Tag: children

Superhero party

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Holy Superhero Party Batman!  POW! BANG! POP!  You don’t have to be a super parent to put this party together.  We have lots of super ideas to help you.  So jump in the nearest phone booth, pull on your mask and tie on your cape, because it’s Superhero time!!

Are you ready to transform your home into a family fun Bat Cave and your garden into a Superhero training ground?  Will you welcome guests with Spider webs and Incredibles decorations?  Superhero parties only come once in a lifetime and you want to make it one that your little capped crusader will remember forever.

Invitations.

Superhero party invitations can be masks, comic books, or even newspapers with villainous headlines. Make them super exciting with some hints on what to expect and include whether costume is being worn or will be provided. Be sure to give the start time, end time, date and location of the Superhero Party. 

Decorations.

Set the mood for your party with great decorations like Superhero posters, music, and character party supplies. Cover the party table in reds, blues and other Superhero colours accented with streamers, balloons and confetti.

Games.

The memories are even more special when guests get to take home the artwork that they’ve created themselves at the party. Superhero’s always love to decorate masks and capes. Follow-up with photos of each child with the main character.     

A Superhero party just isn’t the same without all the Superhero’s dressed in their capes and masks.

The cake

Whether you bake and decorate your own or buy one pre-made, a Superhero cake is always colourful and exciting. If baking is not your thing, individual cupcakes always go down well and you can stick some rice paper ‘superhero’ characters on your cupcakes for an added treat!

Party Themes Both Boys and Girls Will Love

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Throwing a children’s party for your little ones should be an enjoyable experience. However, it can be surprisingly stressful, raising questions such as ‘should I invite the whole class?’ and ‘how can I pick a theme that everyone will enjoy?” Many small children will have both boys and girls as friends, and, of course, if you do decide to invite the whole class (often the most diplomatic solution) it will usually be a mix-gendered group. With many common party themes, such as princesses or pirates, being gendered, it can be difficult to decide on a theme that will please everyone.

To give you a helping hand, here are three of our most popular unisex themes. 

Sea Life

Ever since Finding Nemo splashed onto our cinema screens in 2003 (has it really been that long?!) kids have been fascinated by the colourful characters in our oceans. This party theme provides plenty of opportunity for creativity and is suitable for all ages.

Fancy Dress

Ask all of the children to come dressed as a sea creature – whether that is whales, sharks or fish. It may be helpful to theme the fancy dress on Finding Nemo, so that each child can come as their favourite character.

The outfits don’t have to be overcomplicated. For example, you can create a great clown fish costume by pairing an orange t-shirt and tights, attaching fins made from orange painted cardboard and getting creative with face paint. Alternatively, you can try this great fish face painting ideas.

Decorations

To create your underwater kingdom, try hanging tissue paper streamers from the walls in different shades of blue and green. Buy seashells online or from craft stores (or pop down to the beach if there’s one close by!) and dot them around the room.

A fun activity to do with the kids is making fish streamers – cut out fish and starfish shapes from coloured card, and then stick them to streamers of blue tissue paper to hang around the room.

Games: Going Fishing

This game requires a little preparation but is well worth it.

–  Before the party, make a fishing rod by tying one end of a length of string to a magnet and the other to a pole.

–  Cut out fish and at least one paper octopus from coloured card, and attach a paper clip to each one.

– Place all of the fish in a large container and blindfold each child when it’s their turn to ‘fish’. Whoever manages to ‘catch’ the octopus gets a prize.

Party Bag Fillers

For an ocean theme, beach buckets are the perfect containers for party bag fillers.      

A Fairy Party

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So your daughter is living in a fairyland of sorts and is ready to grow wings and take a magical flight?  Get ready to start sprinkling the pixie dust because it’s bound to help get this party ready. 

Are you ready to transform your home into a fairy house and your garden into a family fun fairyland?  You could welcome your guests into a land full of flowers, colourful toad stools, butterflies and fairy decorations?  Fairy parties only come once in a lifetime and you want to make it one that your little beautiful fairy will remember forever.

Invitations.

Fairy party invitations can be fairy flowers, cards, or even a Fairy puzzle.  Make them super exciting with some hints on what to expect and include whether costumes are being worn.  Be sure to give the start time, end time, date and location of the Fairy Party. 

Decorations.

Set the mood for your party with great decorations like Fairy posters, music, and character party supplies.  Cover the party table in blue, purple and other Fairy colours accented with streamers, balloons and confetti.  

Party Games.

Fairies always love to decorate wings and wands.  Follow-up with photos of each child with the main character. 

What Fairy party is complete without a Fairy party scavenger hunt and Fairy party games.  Games like Fairy Freeze Dance, Pass the Wand and Pin the Wing on the Fairy. Games add excitement to the party and provide a time for everyone to interact.  

Costumes.

A Fairy party just isn’t the same without all the Fairies and Pixies dressed in their wings, flowers and wands. 

Snacks and Drinks.

Don’t forget snacks and drinks for all of your Fairy friends.  Certainly snacks and drinks with Fairy names are always top of the list.  But sometimes it’s best to incorporate some healthy vegetable snacks. 

The cake.

If you are a keen baker then making a fairy cake will be easy, lots of pink icing and everything that’s pretty, even a beautiful fairy on the top waving her wand to spell out your little princess’s name.  However, if you aren’t too clever in the baking way there are loads of suitable fairy birthday cakes to choose from in the local supermarkets.

Parties on a budget

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Kids parties can be hugely expensive. With growing pressures to keep up with the Jone’s, kid’s parties can be a big stress if you’re on a budget. 

The good news is that you don’t have to spend a fortune to give the kids a good time. In fact, we’d even say the kids will quite possibly have more fun if you don’t!

When it comes to parties, kids love simplicity! They don’t need loads of different things to have a good time. It’s amusing to see, that often the more lavish a party is, the less the children enjoy it. Quite simply because there are too many activities competing for the kids’ attention: a bouncy castle in one corner, entertainer in the other, then a face painter, a mascot thrown in for good measure and why not a popcorn machine? Sounds amazing but it’s too much!

Kids will become frantic and not be able to concentrate on very much for very long and it’s usually a big stress and panic to squeeze it all in to the 2 hrs.

But having less does not mean doing away with the fun. Far from it. 

The first thing is to decide what you want to do for your kid’s party. Give your child a few options and ask what they think they might like.

Themed children’s parties have loads of mileage and give you a lot of room for creativity at very low cost.

Costumes- You can have a lot of fun making your kids costume and it will cost you nothing. e.g. a pirate costume -get out the scissors and snip away at an old white shirt and tatty old pair of school shirts/ trousers, and a nice red scarf around the head.

Or what about fairy wings cut out from card board and covered in pink wrapping paper and sprinkled with a bit of glue and glitter. These give just a few ideas of how to make costumes from very little. 

Party Invites – if you are computer savvy and have a bit of creative flair you could do your own cool invites on the computer, of just do an Internet search for party invites and download free templates available. 

Make your own Cake – the sky is the limit when it comes to cake ideas.

Decorations – balloons are very cheap and usually all you need to create a super party atmosphere. Just have lots of them!!! You could also make your own colourful paper chains, or get some reasonably priced party decorations from any online party store.

Entertainment – every party needs some sort of entertainment. You could of course do the entertainment yourself but you’d need to be confident you could lead a group of kids through sufficiently fun activities for 2 hours. If you can’t then this is something you might want to budget for. if you are hiring a Children’s entertainer then this is likely to be where most of the cost of your party will go, but you needn’t spend a fortune – if you went for a week day after school, then entertainers are far more likely to give better deals as weekdays are not as busy as weekends. or a morning slot like 11 am – 1 pm. 

Food – parents can work tirelessly in the kitchen to create the most amazing party food but you’ll be surprised how little kids can eat at parties so do remember this before buying loads or going to loads of trouble. If you want to keep it cheap and simple, sandwiches and crisps and a few finger foods like sweets and small fruit like strawberries, grapes etc. is perfect. Finger food is always best. But if the creative guru in you can’t resist to try and dazzle and amaze, then you can be super creative and theme your food in so many different ways whilst still sticking to your budget. 

Party bags often go in the bin or get left lying around the minute kids get home if they’re just cheap toys, so you might want to settle for a piece of cake and a small but decent quality toy. Or maybe give kids a small pocket sized children’s story book. This has become increasingly popular and kids are far more likely to keep them. You can pick them up in shops for about 50p – £1 each.

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!!

Making happy memories

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Most people can look back on their childhood and recall a few magical memories from a children’s party that was either thrown in their honour or that they attended in order to celebrate someone else. These occasions often live long in the memory and as a parent, it can be just as exciting to throw your own child a party and give them tonnes of wonderful memories to look back on.
Although kids’ parties can be stressful and slightly challenging to plan; your child is sure to get so much out of it and have such a good time as they celebrate their special day.

Interaction

Let’s face it, kid’s parties are all about having fun but there are real benefits that go with having a party too, that parents probably don’t’ even think about like.

The interaction that children experience with other kids of a similar age is vital in their early development. Their interaction and social skills will be developed as they have heaps of fun, constantly interacting with their friends.

Most of the interacting kids do with their friends is at school, so it’s really nice for them to be able to do this in an environment that is completely different. Not to mention the fact that they gain new experiences like seeing an exciting magic show and puppet shows, etc. Children’s parties can give kids real benefits as it opens up a world of imagination and excitement. Getting to help with the magic tricks can really help your child build their confidence too, especially for those children that tend to be quite shy. Children are always more likely to build confidence whilst doing something fun, new and exciting.

Imagination

One of the most important parts of any kids’ party is the children’s party entertainer and not just because they hold the focus of the children whilst you can take a break. A great children’s entertainer will be able to really amaze the children and open their eyes to host of really exciting activities, invigorate their imaginations. The first time a child sees a seemingly impossible magic trick, or their made to feel really special will provide an unforgettable memory and teach them something really new and intriguing.

A Lasting Smile and a Story to Tell

As a child, there’s nothing more exciting than your birthday party. But as a parent, one of the best parts of throwing a party for your child is the priceless look on their face as they enjoy their special day and the delightful way in which they tell you all things they loved about it.

Less is more

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Ask any parent and they will tell you of the increasing pressure they feel when planning a child’s birthday party. The growing competitive element of hosting a children’s birthday party that has recently emerged now means that many parents end up overspending and creating a party that is filled to the brim with far too many activities.

Here at Kiddy Zone, we are well aware of the pressures facing parents, and would like to tell you that those looking to create a memorable birthday celebration for their little one should focus on simplicity and fun and try to ignore, where possible, the feeling that they have to compete with other parents as this can actually result in having an adverse effect on your children’s party!

Do remember that children love simplicity. Not to say the entertainment shouldn’t be good or varied. It should definitely be good and varied. It needs to be engaging, fun and imaginative too. But parents should avoid the temptation to overload their kid’s party with too many activities at the same time as this will end up being over stimulating and confusing. We’ve seen it time and time again where parent book an entertainer, bouncy castle, popcorn machine, mascot, face painter, etc. all in one party that last just 2 hours.

Parents feeling the need to plan a party filled with different activities can actually leave birthday boys and girls so overwhelmed with far too much to take in that they don’t focus properly on any one thing and are unable to really enjoy their special day properly. Instead, parents should choose no more than a handful of activities for the children and to make sure that there is plenty of time for the kids to enjoy all of it.

In the same way, parents that don’t plan enough activities or have any form of entertainment at all, can often find that their children are completely underwhelmed, bored or worse become very restless and start running around and be difficult for parents to control. If there is no structure to the entertainment planned this can happen a lot, which is something all parents want to avoid.

A perfect party has a few fun activities planned for different times, but parents should be prepared for their party ‘timetable’ to change slightly during the celebration so it can be adapted to suit the kid’s energy levels on the day and to accommodate any unforeseen events e.g. food running late.

Science Parties

Science Parties are a relatively new but very exciting kind of children’s entertainment and something extremely varied and engaging for the kids and suitable for ages 4- 12. They are perfect if you are looking to mix fun and excitement with learning all about just how fantastic and fun science can be.

Kids get to watch really colourful and visual science demonstrations as well as fun experiments. Plus, science related games. This is another great option for parents as it’s very different from what you see at most parties. But we’d only recommend this if you know your kids are into science.

The Puppeteer

Puppet shows are great for children of all ages and have been part of our culture for thousands of years. They’re normally aimed at 3-7 year olds but can work for 2 years too. Even if the younger children don’t fully understand the storyline or the jokes, they can still enjoy the visual aspects and get involved with audience participation, which usually includes shouting things to the puppets and doing loads of funny actions.

Puppet shows can be the main event or form part of a huge mix of party activities. Either way, it goes down a treat and is often one of the things kids remember best.

The Circus Performer

Circus performers or clowns are great for children’s parties where the guests are a little bit older (maybe 4 and up) any younger and the kids can get a bit scared of clowns as they don’t like the make up on the face or the red nose and clown wig. Our clowns do loads of fun clown gags and jokes. The parties are very interactive for children. A clown is not something kids see every day so it really adds a brilliant wow factor when your child sees a clown coming to their party for their birthday.

Apart from general clowning around, a clown can be a magician, he can hold a puppet show, do games, juggling, etc. Clowns can be balloon moddlers or, face painters; their versatility really is endless.

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.

4 Party Themes

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The chances are that your child and their invited guests will already be pretty excited about the prospect of a party, but if you really want to get them looking forward to the day itself then adding a theme could do the trick. A themed birthday party gives the kids a chance to dress up whilst also giving you a great topic for which to base your decorations, food and entertainment around.
Pirates and Princesses;

This has to be one of the most popular children’s party themes and always goes down well with the little ones. It’s so easy to pull off as well and you can make it as minimal or as full on as you like. Pirates can either turn up fully decked out in attire or with a simple eye patch. The girls will also be really excited about being able to don their favourite dresses, adorn themselves with a tiara and greet their royal subjects!

When it comes to food you can also integrate your theme here too. Mini pizzas could become ‘Cinderella’s carriage wheels’ and fish fingers could become ‘pirate planks’ that lily-livered sailors have to walk.

Space

Space is a great theme for both boys and girls as it really allows the children to let their imagination run away with them. Will they come dressed as a strange alien from the planet Zog, or will they arrive in a spacesuit ready for their latest adventure into the unknown voids of the galaxy. You could even ask half of your guests to dress as aliens and the other half as astronauts and then use these teams within your entertainment.

Food could include various twists on party classics, such as ‘asteroids’ instead of meatballs and ‘moon rocks’ in place of chicken nuggets. The venue could also be decorated to look like a strange planet with stars, moons and spaceships on the ceiling.

Circus

Having a circus themed kids party can be a great way to give the children a chance to learn a few new skills whilst they are having fun. They could have a go at learning to juggle, or fooling around like their favourite clown. The circus is not just about the guy with the red nose and big shoes though, and so the children have plenty of options when it comes to fancy dress. There’s the ring announcer, the gymnasts, the lion tamer and the strong man; to name just a few.

At the circus, tomatoes can easily be renamed as ‘clown’s noses’ (you might even persuade a child to eat one when they would otherwise turn their nose away to a vegetable!) and similarly, cheese puffs can be transformed into ‘juggling balls’. To really add that finishing touch, why not turn your venue into a Big Top with some multi-coloured fabric.

Wizards and Witches

This theme has always been a firm favourite, particularly at Halloween, but has grown in popularity since the rise of a certain boy wizard. Your little guests can dress as their favourite character from the film franchise or as a wizard or witch from their own imagination. The beauty with this theme is that it doesn’t take much to transform an ordinary child into a wizarding genius; just a hat and wand in most case.

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.