Kids birthday party planning tips I wish I would have known sooner.

ECHOage Enthusiast: Aleksandra Malkin

It’s been 10 years since I’ve started to host and attend kids birthday parties and here are just a few things I’ve learned along the way.

Easy Prep food

You cannot go wrong with offering basic fruit/veggie and cheese platters. Easy to prep food options that can be washed, cut the night before and assembled on fun platters the morning of the party.

Pizza, pizza, pizza

Thank goodness for pizza. It takes away the headache of trying to figure out what to feed tiny picky guests. It’s great for kids and adults and simply a phone/click away. I prefer supporting local pizza restaurants when ordering for our parties and sticking to the basics of pepperoni, cheese and/or a vegan option. Rule of thumb is two slices per guest but if you’re anything like me and end up ordering extra just in case then leftovers can be placed in silicone or ziplock bags and frozen to snack on for the kids at a later time.

Mini cupcakes instead of a massive elaborate cake

Move over large fancy cakes and make space for “more convenient” and less messy cupcakes. Both my kids love the idea of a cake which is why I like order a small individual sized cake for them to blow out their candles. When it comes to serving guests, beautiful cupcakes trays that showcase cupcakes are easy to distribute (no messy cake cutting), it is always less wasteful and ordering the cupcakes allows for any allergies or preferences to be considered (vegan, gluten-free, etc.).

Give back and avoid “toy” clutter

Using platforms such as ECHOage as a platform for sending out my kids birthday invitations to guests has been a game changer! I get both my kids to choose a charity of their choice (my son likes sports foundations such as Jays Care and my daughter loves collecting donations towards animal foundations such as Jane Goodall Foundation and WWF). They donate 50 percent of their gifts towards their favourite charity and the other 50 percent is collected towards a big ticket item.

Some big ticket items we’ve used the gift funds towards in the past were bicycles, experiences at wonderland, and electronics.

This helps me so much in the process because I don’t have to answer a million texts asking “what should I get him/her?” and it reduces waste, and alleviates the hassle for the other parents who are in charge of gift buying. I love this platform.

Kids don’t need much

When I first started to plan birthday parties for my kids, I used to think of a million different entertainment stations for the littlest. The truth is that kids don’t need much and the more entertainment we throw at them the less they experience in the moments. It’s overwhelming for all guests including the parents. Stick to one theme, and trust the kids to find their way.

Don’t stress over the minor details and decorations

Nobody remembers the tiny little mermaid lollipops or the Batman shaped skewers. These little details are great if that’s what you enjoy doing it but if you’re like me and it adds a significant amount of stress then focus on your mental health. It helps you be a more present parent and actually enjoy the celebration