Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You! No matter the age, the song stays the same unless you have that kid accusing you of smelling like a monkey. That being said, birthday parties evolve as you age. Here are some ways to make the most of both:
Who to invite
Kid party –
As children get older, the invitee list tends to get smaller because they understand relationships better and can tell you who their actual friends are. Until that understanding is there, it’s best to invite the whole class, or whole play group. Since they don’t understand if they are friends, they really don’t understand why they didn’t get to go to your awesome Spongebob party.
This doesn’t have to go on forever. Once your child has a better-defined friend circle, you can start being more selective.
Adult party –
As an adult, be more selective! By this time in our lives, we know far too many people, or in some cases have too many coworkers to just invite everyone. As adults, people affect our parties quite a bit more as well, thus don’t invite someone you don’t care for! Is it going to be weird on Monday if that coworker saw you with your 5th – 10th drink? I’m not judging, but they might. Ask yourself, who’s going to help me celebrate this next year in the right way?!
Sometimes it comes down to location. If you’re doing a wine and movie night in your one-bedroom apartment, you probably don’t want to invite all of your acquaintances. In this case be really selective and only invite those you are closest with.
Presents
Kid party –
As a kid, holidays, including birthdays, are the time where you can ask for that cool dump truck you saw at target that mom didn’t let you get, or the Elsa doll you want to play with while watching Frozen for the thousandth time! Kids don’t have their own money to go out and buy toys whenever they please, so its encouraged to bring a gift to a child’s birthday party. If you need help figuring out what to get, ask the parent what shows or books the kids are interested in or ask if they need anything specific!
Adult party –
When you’re having a birthday party as an adult, the presence of your friends and family kind of becomes your present. All your friends probably have their own families or jobs, it can be a lot harder for them to make it to the event nonetheless find the time to get a gift. That’s not to say gifts aren’t always appreciated!
As adults, gifts can become more difficult. I don’t know about y’all, but I have those family members that are so hard to shop for because they go out and buy what they want and need since they have the money to do so. My recommendation for that, get them some nice wine or gift card – if anyone I know is reading this – Starbucks gift card for me!
Alcohol
Kids party –
While some parents will appreciate having a drink, you’re probably having this party morning to early afternoon. Take into consideration, the parents are probably driving and you’ll have plenty of kids to keep your eye on at that point. You can choose to provide it, but don’t think you have to – its not expected
Adult party –
Isn’t this what makes adult parties fun? With the everyday stress of adulting, your guests will LOVE you for providing free booze or at least a bar they can purchase some from! If you don’t want to have to pay for a bunch of it, make it a BYOB party!
We LOVE this party featured on Beijos! Check out all the photos.
Themes
Kids party –
When portraying a theme in a kid’s party, you get to go all out! Safari theme – get a tiger cake, wear animal costumes, and do a petting zoo to incorporate actual animals! This is why Pinterest is a thing, be extra with executing this theme! Sky is the limit!
Adult Party –
Most themes work weather you’re an adult or kid. As an adult though, take a most sophisticated approach. Use that same safari theme, but instead of taking It so literally, do animal prints and incorporate that into everything. Again, if you get stuck, Pinterest is a blessing – and sometime a curse as you want to go over the top!
No matter how old you are, a birthday is a day to make someone feel special including you! Make the party special to the birthday boy/girl no matter what that looks like. If you are planning a birthday party and need some help taking to the next level, shoot us an email. We would love to help you celebrate! Otherwise, tell us how you celebrated your birthday or about how you threw an epic party in the comments below!
