cake

You can have winter parties outside! We did a party in November for DS - lots of running around games, apple-bobbing, doughnuts on strings, that sort of thing. Hotdogs and slices of pizza. Then, when it got dark, a few fireworks, then indoors for a DVD.

Keeps the mess out of the house, anyway!

Don't stress too much about little details/contents of party bags etc. Children, especially in the early years of school, go to so many parties that you could drive yourself demented trying to do something different to everyone else. If your child has been invited to a party at a particular place and everyone enjoyed themselves then don't be afraid of doing the same thing - at least you know the children will all have a good time.