Top 5 Children's Birthday Party Tips

Most parents celebrate their children's birthdays with a party. From small family parties to elaborate celebrations, birthday parties can be lots of fun for everyone. They can be just as much fun to plan. Here are some tips for making your child's next birthday party the best one so far.

Let the Child Call Some of the Shots

Of course, kids love eating cake and opening presents, but many of them enjoy planning the event too. Unless you're planning a surprise party, you can ask your child to help select the theme, the party decorations, the invitations, the cake and the activities. It'll make the party a truly special event.

Keep the Guest List Manageable

If you're holding the party in your home, it's a good idea NOT to invite your child's entire 2nd grade class. Other venues can handle such a crowd, but for a home party you might want to stick to inviting family and/or some of the child's closest friends from school.

Plan Activities

It's a fact of life that kids get bored easily. Plan activities for the kids to keep them occupied, and remember to set a pick-up time for parents if kids are being dropped off for the birthday party. We're a big fan of games, and you can find a ton of helpful game ideas at MomsWhoThink.com.

Have a Back-Up Plan

If you're planning an outdoor party, it's especially important to have a Plan B for the day's events. Activity books and indoor games will be a must. You might also want to plan a few more activities that you think you'll get to. It's better to have planned activities you don't get to than to discover your games all ended more quickly than you anticipated and you're struggling to fill the leftover time.

Are you a kids' party planning wizard? What tips and trips do you recommend?

Best Birthday Printables for Children's Parties

If you're planning a birthday party or just planning to attend a birthday party, we think you'll love incorporating some of these free birthday themed printables at your next party. We rounded up our 7 favorite resources so that you can have fun picking from the best birthday party ideas.

Top 7 Birthday Printables


Creature Pencil Toppers from Disney Family Fun. These adorable pencil toppers feature 7 different colorful creatures. The printable PDF includes simple instructions.

Kids' Coloring Pages from Kaboose.com. Select from a number of different coloring pages, and give your party goers a fun and creative activity to do during the birthday party or to take home.

Printable Birthday Cards from DLTK's Growing Together. Need a card to give? Check out these fun birthday cards you can print at home. There are tons of different themes to choose from.

Printable Gift Tags and Wrapping Paper from Disney Family Fun. Having trouble finding the right wrapping paper? You can get colorful gift tags and wrapping paper designs and print them in an instant at home.

Printables by Amy on Livinglocurto.com. Some cute free vintage ice cream and Lego themed printables. If you don't find what you're looking for, you can also get customized designs from us at Pinwhirls.

Free Coloring Pages & Activity Pages from Printables4Kids. From Super Mario to Princess, you'll find several different activity printables to choose from on this page. Plus you'll also find birthday party theme ideas.

Stickers from Disney Family Fun. You'll find stickers to match your birthday party theme here. They also have a huge selection of holiday and everyday stickers that you can print out too!

Where are your favorite sites to find free birthday party printables?

Classic Games for Children's Birthday Parties

If you're celebrating your child's birthday with a big party at home, don't forget the games! Birthday cupcakes, cupcake toppers, and party favors are important, but the kids will really love the chance to play together and be active.

Here are some great classic games you might have played at birthday parties when you were growing up.

Musical Chairs

For this game you need one less chair than you have children and a CD player or iPod to start and stop the music. Start with every child moving around the chairs while the music is playing. When the music stops, all the kids should try to find a seat. The child left standing after all the others are seated is eliminated from the game.

For the second round, remove one more chair and repeat the process. Keep doing this until only one child remains. This game is fun on its own, or you could award a small door prize or even a paper crown to the winning child.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey

This is a simple but well-loved favorite. One at a time, each child is blindfolded and given a paper tail. He or she is then spun around a few times before trying to pin the tail in the appropriate spot on the picture of a donkey. The child who comes closest wins.

Fruit Basket Upset

For this game, each child needs to be assigned to a group. Traditionally, fruits like apples, oranges, and bananas have been used—but you could change it up to match your party theme if you want. If the party is all about dinosaurs, you could have a group of triceratops, a group of T-Rexes, and a group of pterodactyls, for example. Assign groups before you start.

Next, form a circle with one less chair than you have children. The child without a seat will stand in the center and call out one of the group names. All of the children in that group must move to a new chair, and the child in the middle will join them in trying to take one of the open seats. The next child left without a seat takes the center spot for a turn at calling out a group.

At any point in the game, a child could call out, "Fruit Basket Upset!" and all of the children my find a new seat. The game ends when all the kids are exhausted!

What fun birthday party games did you play when you were a kid?