It’s hard for me to believe that Duke will be two years old next month!
I am knee-deep these days in party planning for his second birthday party, but the good thing is that the theme for this year’s party is the same as last year – a birthday parade and carnival! We had so much fun with this theme last year that we decided to make having a birthday carnival a regular thing for the Dukester.
While we are putting a twist on the carnival this year to change things up a bit, the benefit for me is that I know the ropes this time around, so I know what missteps to avoid. I was definitely a rookie last year and learned my share of do’s and don’ts when throwing a kid’s birthday party. I wanted to dedicate part of this post to sharing a few things I learned about party planning to hopefully help some parents out there avoid my mistakes and the stress that came along with them.
The biggest takeaways I learned when throwing Duke’s first birthday party:
Do:
Take off work at least 2 days before the party if you are trying to plan an extravaganza! I only took off on Friday (the day before the party) and between getting his first haircut and running errands for the party it was not enough time. I had to stay up late working on party stuff and then get up early the next morning to run more errands and prepare. I was wore (yes wore) out! Besides that, some of the things I wanted to do for the party did not come together because I ran out of time which caused me anxiety and frustration. I didn’t even put on my “party” outfit! I was just running around the entire time trying to get things together.
Don’t:
Order a pack of 60 balloons and try to get them all blown up at Party City on the morning of the party! First off they had a line so I had to wait (time I didn’t have) for them to blow them up, and then I couldn’t get all the balloons home because there were too many! I took maybe not even half of the balloons and my car was so full I couldn’t see to drive. I was literally only making left turns because that’s the only side I could see out of. I had to take a pen from the console of my car and pop enough balloons until I got to an amount that allowed me to see out of my mirrors. It was stressful and very frustrating! Use an SUV to get the balloons or don’t get so many balloons – 15 would have been more than enough!
Do:
Submit any print jobs to the printer ahead of time. I spent like 2 hours the day before the party at FedEx printing signs for the party and putting in a request to get the chip bags for the party printed and still had to go back and get them later. Don’t be like me! Do this ahead of time! You can email the print job to the store days before you need it, and the store will have them ready for you to pick up.
Don’t:
Turn down any help! A party crew is so necessary! I was trying to do so much and had help and it was still a lot! Delegate as much as possible ahead of time and don’t try to go it alone.
All in all, we had a great time, and I don’t think the guests noticed what went undone, but being the perfectionist that I am, it haunted me just a little. Hope you learn from me and feel free to drop me a line about your kid’s birthday parties – it would be cool to compare notes!
A few of my fav pictures from Duke’s first birthday carnival:
Want to throw a birthday carnival of your own? I’ve already done the groundwork so don’t worry :)! Here are the links to the Amazon products we used to make it happen. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
