How to Entertain and Engage Kids at Birthday Parties

The most important thing to remember when planning a birthday party for kids is - to PLAN. If your little darling guests are left to their own devices because you didn't plan enough activities to keep them busy the whole time, rest assured they will find something to do, and chances are you won't like it.

If you want to have the party at your home, you can do it. You just have to plan to keep your little partiers busy. The best thing you could do for everybody concerned is to run these curtain-climbers ragged. If you do, they will leave with angelic smiles on their cake-plastered faces and their parents will love you too because the little cupcakes will all go home and want a nap.

But you have to be careful, too, because you don't want any trips to the emergency room with your little treasures.

Have available an array of very silly prizes for the party game winners (and, of course, consolation prizes) such as funny hats, or sunglasses with the nose, strings of brightly colored beads, glow-in-the-dark bendable glow sticks, or plastic Hawaiian leis. Inexpensive - and fun!

Divide your group of little animals into 2 teams and have them engage in competitions. Here are some examples:

Races:

• A race in which partners transport balloons held between their foreheads across the room to fill a large box - whichever team gets the most balloons in the box wins...
• In the same vein, a race in which players transport ping pong balls on plastic spoons held between their teeth to fill a large box on the other side of the room...
• A race in which one partner has to get out of a large sweatshirt and the other partner has to get into it.

Word Games:

• I Spy, in which each child takes a turn at picking out an object in the room, then says, "I spy something that begins with..." a letter of the alphabet. For example, "I spy something that begins with 'C' " if they are looking at a chair.
• Word association, in which one child says a word and the next child says the first word that comes into their mind, and so on, around the circle of kids.

For a two-hour party, plan to have around ten such games to occupy their time until cake. Move quickly from game to game so they have no time to be bored.

If it is a summer party, by all means have it outside, weather permitting.

Outside you can have games that involve water, suds, shaving cream, mud, all kinds of great, messy stuff kids love.

Have them transport suds from a bucket into a plastic trash can across the yard using a toy plastic shovel such as you'd use at the beach. Have the guests wear bathing suits to the party, and at the end, turn on the sprinkler so they can get cleaned off before cake time. Serve the cake on a picnic table in the shade.

Plan to conclude the birthday cake festivities as parents are arriving to collect their wonderful progeny. The down time after the cake tends to be the most problematic. That is why I recommend you always save the cake business with the wish-making and candle-blowing for last.

Bowling

If your herd of little beasties is old enough to pick up a bowling ball, a bowling party is a great idea. Usually the bowling alley will serve pizza. All you have to bring is the cake, and clean-up is completely not your problem!

Skating

Roller or ice skating is also good, but the potential for injury is somewhat greater. It's a lot of fun, though. Roller skating rinks often also offer pizza and a place to serve birthday cake. Ice skating rinks usually offer hot chocolate, but the cake thing will have to happen back home.

Movie

A trip to the movies is great for kids 6 years old or older, provided you can find a movie appropriate to their demographic. The kids find this satisfying, but it does not really engage them. For the parent it can be a mixed blessing. Between the drive with a car full of other people's kids, the movie, and back to your house for the cake, it can be a long day. I took a bunch of kids to see the Pokémon Movie. I almost did not survive.

Laser Tag

Laser tag is fun for kids between the ages of 8 right on up through age 15 or 16. Actually it's kind of fun for adults, too. And, as in roller skating or bowling, the laser tag establishment will doubtless offer pizza and a venue for serving the birthday cake.

An arts and crafts place can be a good choice, such as a place that offers pre-made ceramic sculptures that your kids can glaze. Arts center that host birthday parties offer party goers fun and creative activity, and arts center tables are ideal for serving cake.

You can also do arts projects at home if you have enough indestructible surface to offer your little artists.

Sleep-Over Parties

Sleep-overs with more than three guests invite the same kind of power struggles the children contend with in school, as they decide who is going to sleep next to whom, when the light should be shut off, etc. Also sleep-overs are very long. What usually happens is that the exhausted adult hosts put the party guests in front of the TV for a few hours before lights out. Whining or bickering is usually the result, as so much inactivity without rest seems to irritate the youngsters. If your child wants a sleep over, tell them they can invite one or three friends over another time. Hint: avoid threesomes, because someone is always the third wheel.

TV

TV in general is to be discouraged at birthday parties, if for no other reason than they are not special, and they deter engagement. The birthday party is a social occasion and an opportunity for socialization and growth. Don't squander it with the electronic babysitter.

Finally, do not stick with your plans if it becomes apparent they are not working. Be prepared with Plan B. So nobody wants to play your games, your prizes are lame, and fights are breaking out. Make some calls, pack them in the minivan and take them someplace fun. The whole idea is for the kids - especially your kid - to have fun.