DIY Birthday Party at Home!

Happy Friday pals!

It's birthday season over here, with both of my girls having their very special day within two weeks of each other (fun? Yes. chaos? Yes.)

There are pro's to the crazy birthday season though - a joint birthday party!

Now just to set the scene a little - I am not what you would call a massive birthday person. The result being, that it reaches about two weeks before my youngest daughters birthday (in late Jan...I blame Christmas being too close) where it even registers that a celebration is something I need to be putting thought into.

This year we decided that a small party at home for our close friends and their kids. This meant that 3 mums and 9 kids, almost all aged between two and four, (one being a 7 month old babe) graced our house to celebrate!

Here's what we did, to make our party a resounding success!

Have Friends in Bouncy Places

This one was a game-changer and it was all down to a friend of ours making a VERY savvy purchase at Christmas time. Along with bringing her kids over, she also brought her bouncing castle. This thing was amazing, it blew up in 2 minutes and provided literally hours of fun. All the kids LOVED this, I cant emphasise that enough. It also may be on our Christmas list for the end of this year.

This is the jumping castle that we used today but for other options (warning - they get very elaborate and verryyyy expensive) then click here!

Timing

With a start time of 10am, this was an absolute winner! We didn't commit to lunch, meaning that the prep time (we literally did cupcakes and a fruit platter) was practically non-existent. Our friends stayed until about 12pm, meaning that we spent the afternoon chilling out!

DIY Cupcake Decoration

If you're looking for an activity that will keep eight young kids entertained for more than two minutes, then look no further.

For the girls' birthday cake, we made eight cupcakes and then provided each child with their own lollies and 5 different icing colours. They all then were able to decorate their cupcakes as they wished (granted, some had a little more artistic talent than others!). 

At the end, we stuck four candles in one cupcake, two in the other, sung Happy Birthday and hey, presto! Birthday cake sorted.

*Extra note: Have some baby wipes or these awesome expandable towels close by, to clean little hands when they are covered in icing and sprinkles!

Mind Your Step

This was another really simple activity that the kids loved! We set up our balance beam and stepping stones for the kids to play on. While the jumping castle was by far the biggest hit, this was a gentler activity for some of the kids who wanted some time away from the jumping chaos. This would be a great option for setting up under a tree (or in some shade) if you were having a party in a park.

I hope that your stay at home birthday party is as fun as ours was!