Tuesday 28 May 2013

Children's parties on a budget


Here at Life’s A Celebration we’re on a mission to make your next party as stress free as possible. If you have a child’s party coming up today we’re chatting about how to make them as affordable as possible. Here’s our top tips on how to make the party one to remember but one that won’t break the bank either. Don't forget to set your budget before you start!


1)      Invites – these don’t need to be anything fancy. You could even design them yourself and print them off.  There is a great tool online called Pic Monkey. This is a free tool that allows you to edit your own photos. It’s really straightforward to use with very effective end results. Give it a go!
Coming very soon we’re going to be offering free downloadable invites on our website too. I’ll let you know as soon as they’re ready.


2)      Venue – have a chat with other parents in the school yard and see where they have booked for their children’s party venue. Ring round the local church halls and see what prices they can do. For larger parties this can usually work out as a very cost effective way of doing it. If you are hosting a smaller party then stay at home and do this. Have you seen our blog post about hosting a party at home?

3)      Entertainment – this is normally the most expensive part of a party. However have you thought about doing this yourself? The idea of this fills most parents with dread but it shouldn’t. We were all children once and kids today still like to do the same things that you and I do when we were children. Children love traditional games. If you are struggling for games ideas drop me a line and I’ll send you a free party games pack. Have you also seen our blog post about entertaining the children yourself at aparty?

4)      Take a CD of music to the venue and play music to dance to. Think of ‘action’ songs that the children can dance along to. Songs that are really popular are things like;

  • Superman – Black Lace·        
  • The Fast Food Song (you know the one……. A Pizza hut, a Pizza hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken  and a Pizza Hut)
  • Agadoo – Black Lace
  • YMCA
  • Gangnam Style (obviously)
  • Cha Cha Slide
  • Macarena


Stand in front of the kids and do the actions for them. Children love to see grown ups making a fool of themselves. Go on - dance in front of the kids. They’ll love you for it and it’s only 2 hours out of your life!


5)      Craft activities for the children to do. This is a relatively inexpensive way of keeping the children occupied for a long time. Go to your local discount store and buy all kinds of craft materials and paper and get the children gluing, sticking, cutting, colouring. If you’re a parent you’ll know that children will sit and do this for a long time. If you have a party theme then you’ll probably be able to find pictures on line for them to colour in. For example if it’s a princess and pirate party then find some princess and pirate templates online – I guarantee the children will really enjoy this.

6)      Keep the food easy. Children don’t need fancy food. The older the children are the less time they want to sit eating at a party anyway.




7)      Party bags – these don’t have to be expensive. Try and be a bit creative with these too! If you’re going to do craft activities with the children then why not hand out paper bags for the children to decorate themselves then fill them with sweets and a toy before they leave. If you need some help with the party bags then why not give me a shout. We have party bags starting from £1.50 each. We can work any theme and any budget. Why not drop me an email and we’ll have a chat.



Enjoy the tips. And don't forget for all your party supplies all you need to do is get in touch with me.

Maxine
x


Tuesday 21 May 2013

Children at your wedding


Children at a Wedding

So he’s got down on bended knee, you’re all excited and busy planning your big day and then somebody asks the dreaded question “will you be having children at the wedding?”

There’s no denying that this can sometimes be a bit of a contentious issue; some think it’s an absolute necessity and that weddings are a celebration for all to enjoy whereas others think that having small people running around creating noise and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake doesn’t bear thinking about. The important thing to remember is that neither opinion is right and neither opinion is wrong.

Lots of people are choosing to marry later in life and as such their friends and family may already have children and this can potentially make things more difficult if you feel obliged to invite their children to the Big Day (especially if you don’t want to!). My advice would be to make the decision early and then if you do decide that children are not invited I would make this quite clear on the invites to avoid any confusion. You might even hear a collective cheer from the parents as they have a child free day and can completely enjoy themselves without having tired, bored & grumpy children in tow.

If you decide that children are invited then it might be a good idea to have a think about how you can keep them entertained on the day so they feel included in the celebrations. You’ll find that most children migrate to each other over the course of a day even if they don’t know each other at the beginning of the day and it might be good to provide them with games that they can play together.

All in all my advice would be that your wedding is just that – yours! So you must make the decision that you feel is right for you. If you want children there then invite them if you don’t want children there then don’t. As long as things are dealt with sensitively then most people understand and just want you to have a fantastic day that you will both cherish and remember for the rest of your life.

If you’re looking for things to keep the children at your wedding entertained then why not drop me a line. Here at Life’s A Celebration we have some gorgeous wedding activity bags filled with loads of things for the children to make and do.

If you want to meet with me directly to discuss this then why not pop by my studio at 2-4 Wesley Street, Consett. Drop me an email on maxine@lifesacelebration.co.uk and we’ll pop some time in the diary for you to drop in and chat.

If you’re not local, we work with brides all over the UK. We can work to your colour scheme, budget and how many children will be at your wedding. So why not drop me a line on maxine@lifesacelebration.co.uk and we’ll chat.

Speak to you soon.

Maxine

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Welcome to Life's A Celebration's Blog. We box up all kinds of parties for all kinds of celebrations. Pop across and see us at www.lifesacelebration.co.uk