It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Birthday Party Planning
Birthday party planning.
It’s enough to send any parent in to anxiety just thinking about it. How can I come up with a fun and creative birthday party that my kids will love, that will also wear them and their friends out (thus winning you friends among the other parents) AND that won’t be so epic that you’ll bankrupt yourself over the rest of their lives trying to top each year.
Phew!
Last year, well actually it was this year but it was their last birthday party, I was determined to have my kids birthday party downtown (Macon). There’s actually a number of options but at that time we did it at the Georgia Children’s Museum- which is, sadly, now closed. So- pick your location first. Location budget will help determine what you can spend on everything else. I got a great discount because we were lifetime members of the museum.
Next, food! I considered options like The Rookery and Doughboy Pizza- but I did this last minute and should have gone through the Rookery’s catering department so I ran out of time, and Doughboy at that time was closed at noon on a Saturday. Where else could we get food last minute? NuWay saved the day! Hotdogs and hamburgers it was.
The cake was something that I did know I needed to order in advance. Amanda at Amanda’s Cakery is also in downtown Macon (noticing a theme here?) and she’s made cakes and cupcakes for us on many various occasions. LK requested a princess cake and B wanted Thomas the Train. Amanda can do anything you think of! Her resume is outstanding and we will be using her again this year.
Now, this part we didn’t do last year but we will this year: Birthday Bins. Williams’s Store allows your kiddos to come in and create a Birthday Bin of items they would like their friends and family to gift to them. I love this idea because they carry a large assortment of toys and games that you won’t find anywhere else AND they’re a locally owned independent store. Check out this video of my sweet girl picking out her Halloween costume there:
The Birthday Bins will make life not only easier for my kiddos but for their friends and their parents as well.
We also had live entertainment from Louise Warren, who sang age appropriate songs with the kiddos.
So the challenge this year is, where to have the party- preferably in downtown Macon- since the Children’s Museum closed. There’s the Sports Hall of Fame, and I think the Tubman might be open in their new space by then. Time to start planning now!
Note: this right here is also a goal of mine for the parties… sleep!
Love to all y’all,
Molly
