A Guide To Entertainment For Kids Birthday Parties

For children, birthdays are a big deal! So it’s only natural that, as a parent, you want to make your little one’s birthday party perfect. However… birthday parties are hard to plan, especially when it comes to how you’re going to keep a whole group of kids entertained! Which is why, in this post, I’m going to share several tips regarding entertainment for kids birthday parties.

And don’t worry, I’ll be including some ideas you can use if you’re on a budget! Because I know that it isn’t always possible to hire entertainment.

The first step, is knowing how long you’ll need to entertain the kiddos for..

The good news is, most birthday parties don’t last all day! In fact, most children’s birthday celebrations only last a few hours. Although it does depend slightly on which age we’re talking about. (Toddlers might have two hour long parties, whereas middle school aged children might have three to four hour parties, etc.)

So before you start planning the entertainment for kids birthday bashes, it’s important to figure out how long you want your child’s party to go on for. And then, deduct activities like gift opening, cake eating, etc.

The amount of time you’re left with is the amount of time you need to plan activities for. And if you want to play it extra safe, you could always add in an additional half hour or so. In case some activities don’t end up taking as much time.

Next, you need to choose the activities you want…

The next step in planning the entertainment for kids birthday parties, is actually choosing the activities you want to include. This will depend on a few different variables; like how many kids you’re expecting at the party, how old they are, whether or not there’s a theme, etc.

But here are some general ideas for you…

• Games like musical chairs, charades, treasure hunting, racing, and even board games are party classics! And since they help kids expend their energy, it may even help the party be easier to manage.
• Performers can be another great element to add to a child’s birthday party. Whether it be a magician or a character from your child’s favorite show. Particularly, performers who can play certain characters are fantastic for themed parties!
• Lastly, arts and crafts are a popular genre of birthday entertainment for kids. You could provide special coloring pages, or even party favors that kids can make themselves and then take home.
• But if you need anymore ideas, feel free to check out this article!

And one last option to consider here, is renting out a venue if you have the budget. As this will provide a whole new set of options for entertainment, depending on where you choose. Or, if you don’t want to rent an entire venue, you could just rent something for the day to place in your yard. Like a bouncy house!

Once you’ve chosen your activities, try to estimate how long each one will take…

Before we move onto the third step, which is executing your entertainment plans… you need to make sure you’ve chosen enough activities! So try to estimate how long each activity will take, and compare it to the expected length of your party.

For instance, treasure hunting could take around an hour, a magic show could be half an hour, etc.. Combine the length of all your activities and make sure it doesn’t go way under (or over) your party length.

And now, you need to prepare the activities!

When you’ve locked in your choices, it’s time for the final step. Which is arguably the hardest part of all of this… Getting it set up and ready for the party!

Obviously the process will vary per person, and per party. But I still have some general tips for you, including some ones on making your party planning more budget-friendly.

• First off, if you’re going to hire a performer then it’s best to book one as soon as you can. Because if you wait until too close to the actual party, you risk limiting your options and paying more.
• Then, in terms of games, you may be pleasantly surprised with much supplies you find in your own home! Most families already have a good stock of board games, most homes have a few shares, etc. Plus, you could even get creative with what you hide around for something like a treasure hunt.
• And crafts could be more affordable than you think. There are lots of budget-friendly printables online that you can buy for various crafts, and when you buy crafting supplies in bulk (as you would be doing for a party) it often makes it more affordable as well.

Final Thoughts

Planning out the entertainment for kids birthday parties can be stressful, there’s no doubt about it. But as with most things in life, if you have a plan in place then it makes it a lot easier! So I hope you found this guide helpful, and learned some tips you can use while planning your little one’s next birthday bash.

And if you’d like to learn more about parenting, running a house, budgeting, etc… then please check out some of my other articles. Such as this one on how to teach your kids about money!