10 Ways to Throw the Perfect, Stress-Free Birthday Bash!

1. Find a Location That Suits All Your Guests - Naturally, children love to run and play at parties, and their attention spans have limits. If you plan to do a party at your home, find a space where the kids can be kids, and furniture won’t be harmed! Rooftops, and apartment multi-purpose rooms are a great option! If you are throwing a smaller party with older children, a great fun restaurant location such as Alice’s Tea Cup makes for a fun, big girl, party experience.

*Alice's Tea Cup Chapter I: 102 W. 73rd St.

2. Parents Should Enjoy the Party Too! - Having an entertainer to lead the party allows parents to mingle and visit with each other. If you have a family care giver who you trust, paying for an hour of their time to supervise your child, and thereby allowing you to have a glass of wine and visit with other parents, is money well spent!

3. Choose Cupcakes Over Cake - No cutting necessary! The benefits of cupcakes is that everyone gets the flavor they like and its easier to be conscientious of food allergies having an individual cake for each guest! You can always line your cupcakes up into rows and cover the tops with frosting to create the appearance of a cake!

*Our favorite NYC Cupcake Bakeries include:

Magnolia Bakery: 401 Bleecker St.

& 200 Columbus Ave.

The Buttercup Bake Shop: 973 Second Ave.

& 141 W. 72nd St.

Amy's Bread: 75 9th Ave & 250 Bleecker St.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Invite Boys to a Girly Party! - Most quality party entertainers will be able to cater to both girls and boys. Even if you are throwing a Princess Party, there are always gender neutral activities that can be applied to a party with mixed company. For large mixed company parties, we recommend hiring a Princess and a Pirate, or Super Hero.

5. Limit Your Party to 90 Minutes - A shorter party helps avoid tantrums, fatigue and keeps the children’s interest peaked. If you have party entertainment, we recommend feeding the children first. Once their favorite character arrives, their appetite will be a big, fat zero!

6. Party Favors That Make a Statement - The days of goody bags filled with useless junk are over! Instead, think about personalized cookies from Eleni’s Bakery, or a nice coloring book.

*Eleni's Bakery: 75 9th Ave. (Chelsea Market)

7. Don’t Do Too Much - Most children will have the attention span for three interactive activities, of four where two can be combined simultaneously. Arts and Crafts combined with Face Painting are a great way for children to wait their turn to be painted while being entertained. We recommend closing the party with a soothing group activity such as a Story or Sing-a-long to bond the group back as a whole before serving cake.

8. Manners Are a Must! - Birthday parties are the perfect excuse for a child to go a little wild. Don’t be afraid to insist that your guests be polite and calm. Our NY Princess Party Entertainers always insist on good manners and inside voices to participate in our party activities. Reinforcing manners in an exciting setting is a great exercise for children.

9. Pizza is Passé - More and more children these days are surprising us with how sophisticated their palates are. If we only feed them chicken nuggets and pizza, they may never learn to enjoy such lovely, child-friendly delights as vegetarian sushi, lunch meat roll ups and crudités! Use your next party as an opportunity to take a yummy food adventure! Try some new finger food goodies. Your wee ones might just surprise you!

10. Have Fun and Go with the Flow! - No matter what happens the day of your event, try to enjoy yourself. Sometimes parents spend so much time planning logistics and and time tables for the party, that they forget to relax and let it flow naturally on the big day! Let your child be your guide on what they want to do next! and above all, don’t forget that this is their big day!

Don’t want to handle tackling all these ideas alone? Contact us to plan your next big event! www.NYPrincessParty.com