December Birthday Party Invitations & Party Planning

Children with December birthdays often think they’re cheated out of a real party. With preparations already going on, why not make the birthday part of the holiday?

Families with December babies have a lot to juggle every year with holidays and birthdays. Sometimes the stress of the season results in parties being thrown together or not happening at all. Using the holidays as the inspiration and not the frustration can make everyone happier.

INVITATIONS: Choose a winter theme with snowflakes, snowmen or a Christmas theme. December schedules fill up fast for grownup parties on the weekends, so for a good turnout, you might want to select a week day and a time that works for you and your guests.

DECORATIONS: Think of the theme you want to use, such as snowmen, candy canes, snowflakes or a red and green theme party. For birthday decorations, use the basic holiday decorations that you already have in place and add more to the kitchen or dining room, wherever the main portion of the birthday party is going to be held. Festive red and green loops (you can have your child help make these by cutting strips of red and green construction paper and gluing the ends together to form a chain) and maybe some other decorations that will be up for the party only.

FOOD: Keep it simple, especially for the little ones. Kid friendly finger foods such as cocktail weenies (cooked in a sauce of ½ barbeque sauce, ½ grape jelly and a touch of mustard), chips and dip, finger sandwiches, Mexican dip with nachos, and maybe some mini meatballs. You can make up some “Santa Juice” that’s easy to make: one bottle of 7UP or Sprite, one carton of Raspberry sherbet, and one can of frozen lemonade (no water added). Just mix and serve, no ice needed! Plus, it looks awesome in a clear punch bowl.

GAMES:

• Play “Pass the Candy Cane”. This is played like musical chairs, except the children pass a large candy cane until the music stops. The person with the candy cane when the music ends, gets to keep it.
• “Pin the Nose on the Reindeer”. Create a large Rudolph face on heavy poster board. For the noses, use large red pompoms with sticky adhesive on the back.
• You can also create some cute crafts to keep the kids busy and get their creative juices flowing. Each child can make a candy cane reindeer using a candy cane, brown pipe cleaners, wiggly eyes, and a small red pompom nose. Either have the adults help glue the parts on using low temperature glue guns or try some rubber cement. Get creative yourself and build some Gingerbread houses created from graham crackers, gum drops, and peppermint candies. (melt some chocolate for the “glue”)

MUSIC: Throughout the party, have your child’s favorite Christmas music playing in the background or make a CD of their favorite music to play.

FAVORS: Don’t forget to make up some grab bags or treat bag for your guests to take home. You can make these by using white craft bags and holiday stamps. Add in a plastic Santa cup, (about 4 for a dollar at a local variety store), hot chocolate mix, Christmas pencils and erasers, Christmas candies, and a holiday coloring book (3 for a dollar at the dollar store). Personalize each bag with the child’s name and pass out at the end of the party.

And most important, have fun!

This entry was posted on Friday, November 26th, 2010 at 8:35 pm and is filed under Birthday, Children, General Info, Kid's Invitations, Parties, Seasonal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.