A Bigger View Article: Make Your Party Pop!

Planning a birthday party can be a lot of pressure - especially if you are a busy parent. In this episode of A Big Life, we did all of the research to help you find ideas to make your child's next birthday party unique and memorable. Let's get A Bigger View of these fun and EASY ideas.
First, we got help from a fantastic website: the HP Activity Center. This site has everything you need to plan your party from designing your invitations to stocking the goody bags. All you need is your computer, a printer and a digital camera and you are all set.

When you visit the site, check out the "Party Kits & Decorations" section. Here, you will find everything you need for a variety of party themes. Once you have settled on a theme you like, you will find that the instructions are fairly thorough. They'll guide you through printing and setting up invitations, gift bags and boxes, table decorations, name tags - everything! They also give you an estimate on how long each project should take and how easy or hard that project will be.

If you wish to make your theme more personal, pick up some photo print paper and follow the instructions for making invitations with photos of your child.

Specifically, go to the "Project finder" on the right hand side and choose "Invitations & stationery" under "1. Choose a category." Then, under "2. Choose a subcategory," choose "Use your photos." You should be able to navigate your way from there.

Another unique idea is to send out a CD invitation. You can record your child's favorite song along with all the information about the party. Then, add some pictures of your child on the label and deliver one to everyone you'd like to invite.

An idea we loved for both a party activity and for something to put in a goody bag was making our own homemade "goofy putty." Kids can bounce or stretch it or even transfer newspaper or comic book images to it. We had a great time with our batch and we're supposed to be the adults!

When you click on the link above, you'll find lots of food and craft recipes for your party. All of them are available for download. We suggest sharing them with other parents on creative recipe cards. Simply copy the recipes onto recipe cards and place the cards in the kids' goody bags to take home. 

You can truly make the party memorable by creating some wonderful keepsakes for you, your child, your guests and their parents. Here are some ideas:
Use your digital camera to record "must see again" moments such as kids singing, playing a silly game or giving a message to the birthday boy or girl. After the party, send DVDs of the performances to each party guest. Or, create a DVD for your child of all the birthday messages from his or her guests.

This one is sure to touch your son or daughter when they are older: Print or make copies of one of your favorite photos of your child - we suggest one that really captures their little personality - and let each of the guests at the party sign the photo before they leave. Your child can hang it on their wall or put it in their scrapbook. It will help them always remember their special day. See Sissy's Tip #5 for more on this idea.

Don't forget the goody bags! In addition to the goofy putty and recipe cards, Sissy also suggests iron-ons.

Also, why not think outside of the bag and put all the goodies in a goody box. Fill the box with fun little toys or keepsakes, candy or homemade goodies. The kids can reuse the box at home for storage. 

Finally, it's not really a party if you don't have a hat! The HP Activity Center has designs and instructions for printing and creating many different festive hats for your party guests. Or, do what Sissy does: get yourself some paper chef's hats at a kitchen store. Poke a little hole in the top and pull a balloon string through it. Then, tie the bottom of the balloon string to a popsicle stick to secure it inside the hat.

A Big thanks goes out to the HP Activity Center for all of the help and suggestions. Check out the site where you will find many more wonderful ideas.

For more help with storing, sharing and printing photos, check out Snapfish.

Check out more tips in our Sissy's Tips Page.

Share your birthday party ideas with us - especially if they were fun, easy and the kids loved it! Post and share your stories on our new forums!
 

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