If you are hosting a back-to-school party for your kids, follow these easy do's and dont's for a successful fun-filled party.

Party Do's & Don'ts

• Do not assume that your child's friends from last school year will be the same one this year. Over the summer and during the first week of school kids develop new friendships.  Be sure to involve your child. Ask them who they want to invite and go from there.



• Do plan on entertainment that is age appropriate. Choose a type of entertainment that your  kids and their peers will enjoy.  Nothing is worse then hiring a magician or a clown and hearing your tween complain about how lame and uncool the entertainment was and how they really wanted karaoke.  To avoid this situation, ask your child what type of entertainment they want.
• Don't think you have to spend a lot of money. You can throw a cool dance party by using your home stereo system and your teens ipod.
• DO get other parents involved.
• Don't forget some type of party favor.  I suggest cool school supplies, notebooks, pen, erasers, add some candy and stickers tuck them all into sporty binder.

Easy To Do Party Ideas

It doesn't take a lot to throw a back to school party. You can throw a fun party at your home in the backyard. Hold the party at your local bowling alley or arcade. Or you can do like a few of my friends do — after their daughters have been in school for a few weeks, they hire a limo and take the girls and their friends shopping for more back-to-school clothes.  They started this when they girls were about eleven and now at fifteen the girls can't wait to have their back-to-school shopping party. Back to school parties are great fun for kids. A new school years bring new friends and new parents together. These back to school parties are a great way for parents to get to know one another.

Children's parties can be a bit tough, even for a well-seasoned party host. In this month's blog we are going to explore the do's and don'ts of children's parties.

Do Plan Some Type Of Entertainment Or Play Activity

One thing I cannot stress enough is have an activity planned for the children. Even a simple game of pin the tail on the donkey is a good planned activity for a kids party.  You may choose to hire cartoon characters or a magician as a way to entertain the children. You may even rent a big screen tv, so the children can play video games. Whatever you choose, the key is having some type of an activity or type of entertainment for the kids.

Don't Be Afraid To Ask For Help

You will need to have a few adults on the party scene to watch the kids.  Don't be afraid to ask other parents to help watch over them.  Most parents will be glad to help out.  You can reciprocate when they throw the next kids party.

Do Expect A Few Messes And Some Tears

Kids will be kids, and the younger ones will spill and make messes.  Be prepared ahead of time to handle these situations. Here's a hint:  If you have the party at your home and you have lightly-colored carpet, don't serve red punch (the tears shed may be your own). Plan you party so that any mess or spilled punch won't matter.  You can always do an outdoor party or rent the local community building for a day.

Do Have A Variety Of Food

Children can be picky eaters.  Some may like pizza and others may not.  To make a good party for the kids offer a variety of foods.  Serve pizza and hot dogs, or chicken strips along with hamburgers.  Don't forget to include some snack-type foods like potato chips, Chex Party Mix, jelly beans. You can even put out different brands of cereal in paper cups. Don't forget to throw in some veggies; the parents may want to nosh on them as their kids have fun.

The key to great kids parties is to plan ahead for any crisis, such as food issues, messes, and tears, and don't forget planned activities. If you have these things covered your kids party will go well.

This kids party post is sponsored by Arlington, Virginia, caterers.

As a party host your job is to throw a great party. But how do you do that with out being stressed out ? By keeping four things in mind.

1. Plan your party well. By following the rules of check, check and double check you can throw a great party. You must  be clear to all of the people you hire.  Your caterer must know exactly what you expect from them; be clear and concise.  Same thing goes for any one you hire to do a job.  From the printer who prints your invitations, to the bakery who makes your cake,  to the DJ that brings the music, you must have clear communication about exactly what it is that you want. Don't forget you must be in charge to make a great party.

2.Don't sweat the little stuff. If you've been concise and let  everyone who you hired know your expectations, then any problem that  may  arise will be small stuff and inconsequential to your party.

3. Don't let alcohol overtake the good times.  One of the worst things to ruin a party is too much alcohol in the wrong person.  If you have an guest who has had a bit too much, cut them off immediately.  Your best course is to see if you can find someone to drive that person home. Simply putting them in a cab and expecting the cab driver to handle the intoxicated person is unacceptable.   If you cannot find anyone willing, see if you can engage that person in conversation by letting them tell you a story–anything to try to divert that guest from causing problems. Stopping them from consuming more is also important.  When over consumption happens, the best thing you can do as a host is be calm and handle the situation.

4. Let kids be kids. If you're hosting a kids party let them be kids. This means expect messes, screaming and some crying. Keep plenty of handi-wipes and  towels on hand and your kids party will be great. Rule 2 applies here–don't sweat the small stuff!

By keeping these four things in mind when planning a party, you are sure to have a celebration to remember without losing your mind in the process. Plan ahead, breath, keep things in moderation and relax and let the party move ahead! Remember, you want to enjoy being at your party, too!

This party idea post is sponsored by Virginia DJ's.

It astounds me how expensive and lavish children's birthday parties have gotten over the last few years. It seems parents will go overboard to make sure Little Suzy has the biggest birthday party on the block. They rent moon bounces, clowns, ponies and caterers to make sure their three-year-old has the very best. But, to paraphrase an iconic song, kids just wanna have fun. And to kids, the simple things in life are the most fun.

I know a little boy who got a trampoline and a Wii for his birthday. Do you know what gift he liked best? A bag of suckers! It's not how much we spend, or even if they get the latest toy or gadget, it's about what really gives our children pleasure–and that's usually something ordinary and inexpensive.

Try these ideas for your child's next birthday party:

* Gather water toys that are age appropriate like kiddie pools, balls, water guns, sprinklers, slip 'n slides and the like for a summertime birthday pool party. Borrow from friends and family to accommodate the number of guests. Serve summer food favorites like hot dogs, chips, fresh fruit, and lemonade and let the kids have a great time in the water.

* For a toddler's party, borrow playhouses, slides, and other outdoor play equipment and let them have a blast outdoors for a fun-filled party. Provide sidewalk chalk for those who want to take a break.

* Little girls delight in tea parties, so let them dress up and create their own party with plastic tea party sets and tea party food.

* Boys will have a great time at a Legos birthday party. Have a bakery made a cake resembling Legos, and let the boys build to their hearts' content.  You can even send some new blocks home with each guest as a party favor.

So you see, it's not about how much money you spend. It's about seeing the world through a child's eyes and finding joy in the simple things.

This kids party theme post is sponsored by Douglasville, Georgia party cakes.

Photo courtesy of Flikr Creative Commons.

Stumped on a theme for your 4 or 5-year old's party?  Throw them an alphabet party! Use every letter of the alphabet from A to Z.  Start off the alphabet party with colorful alphabet invitations. Decorate your party location with all the letters of the alphabet by purchasing alphabet streamers, confetti and other alphabet-themed decorations. Get creative!

You can buy letters and streamers at a party supply store or an office/school supplies store. Don't forget balloons!  Make sure they carry the theme and have letters or the alphabet on them.

Utilize your local bakery for alphabet cupcakes, cookies or crackers.  If you don't want cupcakes, order your child a birthday cake using his or her name.  You can spell out your kid's name or you can use just his initials.

Ask your favorite deli if they will make letter-shaped ham and cheese sandwiches.  If not, you can buy letter cookie cutters and make your own ABC peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

For party favors, buy alphabet flash cards or letter magnets that match the guest's initials. Some party stores have age appropriate, ready-made alphabet party favor boxes.

A great party game is Pin-the-Letter on an item/person, played like the game Pin-the-Tail on the donkey.  Using heavy duty craft paper, cut out the letters of the alphabet.  Have the birthday boy or girl pick a letter out of a box. He or she then has to find something or someone with a name that starts with that letter and "pin" (I suggest using tape) the letter to that object or person.

Wedding and Party Network is a proud sponsor of this children's party theme.

My little girl was singing "Rain, rain, go away…" the other day and it got me thinking. The next rainy day we have, we're having a "Let It Rain" party.  Here's how: We will call several of her close friends and tell them to dress in their best rainy day gear–raincoats, hats, umbrellas, boots, etc.

Of course, I will arrange it with their moms in advance so they won't be surprised. Then we'll go pick them up, bring them to the park and see just how many mud puddles we can find. Remember how fun it was to splash in mud puddles? I do, and a rainy day is the perfect opportunity to get wet. They're dressed for it so let them have all the fun they want splashing, jumping, dancing and playing.

When all are sufficiently tired, we pile back in the car and head home, where warm bubble baths and a fun spa time takes place. After baths, they can put on robes or comfy clothes and have a spa lunch. This could consist of a festive punch or hot cocoa, tea sandwiches (peanut butter and jelly, pimento cheese, etc.), petite cookies–anything ladylike that you can tailor for little girls.

After lunch it's  "salon" time drying and styling hair. Then we're on to pedicures and manicures. Line the girls up on the sofa and do an assembly line with foot baths, massages, and polish. They can talk, laugh and enjoy the process together.

When "spa day" is over, they can re-dress and mom's taxi can deliver them home. I think my daughter and her friends will look forward to rainy days–and have a great memory–after this rainy day party.

Need some help with this party theme?
Hire a limo to transport guests.
Have a bakery make special "rainy day" cookies.
Give the girls a professional manicure and pedicure from a manicurist.

Dad's do you feel left out when it comes to planning a party for your child?

You are not alone. Many times, Dads feel left out when it comes to planning kids parties. What they don't realize is moms are tired of planning every party for their child. This year try reversing the roles. Dads let the moms sit back and watch as you do it all.

Dads don't panic you can plan it. Yes you can.  For dads looking for children's party ideas, I've got four easy steps to building a great party.  Use the following steps as the building blocks in constructing a great kids  party.

STEP 1 – Party Theme

Start with a theme (a concept for the party – pirates, star wars etc.) which help focus the other basics steps and guide us in planning the party.  For our example, the party will have a construction theme.

A construction party consists of the parents helping the party attendees to build an item.  You can choose to build any number of things.  For children ages 3-5, build a truck or a car with construction paper. Using pre-cut paper trucks and cars have the children color and draw in wheels or special features. You can cut cars and trucks from your old car magazines and let the kids glue them to old milk cartons as a way to build their own car.  For kids 6-10, build bird houses out of Popsicle sticks. All you need are popsicle sticks, glue and some craft paint.  You can buy bulk popsicle sticks at most craft stores. These are just a couple of theme suggestions. When choosing a theme draw from your own and your child's interest.

STEP 2 – Party Invitations

Invitations should include a minimum of four things: Who, What, Where, When.

Begin by setting the date and the place. Once you've got that you can decide about whom to invite. Most experts say for children 3-5 invite their age plus 1. So, if your child is 3 invite four, 4 invite 5, 5 invite 6.  With children 6 and over you can use the rules given or invite the amount of kids you feel comfortable entertaining.

Invitations should be personally delivered or mailed at least 2 weeks prior to the event.  I also suggest picking an invitation that displays the theme. For our example it needs to be something that represents a construction theme.  Hanny Manny invitations would be a good example of a construction theme or even ones that have Tonka Toy backhoes or dirt movers on them. You should be able to find kids theme invitations at party or stationary supply stores.

STEP 3 Party Decorations:

When choosing decorations work from your theme. You'll notice that when you were choosing your invitations the party store carried theme decoration as well. You will find that items like napkins, posters, plates, cups and other theme party decorations will compliment the Hanny Manny or Bob the Builder invitations you have already selected.  If you can't find character or decorations based on your theme, use colorful streamers or balloons to dress up your party area. Although not necessarily a decoration, party favors are a must.  Now is the time you will want to pick up the party favors. The best kids party favor is a small gift bag containing candy, toys or fun items for each child.

Step 4 Party Food:

A little food goes a long way with kids since most kids 3 to 10 years old would rather play than eat. I recommend with younger kids in this age group you serve cake and ice cream only.  But the cake should be specially designed around the theme. As for drinks, I suggest bottle of soda and water or juice boxes.  Be sure to contact your bakery one week ahead, so they can create your party theme cake.

So there you have it dads. A blueprint for building the perfect kids party. Go out and build one today!

These tips for planning a kids party were brought to you by the wonderful local party vendors in the United States and Canada.

Planning a birthday party for your son in those awkward years between 8-12? He's too old for those sweet little kids parties you used to throw. Yet, he still willing to have you plan his party. So, how do you create a party that he will love?

Skating Your Way To A Party That Is Off The Hook

Ask yourself "what do tween boys want or like?"  Think of what your tween's interests. I know several tweens who are in to skateboarding. Using the party theme like skateboarding is a fantastic place to start.  Seek out some skate boarding teens that can show the tweens some cool tricks (keeping in mind safety). Ideally it would be wonderful to rent a skate board facility.  Don’t fret if a skateboards facility is not available. Create a skateboard paradise at your house. Decorate your party area with mini skate boards, posters with skate board heroes such as Tony Hawk or Andy MacDonald and graffiti boards. Buy some thin ply board and spray paint and write graffiti on it.

Entertainment That Will Have Them Stoked

Keep a few ply boards and spray cans for your party goers to graffit up. Use teenage skateboarders as another form of entertainment. Have them give the young kids a demonstration. If your party area allows let the kids show off the skateboard skills learned for the older teens. Remember safety comes first. All kids should wear protective gear before they skateboard. You can also have them play a game of follow the skate board leader. Have one of the teens do age appropriate tricks for them to follow and when each tween fails to complete the leaders action, they leave the game to go drink a soda or power drink such as Gatorade. Listen to your tween and he will give you plenty of idea to make this party a success. Savor the memories of this party, hire a videographer to document the skateboard fun.

Party Favors They'll Be Down With

Party favors STICKERS … that is all you have to give to 8-12 year old boys to make them happy. This age group loves stickers. Need to fill your gift bags with more? Granola or power bars and skateboard key chains will excite these tweens. When looking for skate board theme items try a skateboard. You can even find great skateboard items online.

Grindage Must Haves

These tween will build up quite the appetite after all that skateboarding. Pizza is a good choice for the food, as well as hamburgers/hot dogs and soda. The big wow of this party is the cake with graffiti air brushed skate board and your tween's name.

A skateboarding party is a great way to have fun and allow boys to be boys. By the end of the day, your tween will think your the best bro a boy could have.

Sometimes we just can't afford to have a dog and pony show party for our children. Yet, we still want them to have a special party.  Throwing a party for your child can be done frugally and still filled with with fun. Inexpensive treats such as popcorn and movie rentals are just the ticket.

Your thinking popcorn is not a party theme. A party revolving around popcorn is boring. Not so! Popcorn can be a fun party activity, a great party theme and a hectic of a good time.  You can pop your own and make popcorn balls or pop up a big batch of plain popcorn and set up a table with "fixings" for the popcorn. You can even rent a popcorn machine that looks like an old popcorn cart.

How To Make A Popcorn Party Exciting

Create a special popcorn table with all the "fixings". Your "fixings" table should have some sweet items, sour items, flavored salt and cheese toppings. Sweet popcorn fixings are items like raisins, M&M's, peanut butter chips, gummy bears, anything sweet and chewy.  Sour items such as mustard, sour patch candies and pickles will add interest to popcorn.  Flavored salts or cheese need to be shakable. Black pepper, garlic salt, shakable cheese and special popcorn salts that come in a variety of flavors will satisfy and intrigue many palates. All of these toppings will create a Yummy treat!

You can put the popcorn in paper coffee filters and allow each child to mix up his/her own popcorn. Now you have both a treat and a great party activity (you get a twofer with this one). Kids will mix all kinds of things like mustard and gummy bears and dare each other to eat their creations. What could be more entertaining. Kids will love it because they get to make decisions. Kids like to feel important.

What goes better with popcorn than a movie. Movie rentals are inexpensive and a convenient way to take the party up a notch. Need a bigger screen? One thing you might look at is renting a projection screen. One day projection screen rentals can be very inexpensive and it certainly gives the kids the feeling of a movie theater with out the cost of the movie tickets.

Everyone knows that a party is more fun if there is a theme involved. That’s why whenever hosting a party, I  try to have some kind of central idea to focus around whether it be Hawaiian themed, Mexican themed, or holiday themed. Here lately, I have been in a rut with my party theme ideas. I really needed some fresh ideas.  So, I started exploring possibilities outside of my norm. I considered weird wacky themes, outlandish themes and even considered recycling some old themes.  Then in the midst of my brainstorming, I thought of a new and exciting idea for any kind of party: Decade Themes.

With a decade as a theme, you can incorporate many aspects of entertainment into your party planning including: popular foods, clothes, games, and music. To make sure the theme really takes off, be sure and send out party theme invitations ahead of time incorporating elements of the decade. Let guests know that decade attire is required for the party. Guests decked out in decade party attire will add to another element to your party decorations, not to mention some good laughs. Think of how much fun guests will have putting together outfits for the event. You can even have a contest for the best decade outfit.

Choosing what to serve at your party is completely up to the host. Regular party food is always fine. However if you want to get creative, find or make some foods that were popular during that time. Entertainment is a must. Games are optional of course, but games such as Twister and Super Nintendo sure do bring some laughs to a room full of MC Hammer pants. Of course pumping it up with a little music, is probably the best way to immerse your guests in the decade, as well as, entertain them.  To add that special musical ambiance to the party hire a band that plays a variety of songs from the decade. If you can’t find the right live entertainment for your party, a good decade music list from your Ipod will work just fine.

A decade theme party is a fun and unique way to throw a fabloulous shin-dig.  So pick a decade and let the good times rock and roll.