You can certainly use it as an organizer, but I think it’s real value is as a mini scrapbook of a certain age and of your celebration. The list of invitees and attendees may be quite a surprise looking back years later. Include pictures of all the kids, individually and in groups at the party. The idea of having each child write a message, just like in a guestbook, makes a wonderful keepsake (provided the kids are old enough to do it). After the guests have left, have the birthday child make an entry- how they felt about the party, how they feel about being a year older, whatever they want to say.

You’ll find a link on the Kids Birthday Party blog post to purchase a journal specifically designed for your child’s birthday party, and they’re reasonably priced. Or, just use a spiral notebook with the outer covers recovered with your birthday child’s artwork, a special photo from the party, a favorite poem, whatever strikes your fancy.

If your party is one of the 5 Birthday Party Games Lady party packages, both you and the birthday child will definitely want a special momento like a journal to keep forever. Each birthday only comes once.

Candy isn’t the only evildoer here either. Those chips and pretzels are just as bad: the simple carbs in them are converted to sugar way faster than the complex carbs in fruits and vegetables. So you’re not just sending them home on a sugar high- you’re getting the nefarious effects on your watch.

And the kids don’t have to groan when they see your healthy food presentation. You can make it attractive and inviting without the nasty results. My favorite, and a big hit with the kids, has always been chocolate covered strawberries.

A foray onto the web for other ideas turned up lots of good resources. To start, you’ll find a quick list at Kids Party Advice. There’s a yummy sounding apple treat at Penelope Plans. Scroll through all 10 screens of healthy snack ideas at FamilyFun. For vegetarian and dairy/gluten free ideas, check out the list at Adorable Gift Baskets. Lastly, I found 3 more good ideas at girl.com.au.

And for a drink that is also a healthful snack, that helps fill them up a bit and keep the munchies at bay, try one of these delicious smoothies. Making these could even be one of your party activities- I’m sure your neighbors would lend you a couple of extra blenders for the day of your celebration.

One idea always seems to lead to another: how ’bout a smoothie making competition as part of the Survivor Party smorgasbord of games - the best tasting combination wins? You just supply the fruit/yogurt/milk ingredients and they create/drink/choose the winner? Take it one step further and have them create green smoothies - a twist on eating bugs or some similar gross Survivor type challenge that might even show them that healthy can actually taste good!

So don’t let the sugar highs ruin your birthday celebration. Combine these food ideas with any of the great games from Birthday Party Games Lady and your group of kids will be having a ball doing what there supposed to be doing and not turning you into the bad cop. Have Fun!!

I’ve now read several blog posts about kids deciding that instead of presents, their party guests should bring a contribution to a charity or organization that’s meaningful to the birthday child. Things like a medical organization in honor of a classmate or relative suffering from that disease. To help their summer camp offer assistance to kids that can’t otherwise afford to attend. The ASPCA if a cherished pet has passed on. Even just to buy a few books for the school or local library.

So many party presents are interesting for about a minute and then get put aside for good. Or never interest the child at all because it’s just not “their thing”. And that’s truly a waste of money, which is a silly thing to do.

And while a birthday party is indeed a celebration of the birthday child, it needn’t be totally self-centered. The party itself is a gift from your child to his or her friends. We parents rarely communicate this fact to our children, and it’s the perfect lead-in to suggesting that the presents be used to help others less fortunate than the birthday child.

They’re never to young to learn the joy of giving to others. Don’t force it on your child, but a well timed suggestion well ahead of time might just have surprising results that are good for your child as well as others. It can be a win-win! And what could be better that othewise “wasted” money on presents that aren’t really appreciated going to do real good for people in need.

Just so you know I practice what I preach, my birthday party games website contributes $1 from every premium party order to Save the Children. There are so many needy and worthwhile organizations out there, but I chose this because ALL children are important, not just our own.

There’s just no need to waste your money this way. I’ve created 4 party favors you can use instead, each a more memorable take-home for your guests and each costs almost nothing. Just customize them and then print them out for your guests. All are available to anyone who wants them.

Having just discovered the HubPages site, I’ve put these 4 party favor ideas up there. If you like these ideas and think they’re useful, please help me out with a thumbs up rating. And if you’ve got other party favor ideas that are cheap and easy, please add them in the comments section on the hubpage. Thanks!

Keep as much as possible a group activity. You’ll avoid any meltdowns from performance anxiety that even a simple game like Charades can induce in some kids. Mix the groups up as needed to prevent the group dynamics from getting out of hand; they’ll just think the changes were part of your original plan.

Directions for what they’re going to be doing need to be kept simple and short to match their abbreviated attention spans. Adding a twist to a game or activity that they already know how to do or play keeps the instructions brief and allows you to bend things to reflect your overall theme. Continuing your theme from one activity to the next will also help keep everybody on board and tuned in.

Be flexible. If a certain activity isn’t engaging the kids or you’re seeing frustration, give it up and move on to another activity. Have more activities ready to go than you expect to use just to cover this situation.

Small motor skills are still all over the lot with 6 year olds, with some kids able and some not. Therefore, I don’t recommend craft activities for this age group as some may have a very hard time, be embarrassed, maybe even act out. It’s important to remember that your child isn’t the only one at the party and what your child can easily do may be difficult for others ( and, of course, vice versa).

Lastly, I strongly recommend keeping the sugar intake to a minimum with this young age group. I’d rather vacuum up the popcorn that gets spilled than deal with 10 sugar highs.

You can see more of my thoughts on birthday party games for 6 year olds on my website.

Themed as an Olympics party, the games were pretty much all physical challenges that kept the 7 year olds moving all the time. And 7 year olds need to move!!

Starting with the introductory Opening Ceremonies and the Parade of the Flags, the party then went through 10 different games, and the article offers you detailed instructions for set up and running each of the games, so you’ll be good to go. The second and third parts of the post are a tad difficult to find, so here’s a link where you can get to all three parts of the post.

Kudos to emom.com for this great idea and for presenting it with all the necessary details so any parent can put it together easily for their birthday child. This party plan follows all my “rules” for having a great kids birthday party: an interesting theme, games that move quick enough to keep everyone interested and participating, easy preparation and easy on the wallet. And it sounds like the kids had a great time. What more could you ask for?

Just one caution: be sure you have a back-up plan for any outdoor party in case Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate. Even a “rain-date” on the invitation will work.

I love it when someone finds a unique something that can be incorporated into a birthday party and makes the kids smile. Check out this personalized jello mold on goodyblog.com. It’s reasonably priced, and obviously you can use it again and again. The personalization should certainly please the birthday child and everyone will get a kick out of it. Stick some candles in it and I bet they’ll find it all hilarious! And as the author so aptly points out, anyone can make jello. And can make it in far less time than it takes to make that cake and write the birthday child’s name on it in icing.

I’m always in favor of making the whole party process as easy as possible while fun and unique, just as I do with the 5 party packages from Birthday Party Games Lady.

You always greeted me with a wagging tail when I walked in the door- I’ll miss that very much. Glad to see me, no matter what.

You asked so little yet gave so much. A shot at rooting through the kitchen garbage once in a while made you very happy. Your dog biscuits at 10 every morning were a daily ritual. And you’d tell me when it was 10 and time. A short little bark to say it was time to go outside, and we’d go. Your nose to the ground and tail pointed skyward, you knew every smell. And I knew how much you loved those walks.

You helped teach my children how to be gentle and kind. You never hurt anyone, loved everyone that came through the door. Always asking for a pet or a scratch behind the ear, and whoever gave it to you felt a little calmer and better after they did. I’m going to miss petting those ears and the look of complete contentment you gave.

You’ve been a source of quiet and calm in our busy lives. That look in your eyes that said you trusted and loved us all always made us stop for a second and enjoy that simplicity. Asking almost nothing, yet giving us your heart.

Everyone you met felt a little better after being with you. That’s quite a legacy, my friend.

Thank you, Mickey. I will miss you.

Many of my clients add their own ideas and make subtle (and not so subtle) changes to my birthday party games packages that add a whole new dimension to the party. It’s not necessary, and usually adds to the cost, but the results can be well worth it.

Here’s a good example from Joanne in North Dakota:

[We] had Taylors b-day party [the Magica theater party game] this past Sat. and the girls had a blast!!! Taylor was of course the main princess and we rented a beautiful dress and had her done in an “updo” and had a tiara. All of the girls were dressed in their parts and at the end stated, “this was the best b-day party ever!” The parents loved it as well.

The castle was fun to make as my husband made that out of boxes and he painted them. He also made the drawbridge and dungeon out of a box.

The girls held their scripts for the play, but some also memorized their parts. It took a while to run through the first time. The best part was the girls were entertained the entire 3 hours and were never bored. After the first run through, we had presents and build your own sundaes and then went through it 1 1/2 more times before parents arrived.

My daughter wants to do a “part 2″ for next year—–any ideas??? haha

She loved to get dressed up and get her hair fixed. All the girls were in 3rd grade.

Making the props took the longest time [and is totally optional] —everything else was easy.

For the price of a rented dress and the salon visit, Taylor really WAS a princess for her day. You can bet she’ll remember this birthday for a long, long time.

Don’t be afraid to add your own ideas- the results can be terrific. As my birthday party packages are designed to save parents as much money as possible, I don’t include these add-ons, but there’s room for them in each of my 5 birthday party games packages. Your birthday party ideas + my games = TRULY UNIQUE and MEMORABLE.

Sharon from New Zealand wrote me a note that certainly shows how that creativity flowed during her Medieval Party. Now this was a 16th birthday party, “and most of the guests were 15 and 16, with my son being the youngest at 12, and ‘King Stephen’ and Queen Hedwig’ being the oldest (apart from me!), they are in their late 20’s. It definitely wasn’t ‘too young’ for them, and even the shyest guest took full part- the detailed parts really helped.”

Here’s the rest of what Sharon had to say:

“The party was an all round success. To entertain a bunch of teenagers for that long, with no trouble, was fantastic. They all really got into their parts, they all dressed up fantastically (as you can see from the photos![*]) and it was all so easy to run!

I did have one “group” plan their own murder, and they came to me just before the dinner to ask when they should carry out the murder! The friend who played King Steven did a well rehearsed 10 minute death scene!! And the court session took on a life of it’s own, with someone suggesting the King committed suicide, Princess Sarah claiming she was pregnant to Prime Minister Kinsha and Queen Mathilda claiming that was impossible, as he was having an affair with her! (Much more involved than with 11 year olds!!) And the next day when I was cleaning up, I found a note that said “Kill the king tonight, poison his wine. Signed Princess Celine” but it was in Princess Sarah’s handwriting! At one point in the Court session, they seemed to be ganging up on Prince John, and he “made a run for the door”, but in the end, the “guilty” vote went to Princess Celine. And Sarah got the vote for the crown! (Although the executioner got one vote as well!)

After that we had dessert, and then the kids all sat round talking, laughing, singing, and we even had some almost medieval music! When the parents came to pick the kids up, none of them moved - no one wanted to go home!! It was definitely worth the money, and we will no doubt be back in touch for the next party!! Many, many thanks for setting this up, and making it so easy!”

[*] As I don’t have releases for publishing photos of all or any of the kids in the photos, I’m afraid I can’t share them with you here.

Now kids of this age certainly dig deeper and take things farther than the younger crowd, but there have been reports of bigamy and trigamy (probably not a word- but you know what I’m getting at), additional murders, and even a kidnapping at parties for 11 and 12 year olds. So don’t think that younger kids (but in middle school, not elementary school) can’t handle this Medieval party! They just improvise at a different, simpler level, PROVIDED the group is one that enjoys a challenge.

If you’re looking to entertain your pre-teen or teenage group for several hours at your next birthday party, and looking to preserve your sanity as well, do take a look at the Birthday Party Games Lady Medieval Madness Party.