Kids Birthday party ideas!

As many of you know (maybe you were even there!) we just celebrated my daughter’s sixth birthday. We gave her the choice quite a while ago if she wanted to pick and choose a few friends or invite the whole class to her party – the whole class was her choice of course! 🙂 We didn’t spend a lot on things we didn’t have to – invitations and plates etc. from Dollarama all matched and were just as cute as the more expensive ones we saw in other stores. For the loot bags I let her pick out little toys and treats we saw for the month or two before the party – she helped put them all together and it was a fun project too. I tried to keep it as simple as possible on us so decided to rent a community centre for the party. We were lucky that there’s a nice one right by us – the Champlain Community Centre. Their rates were very reasonable ($40 an hour) and included tables, chairs, a room full of toys if we needed it, a nice big kitchen – and the layout was amazing! The Centre was closed that day so we had the place to ourselves, great for kids going back and forth to the washroom etc.  They were super great to deal with and didn’t put any restrictions on us at all – they want you to have fun!

Planning a party can be pretty stressful sometimes – I had emailed several party companies in Winnipeg who just never even got back to me. So, that’s why I was thrilled to find Nana’s Kids Parties R Us – I can’t imagine an easier company to deal with, they responded to all my emails, questions, crazy ideas and were super accomodating. They were great with the kids the day of too, and really knew how to throw a great party! We ended up getting their party package special, which is still going on right now, and it includes:

Princess Castle (15′ feet long x 15′ feet wide x 17′ high)  OR The New Red Dog Bouncer (15′ feet long x 15′ feet wide x 17′ high) and Dragon Slide w ball pit (18′ feet long x 6′ feet wide x 10′ high) Inflatable Chair (5′ feet long x 5′ feet wide x 9′ feet high) Airbrush Tattoos with optional glitter for one hour (approx. 30 kids) OR Face Painting for the 3 hours Character Mascot (one of our staff wears the mascot to take pictures, approx. 20 min.) Games (potato sack races, giant twister, parachute, etc. – choose 2) This package is $300.00 + GST and includes the 2 attendants. Mileage outside city limits (Brandon or Winnipeg) is extra.

They’ve even added some new equipment since then, like Bouncy Boxing (with giant boxing gloves!) Sumo Wrestling, Hose Hockey ,Monster Basketball and the Red Dog Bouncer!  Their stuff really made the party special and fun, all the kids had a blast on the bouncer and slide, their games were a huge hit (parachute and a huge parachute type ball) – the Spongebob photo op was great – I took tons of pics of her class which I still need to print out to send to the school. I think one of my favourite parts was seeing all the girls with their butterfly face paintings – they were super beautiful and so well done. I even got in the big princess bouncer myself – I now know why the kids were all so sweaty, it’s a real workout! 😉 The ladies were exactly who you want at a party, they know what they’re doing, they set up and take down fast and were real professionals about it – can’t recommend them enough.

We set up a small craft table too, picked up some supplies and those huge colouring books at Dollarama – was perfect for kids needing a little break, some quiet time etc. Always good to wind down a little, or for the kids who are a bit more shy or just love to craft!

As for food we got fruit and veggie platters for the kids to snack on from Sobey’s – all that running around and being crazy really works up an appetite! 🙂 Had to keep it a bit healthy! 😉 Also had chips, pop and juice – we kept it pretty simple. We got our cake from the same person we did last year, Caked Inspirations by Janice. She is also super easy to deal with, is a mom and knows what kids like. She has some great examples on her site, we picked something like what we wanted and asked her for a “pretty cake” – it turned out awesome! She even made a little doll of my daughter as the cake topper! 🙂 I never even thought of buying ice cream – next year I’m adding that to the list!

Everyone thought I was crazy for doing a 3 hour long party with kids…but it was a success. The kids were all well behaved, they all seemed to have fun, lots of sweaty sleepy faces as they left the party! I was pretty well organized before hand, invited some friends and my mom too to help with filling chip bowls, pouring drinks, corralling kids etc. and that was a huge help! Keeping the kids busy for the whole 3 hours was the key to it though, and for that can’t thank Nana’s Kids Parties R Us enough! They went back and forth between their stations perfectly, turned off the bouncers for some quiet at cake time – and the stuff they set up was great!

These are my suggestions and tips for a great party in Winnipeg – I hope it helps with your planning! 🙂 Tested and tried and true! And will I be crazy enough to do another huge bash next year….well, we’ll just have to wait and see!