Magento Commerce

A Little Cake, A lot of Fun: Birthday Parties for Babies and Toddlers

First, second and third birthdays are significant milestones, not only for the birthday boy or girl, but for their proud parents. The early years are a whirlwind of firsts: first smile, first steps, first tricycle ride. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad have to survive late night feedings, potty training and countless new-parent crises.

Birthday parties at this age are about families saying "We made it!" It's about sharing the gift of our amazing children with the people we love. Most of all, it's about making our little prince or princess feel special.

Whether you're planning a simple backyard barbeque, a celebrity-style bash, or something in-between, our guide will help you in every step of party preparation, from choosing a theme, to designing an invitation, to etiquette dos and don'ts.

Start With a Theme

A cohesive theme pulls everything together. It can be as simple as the color pink or as elaborate as a virtual trip to the Moon. Start with your child's interests. Do his eyes light up when you read The Little Engine That Could? Find a local park with a ride-on train and hold his birthday party there. Does your daughter enjoy tea parties? Turn your backyard into a fairy garden and provide costume jewelry, hats and feather boas for guests to wear. Party themes are as limitless as your child's imagination.

Here, our list of trendy and unique party themes for babies and toddlers:

• Fairies and elves. Decorate wings and hats and provide face painting.
• Royal tea party. Guests arrive in princess gowns for tea in the garden.
• Storybook party. Decorations revolve around your child's favorite storybook (e.g., Clifford the Dog, Mother Goose, Pat the Bunny).
• Little Prince/Little Princess. Opt for understated decorations and cocktail-style hors d'oeuvres.
• Book exchange. For this party, each guest brings a favorite book to trade.
• Choo-choo party. Conductor hats and wooden steam engine whistles are fun favors for little train lovers, especially when they are boxed up in plain brown paper parcels.
• Cupcake party. In place of a cake, arrange prettily decorated cupcakes on a tiered cupcake stand.
• Ballerina party. Guests wear tutus and receive burned CD's of classical ballet music.
• Polka dots/stars/snowflakes. Plan invitations, decorations and food around your chosen theme. For example, send polka-dotted invitations and serve iced round sugar cookies.
• Open house. Guests stop by to see the birthday child during a two- or three-hour period and enjoy drinks and appetizers.
• Animals. Safari, sea creatures, rain forest animals, farmyard, etc.

Deciding on a theme makes party planning easier. If your daughter is having, say, a spring garden party, the invitation might be elegant in design, with decorative fonts and soft floral colors. Decorations, favors, activities, and the menu are chosen around the central garden party motif.

Design Your Invitation

The right invitation evokes the theme and mood of the party even before the event happens. Guests know right away that they have been invited to a ballerina party when they receive a pink-hued card with girly lettering and a photo of your 1-year-old daughter in a tutu. A sweet verse, such as "dance and twirl with the birthday girl", is the perfect accompaniment.

Unlike mass-produced fill-in-the-blank invitations, photo cards from Lil Sweet Prince are archival quality keepsakes. They won't end up buried in the mail. Instead they will be displayed in your recipients' homes, on their refrigerators and in areas where people gather, reminding everyone about the upcoming party and when to RSVP. In this way, personalized photo cards can result in a higher guest turnout.

When you're ready to order your one-of-a-kind photo invitations, simply follow this step-by-step process:

1) Pick your design. Browse Lil Sweet Prince's galleries of pre-designed photo birthday invitations for boys and girls with colors and graphics to complement any party theme, including jungle animals, polka dots, cupcakes, trains, royal crowns and more. Don't see exactly what you are looking for? Lil Sweet Prince will custom design an invitation for you.

2) Choose your color palette. Lil Sweet Prince's pre-designed invitations are available in hip, contemporary colors to match your party theme, from traditional baby blue and pink, to today's most popular hues of brown, turquoise, gray-blue, orange, apple green and taupe. If you like one of Lil Sweet Prince's pre-designed invitations, but don't like the color scheme, your designer will be happy to change it for you.

3) Add text. Start with an attention-getting verse, such as "All Aboard for Evan's Birthday," then include the following information:

• Name of birthday child
• Date and time of party
• Party location
• RSVP information (name, telephone number/e-mail address, deadline date)

4) Upload your photo. A photo of the birthday boy or girl adds a sweet and distinctive look to your party invitation. Plus it's a keepsake that guests will keep in plain sight in the home, and later preserve in an album.

Some parents celebrate siblings' birthdays together if the dates occur in the same month. If you need a combined invitation, Lil Sweet Prince can create one for you that reflects your children's distinct personalities and their special relationship.

Party Planning Timeline

Planning a child's birthday party, even a small one, can be overwhelming for busy parents. Our advice? Start early, at least two months in advance. The secret to staying relaxed and organized is to give yourself plenty of time to complete the items on your list. Use our timeline as a guide:

Two Months Before

• Pick a date and time
• Choose a theme
• Reserve a venue if you are holding the party outside the home (in some metropolitan areas book earlier, especially if the venue is popular)
• Compile a guest list
• Design and order invitations
• Hire entertainers and/or extra help, if desired

One Month Before

• Mail invitations-give guests two weeks to RSVP
• Come up with age-appropriate activities and games
• Order favors, party supplies and decorations
• Order the cake, unless you plan to bake it yourself

Two Weeks Before

• Purchase paper goods (plates, cups, napkins)
• Decide on a menu and make a grocery list
• Assemble goody bags

One Week Before

• Call guests who have not yet responded
• Put a party schedule together--when to start games and activities, serve food, etc.
• Prep for craft activities, such as cutting and sorting materials, etc.
•  

Two or Three Days Before

• Purchase food for the party
• Prepare dishes that can be made ahead
• Start decorating

The Day Before

• Prepare the party area by cleaning and rearranging furniture, if necessary
• Finish decorating
• Bake or pick up the cake
• Call to pre-order pizzas and arrange a delivery time
• Charge your video camera and put fresh batteries in your digital camera
• Confirm entertainer and make sure you have enough cash for a tip
• Practice with your children appropriate party behavior, such as welcoming guests and saying "thank you"

The Morning Of

• Prepare food
• Pick up balloons, if desired (Caution: regular balloons are choking hazards for children under 3--Mylar balloons are the safer choice)
• Make sure the party site can be found from the road (tie balloons to your mailbox; arrange for someone to be outside directing parking)
• Set up food, cake and activities

After the Party

• Tip entertainer and helpers, if appropriate
• Send thank you notes

Dos and Don'ts: Birthday Party Etiquette

While planning your child's birthday party, questions about what to include on invitations, and how to handle gift-giving, will invariably arise. Here are some basic rules of etiquette to remember:

• DON'T include specific requests for gifts on the invitation. Instead, keep a list of suggestions ready for those who ask. An exception to this rule may be made if you are making a donation of books or toys to an organization in your child's name. Wording for this might be: In lieu of gifts, please bring a book or toy to donate to [nonprofit organization's name].
• DO specify "Please, no gifts" or "Please let your presence be your present" at the bottom of your invitation if you prefer that guests not bring gifts at all. Understand, however, that some people will bring gifts anyway.
• DON'T open gifts at the party. The trend these days is to wait until all the guests have left, and the birthday girl or boy has settled down a bit, to open presents. This keeps parties from running long and eliminates the chaos that usually accompanies the unwrapping of gifts in a crowd. You'll find that most guests won't mind or even notice in all the activity; just put the gifts under a table or in a discreet corner. Plus you don't have to worry about your child saying something unappreciative, which he undoubtedly will, even though you spent time coaching him to be polite no matter what he receives.
• DO acknowledge gifts within a few weeks by a thank you note. Ask Lil Sweet Prince about photo thank you cards to coordinate with your invitations. During the party, take candid pictures of your child enjoying the activities, or organize a group photo of all the little guests to embellish your thank you cards.
• DO let parents know if they need to stay with their children at the party. This usually is not an issue when the guests are babies and toddlers, but for kids in the 4 to 7 age range, it might not be clear. If you don't want parents to drop-off their children, you may want to add some fine print on your invitation asking parents to stay.
• DO include RSVP information so you know how many guests to expect. Here are a few examples:

RSVP to Trevor's Mommy at 123-4567 by May 5th
Regrets only to Sue at Sue@verizon.net
RSVP: 123-4567

• DO call guests who have not responded by the deadline date. They may have forgotten to RSVP but do plan to come. Simply say, "Hi, this is Brenda. I was just calling to see if you'll be able to join us for the birthday party this weekend."

For single, separated or divorced, and gay and lesbian parents, deciding what names to include on the invitation can be challenging. If you wish to include both parents' names on the invitation as hosts, use the following example, for divorced parents, as a guide:

George Miller and Janet Green Miller invite you to share in the joy of their daughter Elizabeth's second birthday (or similar wording).

Get Your Party Started

The designers at Lil Sweet Prince, who are moms themselves, understand that birthdays are a poignant reminder of the day our precious children came into the world. They love working with parents to create that special birthday celebration with dazzling photo invitations that will become cherished keepsakes for years to come. Contact Lil Sweet Prince today to get started!