So today I finally got around to purchasing the party accessories for my son’s upcoming pirate birthday party. I checked out several different online party supplies stores this year, in lieu of dragging my soon-to-be 5 year old out to the stores in person. He always wants a “treat” from whichever store we happen to be in and equally has an “idea” for why we need to purchase the most odd and completely useless products. Of course my 1st objective was to check out the discount party supplies. The party theme supplies he has his heart set on are the Pirates of the Caribbean so I purchased the plates and napkins. So easy, right? But then I got to thinking that my loathing of those treat bags with all the useless little toys that are overflowing from my boys’ closets (images of me TRYING to slyly throw them out, getting caught and screamed at because every boy must need another super ball, plastic yo-yo that doesn’t roll up all the way, or those little ball game maze things that they NEVER play with UNLESS I am trying to throw them out) and decided that my birthday party planning idea would be to be a helpful mom to my fellow moms and have the children leave the party with one decent pirate party toy. I ended up opting for pirate hats for the boys and pink pirate skull bandanas for the girls. The girls will also leave with matching bracelets (jewelry is always a nice party accessory) and the boys will leave with an eyepatch and, yes, a plastic sword. So maybe I’m not being as helpful as I thought. But let’s face it, boys find ANYTHING to use if they really want to have a sword. Case in point, my oldest took apart my vacuum cleaner today to get a hold of the metal tubing which he 1st used as a sword and then graduated it to being a bazooka.
Archive for March, 2008
Nate’s 5th Birthday Idea
For months (actually since last year), my youngest son, Nate has talked about having a Star Wars birthday party. Now, 2 weeks before his birthday, he’s decided it has to be a Pirate’s of the Caribbean Birthday Party. Mind you, I had already picked out the Star Wars party supplies, knew what I was getting for a cake, and was just about to grab the discounted faux light sabers that come in a pack of two for the party guests to take home, when he announced this to me. It all started because he decided he wanted a pirate trampoline he saw in a toy magazine. See how birthday party planning can get to be a chaotic experience when one has very fickle children? But I know planning a kids birthday party doesn’t have to be that hard. In fact, with these two weeks to go, I have it pretty easy because I have already thrown a Pirate Party. I’ll talk more about Enzo’s past Pirate Birthday Party that we threw two years ago in more detail later. This birthday party is already half planned for me because we’ll be throwing it at Fun Flatables (a local inflatable jumper fun center in our area). I don’t even really need birthday party decorations because they do all that for me. What I do need to do is to concentrate on creating the party theme, Pirates of the Caribbean, in a place OUTSIDE of our home. I want to make this a Pirate Party that my son will enjoy as a Pirate Party.
Home Party Planning
Before I go any farther with my party planning ideas blog, I thought I should backtrack and talk about ideas where my roots lie. I am a Decorating Consultant, and my business lies with Home Interiors and Better Homes and Garden. I have created a fantastic business giving my personal decorating advice to many clients. The reason a hostess throws a Home Interiors party is to earn credit to purchase merchandise to decorate their home. It’s a great idea and I love doing it. But I have to say that it does become a challenge to entice women to host a party. I think it may be the entire Direct Sales business that has the same problem. I think the main thing that scares most women off is that they feel they need to have the best in-home show around. It doesn’t have to be that hard. Keeping it simple, with simple snacks and drinks is the easiest way to go. And quite frankly, will help to entice other women to host a show as well. If it looks easy, they aren’t so intimidated to do it themselves.
