| CHILDREN’S BIRTHDAY PARTIES: |
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TAKING THE STRESS-FACTOR OUT OF A HAPPY OCCASION Your child’s birthday is looming, you want the day to be perfect; after all, it is a very important day, another milestone in your precious child’s life. Caught up in a whirlwind of panic and the immense pressure put upon yourself to create the most amazing party ever, many parents get carried away by the whole event and find themselves stressed-out, probably more irritable the usual and more likely to be dreading the day than looking forward to it. Credit crunch, or no credit crunch the desired effect is the same. Parents want to throw a party for their child that will be fondly remembered, but particularly for busy working parents, finding enough hours in the days to plan a party on top of all of the routine tasks can be near on impossible. Kevin Slatter at Cakestoyourdoor.co.uk offers some helpful tips and hints to make your child’s birthday a stress-free and enjoyable occasion. 1. Give up the fantasiesForget lavish party bags, expensive venues, impractical party games and gourmet party food that even a Cordon Bleu chef would find mind-boggling. These things are not important and will certainly not be the things at the top of your child’s agenda. What busy working parent has time to cut each individual sandwich into the shape of a dinosaur, or spend hours making a jelly resemble an alien? Ditch over-extravagant party plans which will not only cause stress to you, but will have little impact on how much your little one enjoys their special day. 2. Remember what the day is about Now that you have given yourself a break, if you want to create the perfect party for your child try to remember what the day is all about. Each birthday of your child is a momentus occasion, one to be treasured always, it should be associated with happy times, family, friends and laughter. Try to bear this in mind when planning your party. 3. Stress-free planning Consider where you want to hold the party. This might be at home, at a relative’s home or even at a local village hall (where rates are usually very reasonable). If your child is particularly young (i.e. one or two years) forget party games that they won’t understand or be interested in, use a selection of toys that your child already has, if you want to do something a bit extra, soft play blocks are great fun and will keep children entertained. For older children go for some fun music and traditional party games which are easy to play, ‘pass the parcel’, ‘musical statues’ or ‘pin the tail on the donkey’. Keep the food simple, organise your party after lunch so that you can offer less food and more light snacks/nibbles. You could even make it ‘afternoon tea’ and simply serve the birthday cake with plenty of orange squash. 4. The birthday cake Often the ‘wow factor of any party parents can put immense pressure on themselves to create a birthday cake that resembles as stunning work of art. Most parents don’t want an off-the-shelf celebration cake, they want something more personal to their child and they want it to look a bit special. If you aren’t a sugar craft genius the prospect of baking an iced work of art can be a daunting one, but again it is important to avoid putting unrealistic pressures on yourself as you will only set yourself up for disappointment. Instead, go for a simple cake (a Victoria sponge with butter cream and jam) top with a cap of chocolate or vanilla icing and some chocolate beans to decorate. Alternatively if you want something a little special but don’t want the hassle of making it yourself try a mail order cake service such as Cakestoyourdoor.co.uk – we like these ones…
5. Smile Above all, remember to smile. Enjoy the day and your child will enjoy it too. There is nothing worse than a stressed out mum or dad to take the edge off the excitement. Make the party a family occasion, invite friends and whatever happens have fun. If you are still worried about whether your child will enjoy their party – cross-check the list of vital ingredients one last time:
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