A child's birthday is an important event, for both the child himself and for his parents. Children's worlds are small, and birthday parties are a source of endless fun and something children anticipate with great excitement. Besides, friends are very important and you should not miss any chance to bring them closer together. The main factor in a party’s success is good organisation by the parents. Some basic rules are:

• Choose a theme for the party.
• Prepare the invitations. It is a good idea to hand out the invitations at least 1-2 weeks in advance of the party so that guests have time to prepare.
• Arrange a birthday cake and food, based on the party’s theme, if possible.
• Decorate your home to fit in with the theme too.
• Choose organised games for the children to play.
• Choose a craft that the children can enjoy during the party.
• Thank your guests by giving them small commemorative gifts before they leave.
• We would like to suggest an idea for a fun birthday party that your kids will enjoy.

Theme for the Party:  The Circus!!!
Imagine the sights and the sounds of the circus to help you think of ideas for the entertainment at the party. This will also make it easy to prepare treats, toys and decorations that will enchant both the children and the adults!
Your invitations could be shaped like clowns, balloons or circuses. You can buy the invitations, or even make them yourself with some help from your child. This will give him a chance to be creative and join in with the preparations for his party!
Decorate your home to give it the carnival atmosphere of the circus. Hang garlands on the walls and curtains, and you can also buy or make clown, balloon and animal masks. The masks will be needed later on for playing games.
Some suggestions for treats and food are homemade ice cream cones dipped in chocolate and decorated with colored “hundreds and thousands”, homemade biscuits in various shapes, small round biscuits with a little cake as a base and covered with melted couverture and decorated with coloured chocolate shavings, cupcakes and of course the birthday cake decorated to reflect the theme of the party. You can also offer your guests, both young and old, various pies (cheese pies, sausage rolls, chicken pies, etc.), big or small piroshki, and also everyone’s favourite snack, “towers” of sandwiches with ham and cheese, or lettuce and blue cheese, or tuna with lettuce or even shrimp salad. These are some wonderful, small, tasty treats which you can always order from a pastry shop or bakery if you do not have enough time to make them yourself.
It is a good idea to use plastic dishes, cups, and cutlery for the party. You can choose some which reflect the party’s theme. If there are other parents at the party, do not be afraid that they will be offended if you serve them on the same plates etc. It is highly likely that they will find it fun! And anyway, the party is for the children!

* It is important to think about the ages of the children at the party. You might need to avoid serving nuts (to avoid accidents), sauces (so they do not get in a mess) and, of course, the cake should not contain small pieces of fruit or nuts which some of the children might not be able to chew properly.

Suggested games:
Let’s play circuses

You can put various clothes and accessories such as strange hats, ties, bow ties, animal masks and clown masks, various sheets, linen, or old clothes and musical instruments into a trunk.
The children can decide to put on a circus performance where each child dresses up and plays a role. The roles can be: Animals (elephants, monkeys, horses etc.), acrobats, jugglers, clowns, dancers, musicians - members of the orchestra, etc.
Let the show begin! The spectators applaud. The musicians play their instruments as the members of the circus parade past them. The dancers dance, the jugglers juggle balls and ribbons, the acrobats spin, the clowns make jokes, the elephants lumber along, the monkeys hop around and the horses gallop. After everyone has paraded past, the “spectators” applaud.
Find the hidden presents
Buy a present for every child. This is a way of distributing the presents as part of an organised game.
The materials you need for the game are: A basin, a spoon and a handkerchief.
Choose a different child each time, and cover his eyes with the handkerchief. Another child takes a present and puts it under the basin, and then puts the basin somewhere in the room. The child with the blindfold gets down on the floor and crawls around trying to find the basin with the hidden gift, all the time holding the spoon and tapping the floor until he finds the basin. The rest of the children guide him by shouting "hot" when he is getting near to the basin and "cold" when he is going away from it. Children feel very pleased with themselves when they discover the hidden gift.

The game goes on until all the children have had a turn and found a gift.
Musical Chairs
Suggested crafts
Colouring *
Choose pictures that you and your child like, and print as many copies of them as you need, based on the number of guests at the party.
Then hand them out to the children so they can colour them in however they want using felt tips, crayons, marker pens, watercolors and more.
* with pictures to download
* It is best to avoid buying "confetti", not only because you will find it all over the house for days, but mainly because young children have a habit of putting everything in their mouths!

Other ideas for parties:

• Pizza party
• Party with a sports theme
• Pyjama party for girls
• Masked party
• Party with cartoon superheroes as the theme
• Christmas party

GOOD LUCK!