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The Benefits of kids Entertainers

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Children’s party entertainers were something of a rare treat at kids parties some twenty years ago. Now they seem to be a necessity for every children’s party. You’d almost be hard pushed to find a child that hasn’t had a children’s entertainer at some point, between the ages of 4-8. As this seems to be the most popular age for kids to have children’s entertainers.

Parents have realised more and more the benefits of getting a children’s entertainer for their kid’s party. Children’s party entertainers certainly help take the stress off of organising a party yourself. Many parents have retold tales of how they organised their own kids party, and whilst it went well they’d never relish the idea of doing it themselves again, owing to the levels of stress that went along with it. Plus, it seems rather a shame, that whilst the kids are having a great party, the parents have so much to organise that they don’t get to enjoy seeing how much fun their kids are having and all the fun activities that children’s entertainers do for the kids. After all a children’s party only happens once every year.

The advantage of hiring children’s entertainers is that they know what they’re doing (well the good children’s entertainers should know what they’re doing!) and so it can take the stress off parents a great deal if they hire someone to take care of the children’s party entertainment for them. It is also much more likely that the kids are going to enjoy themselves a great deal more with a kid’s entertainer than if parents try to do it themselves (unless of course you’re a teacher that is used to handling 30 kids at once) but even then, a kid’s entertainer can usually offer a great deal of variety for children at a party.

That said, even with a children’s party entertainer, there can still be plenty of other things for parents to organise and worry about like the hiring of a venue, organising the food, getting RSVPs back. The best advice is simply to plan well in advance so that is doesn’t have to be done all at once. If done in good time, organising a children’s party should be a really enjoyable experience and dare it be said – fun! But if left to the last minute it can be a daunting and stressful task. All in all, leave plenty of time to plan a children’s party and try to enjoy it!!

Getting the right entertainment

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When planning a children’s party, one thing that will be firmly on your list of things to do is ‘hire the entertainer’. However, with so many different kinds of performers available, how do you go about choosing the perfect person to keep your little guests engaged for the duration of the event and to take the stress off you?

There are loads of different options to choose from to make it a fun occasion but it’s important to choose what is right for your child and what you know they will enjoy.

The Magician

A brilliant magician can really add a sense of wonder to your kids party. Watch as the children are left amazed at the seemingly impossible tricks performed in front of their eyes and then encouraged to get involved in some of the magic themselves. It can be a lot of fun for parents too, particularly seeing how baffled kids are by how the magic is done.

A magician is usually great for children around the age of 4 and above. This way they will be old enough to understand what is going on but still young enough to be mesmerised by the idea of magic.

Party Food

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An important part of any child’s birthday celebrations is the party food, and parents who are choosing to do the spread themselves will want to create a feast that is guaranteed to get eaten. Naturally, dishes you choose will be dependent on what kind of party your child is having but there are a few ways in which you can make sure that your party food goes down a treat.

Mix Staples with party food ‘Experiments’

It’s always fun to create your own fun dishes. You can get loads of ideas form the internet. No matter what you do it’s almost certain that some dishes will be more popular than others. You therefore should aim to create a spread that is a mix of good party food staples like cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, sandwiches, etc.…with ‘experimental’ plates like party themed cupcakes, food shaped as characters from a theme, etc.… Whilst planning the menu, make sure that you consider what leftovers you may have, and how you would use them too as there can be a lot of food left over.

With classic children’s party food such as crisps and biscuits, buying multipacks and refilling will mean that any leftovers you have are fresh and easily used in lunch boxes and for snacks. With more ‘experimental’ dishes, make sure that you and your family will be willing to eat them if left untouched.

Check for Allergies

When sending out the invites, it might be suitable to request any dietary information from parents that will help you create a spread that can be enjoyed by all. Parents of children with severe allergies or special dietary requirements may already know they need to contact families prior to attending birthday parties to avoid issues on the day, but some will assume that they will be catered for or forget to mention it.

By asking families to provide details of special diets, you can include (or not include) certain dishes that means no one at the party goes hungry.

Presentation isn’t necessarily everything

Do try not to add unnecessary stress or pressure on yourself. Most parents are on the quest to create the perfect children’s birthday celebration and therefore may think that presentation of their party food is essential. Of course it’s fun to make things look nice and show some thought. Although presentation and display of party food may be important to adults, do remember it’s not necessarily noticed by the children and it is a kid’s party after all.

If you have the natural creative flare and want to put on a great spread of fantastic looking kids party food, then why not!! But if it’s going to stress you out then do remember that with all the excitement that is created from entertainers, party games, and celebrating with friends, when it comes to picking from a selection of party food, children won’t be too fussed about any delicate arrangement, but more about taste and variety and you could have gone to all that trouble only to find it not being appreciated afterwards.

Of course if you’re making party food together with your children, before the party, then your kids will love this as it gets them involved in their party even more and it’s a great activity to do with your kids.

Children’s Party Venue

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Are you looking for venues for your special children’s party in the coming weeks? Looking for the right location is almost always problematic, unless you know who to ask! Thankfully, we have some of the answers when it comes to organising an amazing children’s party and we’re here to help.

Looking for a Top Venue

There are many reasons why you wouldn’t want to host a children’s party in your own house. Either you don’t have enough room in your house for a whole classroom of children, or you don’t want your house to get damaged. Perhaps you don’t have the time to clean up after a party.

Getting your party organised in the right location is of great importance. Organising a party that is too far from anywhere is not a good idea, as other parents have to consider the cost of transport. Other considerations for your setting may include disabled access, the size of the hall itself and the cost.

Where:

Consider church halls, or community centres that have their own kitchens so you can cater too. Decide how much space you will need. Do you want outside space too? Some of these venues mentioned are quite reasonably priced.

How much?

If you would like to find out how much a centre costs, you should ask the centre first if they charge by the hour or by child. Some centres do charge per person and this can become very expensive if you are looking to host a large number of friends.

Look on our directory.

If you have found the best location for your children’s party, then why not look on our blogs for amazing ideas. We’ve plenty of knowledge and experience in giving inspiration to your little one’s party.

Every Child Included

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Those who are well-experienced in planning children’s parties will understand how difficult it can often be to get all of the younger guests feeling included in the celebrations and enjoying the party. With a room full of children with different personalities and levels of confidence, the task of coming up with ways to keep all guests involved and entertained throughout the day, can be a tricky one.

If you are doing the children’s party entertainment yourself, when planning the party, think about how you can encourage your child and their friends to play and have fun as a group, and make sure that you organise special ways for all children to partake in the party fun so that everyone leaves having had a great time. With almost endless possibilities, here are a few ways that you can make sure that all children feel included at your child’s birthday party.

Organised Party Games

Rather than simply leaving the children to make their own fun, split the party into sections and spend part of it playing some organised party games. Games like Musical Statues and Pass the Parcel are great at getting all guests involved and having fun together. They are familiar favourites for a good reason – because they are easy to do and kids love them! If you are doing the entertainment yourself, with children that are particularly shy and reluctant to get involved, why not ask them to help you be the game master, or even put them in charge of stopping and starting the music?

If you do decide to play Pass the Parcel, include a small prize, such as a fun size bag of sweets or a small toy between each layer of wrapping paper. Also, be selective of when the music stops so that every child gets a prize, and perhaps have the main prize be won by someone who is not the birthday girl or boy, so that no one feels left out.

Interactive Entertainment

Of course, if going down the route of doing the entertainment yourself, is not for you, then that’s where we come in. Having a children’s entertainer at your son or daughter’s birthday party is a great way of guaranteeing that all of the young guests are entertained and included in the fun of the day as this is something we do all the time. A sit-down show or an interactive entertainment experience instantly includes all of the children. Regardless of what theme, or type of party that you and your child choose, one of our great entertainers will get all children involved with their incredible balloon modelling, amazing magic tricks, and hilarious puppet shows, comedy, and other brilliant party activities.

Party Bags

Making sure that every child leaves with a party bag is a great final way to include all the guests at your child’s birthday. Saying thank you and goodbye to all of the guests at the party is important as it not only makes children feel that they were a part of the day, but also helps guests remember how much fun they had during the party.

Outdoor Children’s Party

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Providing the weather holds, there is nothing more exciting for children than an outdoor party. Rather than being cooped up inside, the fresh air and additional space will do your guests good and give them new terrain to explore. Here are a few top tips if you’re thinking about hosting a children’s party in the garden or a hired outdoor space:

Plenty of food

An array of party foods will go down a treat. Try to ensure that you:

• Balance healthy and sugary snacks.

• Keep fluid levels up with regular drinks, particularly on hot days
• Provide shaded seating while children are eating

Games

No party is complete without games, and being outdoors will give you plenty of scope. Depending on the size of your garden and the age of the kids attending you could also arrange a:

• Treasure hunt
• Water balloon battle (best to advise for kids to have a change of clothes with them though)
• Messy flour and water game – where you have 2 tubs (one filled with water and the other with flour.) The kids have to use only their mouth to ‘fish’ out a sweet in a tub full of water and then they have to do the same in a tub of flour. Only once they do it with flour, they will end up with their faces covered in it- loads of fun!!! They must keep their hands behind their back at all times!
• Relay race
• Talent show – get the kids into groups and give them ideas of what they could do e.g. sing, do a funk dance they make up for themselves, a mini play, a mini x factor style competition, or whatever they like.
• Obstacle course – another fun idea is to set up some pegs either side of the garden with string either side and tell the kids that the string are laser beams that they have to crawl under, like a spy or just a cool obstacle course game. If you have garden toys, e.g. a slide (where they have to slide down the slide before coming back through the ‘laser beam maze’ or paddling pool (where they have to fish something out of the pool full of water and bring it back through.

With a bit of imagination – a lot of fun can be had!!!

Entertainment

Professional children’s entertainers can really take the pressure off you as a host as well as making the birthday boy or girl feel really special.

Have a look on our directory of children’s entertainers bring so much fun to any party and can include some great activities such as:

• Magic tricks
• Puppet shows
• Comedy
• Musical or dance-based activities
• Balloon modelling
• Exciting themes
• Science parties
• Clowns
• Discos and more

Themes

Introducing a theme can pull all of the above elements together. For example, if your children’s entertainers will be doing magic tricks, a magician or wizard theme goes down well. The children can dress up as their favourite character and the food and games could have a magical theme incorporated too. If you’re planning an outdoor treasure hunt, guests could come dressed as pirates and your children’s entertainers can include a cool pirate theme throughout.

Plan a Treasure Hunt

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Give your child an adventure from your own home with an exciting treasure hunt! It’s a great way to get them exploring and using their imagination, with lots of treats and games thrown in! They require a little preparation to plan the perfect clues, but they’re a great addition to any children’s birthday party and it will all be worth it when you see their little faces light up every time they find a clue or prize!

Planning the Clues

You could just have a free-for-all like a traditional Easter egg hunt, where there are no clues and the kids just explore the house and garden for small hidden sweets or prizes, but we think it’s more fun when the kids get together in teams to work together and solve a puzzle. Then the excitement can really build whilst they work their way to the grand finale!

You can make riddles and rhymes to point them in the right direction of the next clue, and you can vary the difficulty of the clues depending on the age group of the party. Perhaps you could try a word game where each location has a riddle with the first letter of each answer spelling the location of the final treasure.

Themes

Basing your treasure hunt around a theme all adds to the fun and gives the adult planners some inspiration for coming up with the clues and prizes! Here are some examples of how you can incorporate a theme, or take a look at the themes of our children’s parties here for more ideas.

Pirates

A pirate theme is a classic where the kids have to find clues to take them to the final treasure chest, which is full of treats, party food, and more games to play. You could try making a map on tea stained paper of all of the clue locations and then they have to work out the final location from the clues.

Fairies

Make a list of clues to find lots of fairy friendly items and whoever collects all of the items first wins a prize, with runner up prizes for the rest of the kiddies. Some things they could look for are little toy fairies, flowers, fairy dust, leap frogs and magic bracelets.

Magic

Have the magician conjure the first clue to unveil the treasure hunt and then get the kids to find the pieces of their own magician outfits. They could find magic wands, top hats, capes and toy rabbits. The winner is the first person to get dressed!

Science

Split the kids up and get them to look for different ingredients and when they’re all found they can form part of a science experiment! Or you could use food ingredients which get stirred together to bake a cake or make some cookies which the kids can eat later on in the party!

Themed Parties

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Themed children’s parties are a fantastic way to celebrate a special occasion, especially if your little one is particularly obsessed with a certain character, film, or has a favourite hobby or interest. As children’s interests are usually as equally popular with their friends and classmates, hosting a themed party for kids is usually a great way to get guests enjoying themselves. We’ve come up with some suggestions for creating a themed party.

Invites and Fancy Dress

Asking guests to come in fancy dress is a great idea for a themed party. If your child wants to be the only one dressed as their favourite character, specifying this on the invites is a must! Do so in a polite way rather than appearing to demand that no one else dresses the same. A great way to do so would be to refer to your child as their character choice, like so: ‘Spiderman (Joe) would be delighted if you could join him for his superheroes party…’

Decorations

Decorations complete a themed party, so make extra effort here. Why not get the whole family involved and make your own decorations? It’s a great way to save money, and spend some quality time together, and may even make good use of your child’s excited pre-party energy!

Make banners and signs that include favourite characters and use a colour scheme that relates to your theme. Football fanatics will love it if their team colours form the basis of the party’s decoration, and those interested in all things aquatic will think that a room decorated in blues and greens with plenty of drawings of fish and sea creatures is wonderful.

Games

Rather than coming up with completely new games, organise common party games that children love, with a twist. Change the names of the games, or alter the rules slightly so that they incorporate the theme. For instance, if hosting a science party, play ‘pass the thermal reactor’ instead of ‘pass the parcel’ and have a science related prize.

You could even describe musical statues differently. Explain that there is no gravity when the music plays so you have to dance like astronaut, and that once it stops, the gravitational pull is so strong that no one can move!

Entertainment!

Entertainment can really be the cherry-on-top to a themed party, especially if the entertainer arrives in fancy dress or has some brilliant ways to amuse the guests! Have a look at our directory of children’s entertainers which will help you out a little so you can put your feet up and enjoy!!

Start a tradition

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Your baby may not remember being a part of these traditions, but the photographic evidence is something you coo over for decades to come. Nothing is more adorable than a baby’s first time doing just about anything, and what better occasion to start new traditions than their first birthday party? Unfortunately, with all of the charm and attention being poured into decorations, food, party favours and phone calls, we often forget to relax and enjoy a few firsts with our little ones. Here are a few traditions new and old to help you make this day special for years to come.

Sharing Stories

The first year of your child’s life has undoubtedly been filled with very sweet and not so sweet stories. One tradition you may consider starting would be to share a few of your favourite stories from the past year. In the beginning, this may just mean you reminiscing with fellow parents, but as your little boy or girl gets older you can share these stories with their friends.

Birthday Outfit

Parents dressing their little ones in the same (or similar) outfits every year for a single photograph has been going on longer than we may realize. Of course we take photos of our children nearly every day with our phones and personal cameras, but having an annual photo of your child wearing the same ensemble or pretty cotton dress is something special. It’s something they can look forward to each year (until their teens) and you can look forward to seeing how much they’ve grown and developed their personality. This may be the time to have a Photographer take over; they have a knack for capturing those adorable poses.

Memory Boxes

A memory box is a great way to collect the most sentimental pieces from your child’s birthdays and safely store them until you’re ready to share the memories. You could collect photos, cards, their first outfit, their special book and anything that brings back memories.

Remember, the most beautiful moments in your child’s life are the ones they spend with friends and family, and the experiences you share together. So take the time to relive old traditions or create new ones, they make for the best memories.

Create your own party bags

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Every parent wants to be imaginative and give their little guests an amazing party bag. So why not let the kids make their own party bags at the party?

If you purchase some white paper party bags with handles which are perfect for the kids to draw and colour on with some colouring felt tips or pencils. Children can write their names and draw some great pictures or shapes, you could even use stencils. The coloured party bags have a special shiny coating which pens cannot be used on. Give the kids a choice of crafty bits to add to their bags e.g. fun stickers, peel and stick alphabet foam letters and shapes, die cut card shapes, trimmed fabric piece with fabric embellishments etc. –

Fold over the top of the colour party bags and hole punch. Thread some ribbon through and tie in a bow, makes a lovely finishing touch! You can theme your party bags to suit your party theme e.g. Pirate Party, Princess Party, Fairy Party, Under The Sea Party.

You can fill your party bags with your handmade crafts from the party or why not fill a tub full of goodies and ask each little guest to put their hand into (in turn) to uncover a special treat to take home.

Getting the children involved in making their party bags makes them it a bit more special. The children are more inclined to cherish their bags when they get home, making the party even more memorable.

Children love arts and crafts and will happily sit on a craft table for hours rather than running around a party venue trying to create their own fun and generally being a ‘bit silly’. Distraction is the key to a successful children’s party.