All parents will know the struggle of having multiple kids under the age of ten. When every kid in every class invites every other child in their class to their birthday, there can be multiple parties to choose from every weekend. It’s a logistical nightmare always to be prepared, but your own conscience wouldn’t allow you to let it slip. If this sounds like you, here are five ways to always ensure you’re ready for the next party, without spending vast amounts of time and money on it.
Keep A Planner
Organization is the key to keeping everything in order, and a wall planner is by far the best way to achieve this. As soon as a new invitation arrives, write it on the planner, and include a to-do list as well as the plans for gifts, transport, and any other necessary arrangements. That way you’re never caught short, and rushing to the store on the way to the party for a card and a gift becomes a thing of the past.
Keep Special Party Outfits
When there’s a party every couple of weekends, you’re going to want to ensure their party dress or suit isn’t in the laundry every time another one comes around. Having a couple of outfits that you rotate between avoids any stress, but also ensures that their everyday clothes aren’t constantly being wrecked by all the fun and games of their party lifestyle.
Bulk Buy Gifts
There is obviously an expectation to turn up to these parties bearing gifts, but it’s not surprising that your imagination, and probably your funds, start to wear thin. If you’ve got the storage space, bulk buying various gifts for the appropriate age group saves you having to wander around the store every time, and might even save you money. Using websites such as Everything 5 Pounds means you can find great gifts, without spending too much money.
Keep a Stash of Cards
Just like your stash of gifts, keeping a stash of birthday cards also allows you to avoid shopping for each individual birthday every time a new invite comes in. Buying them in bulk is also a far more economical approach.
Offer Your Services Regularly
The best way to guarantee support when your own child’s birthday comes around is to offer your services to help out at other birthday parties. It’s impossible to supervise 30 children on your own, so you’re going to want to curry favor with other moms to get some support back. If you’d also like to avoid the responsibility of ferrying your child there and back for every birthday, start a birthday carpool with their classmates who live nearby, that way only you don’t have to make the trip nearly as frequently in future. Remember that every other parent has the same problem with hundreds of parties, so helping each other out is the best way to get through it.
Good planning, stashing cards and presents, and helping other parents out is the best way to get through all of the birthday parties your kid has to go to. Don’t worry, it doesn’t last forever.
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First off I want to say awesome blog! I had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was interested to know how you center yourself and clear your head before writing. I’ve had a hard time clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts out. I do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally lost simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or tips? Appreciate it.
Hi Ashley! It can be difficult to clear your head of everything else – which is why I prefer to write when it’s quiet and nobody else is awake to interrupt me 1000x in 5 minutes! I usually have a cup of coffee or a soda by my side. I have a window right next to my desk area so I generally will look out the window and just think about what I’m going to write.
A lot of the time I write from the heart or from an experience – so I just start typing how I felt or why we were doing something and write it like a story I’m telling a friend. Then I go back and make it coherent LOL and rearrange my word vomit in some sort of order so it makes sense to the reader.
If I am writing about a product, I usually start with what it is and what it does, how it’s helped me in my day-to-day life, and then provide information about the company and where to purchase it. Hope that helps!
These are great tips! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
wow super tips! parties kill us!
Great ways to save money and your sanity! I’ll be honest, I’m glad I don’t have to worry about it anymore since my kids are older.
Good suggestions so much on schedulea for kids.
These are some great suggestions. I know my grandchildren are always being invited to parties. One is six and one is eight. It can be so hard at times. We do that last minute shopping thing. Thank you so much for sharing this
My grandchildren live out of town, but I like to have fun things to do when they are here. Having a menu of ‘kid friendly’ food also helps. Thanks for sharing these awesome tips.
It will never cease to amaze me how busy my weekends have gotten. It seems there is always at least one thing on the calendar and usually a few. When I was a kid we just didn’t have crazy schedules. But now there are ball games, parties, church activities, friends houses… the list is endless.
I know exactly what you mean Kelly … I remember taking road trips on a Sunday with my grandparents and every now and again my mom and dad would pack us up on a Saturday and we’d head out somewhere … but man oh man nowadays kid schedules are INSANE!