I will say, I am pretty good at planning a party or event (spent 10 years as a wedding planner and let's face it, being a Youth Pastor includes a lot of event planning).
I think its fun!
Pinterest is a great asset when collecting ideas, but its also a huge pitfall in the planning process as well because you can get lost in the details and go down the rabbit hole of possibilities. Keep it simple is the name of the game (the more details you want, the less people you need to have).
When I compare my daughter's first birthday and my son's recent 7th birthday, I see two different approaches.
I loved my daughter's party and it was a masterpiece. The biggest problem is after all that work, I wanted to leave it up for a month and had to take it down three hours later. All that work and it was over. I didn't regret it for a minute. The key was borrowing! I could do the details because I borrowed from those who have done it before and it took a lot of the work out of the equation while allowing me to have all the extras. Where did I borrow? Facebook groups and friends.
My son's recent party was less decorated but still a lot of fun. After my rejection of the work that went with our original theme of "America Ninja Warrior," we landed on Nerf Wars! Since, I got my new Cricut Machine for Christmas, I was able to make him the shirt he wanted that said, "Attack."
We ended up inviting a ton of people and most of them came! Again, like my daughter's party, I piggy backed, but this time in reverse. Instead of borrowing, I created items that our church could reuse this summer for VBS and that meant, supplies got left at the church and didn't end up back in my garage!!!
Let me first say, we don't do parties every year. That is just too much. We do celebrate every year and we have traditions for each child, but parties are best when spaced out. Kids remember the fun more that way. You have to mix it up. This however, is the party year. We have 4 birthdays in our home in a less than a two month span so it gets crazy.
We got to work and my first step was the invitation. I used the slo-mo video option on my phone to get a video of him shooting the nerf gun then took screen shots of the video until I FINALLY (because it was like 30 times) got the bullet in the shot. I then used my two favorite photo apps - Aviary and Over to create the right effect on the photos and create an invitation.
I went light on the decor - just created a course (cardboard, pallets and tires) and then got nerf colored plates and silverware. I got nerf colored gatorades and waters and then used my nonexistent cake decorating skills to order a Costco sheet cake that only had writing and a border then decorated the cake with an actual nerf gun and darts.
The activity was the party, but I made sure to get extra darts (600 count on Amazon) which I put in buckets on the sidelines of the course. I got protective eye wear on Oriental Trading and also got some face paint sticks so they could get ready for battle.
we also had a bounce house for smaller kids and to give kids a shooting break, but we had to drag the kids away to do pizza, cake and gifts. I also planned a game of Capture the Flag and made simple arm bands from cutting fabric I got at Hobby Lobby, but the kids preferred a free for all.
Our gift bags came from Oriental trading and the loot came from a combo of Oriental Trading and a local resource, Rick's Vending. With up to 60 kids, I had to go light - candy and 3 toys (slime, finger rockets, whistle) and we were good to go. I let my son put them together so he could have some ownership in the party. We also had a small army of family help us set up.
The great part was, I actually got thank you's from several parents, and was told kids talked about it all weekend and again at school, Monday. So if you are looking for a theme that is a blast, this is it!!! For any party don't forget: if you want a lot of details keep the invite list small and if you want a big party, pair down the decorations and extras - borrow, borrow, borrow and most of all have fun!!! Here are some more photos of the day...
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