| Birthday parties can be a piece of cake, if you plan | | | | balloon sculptures. |
| them correctly. You don't have to be an expert | | | | Have the magician end the show by instructing the |
| event planner to give your child an exciting birthday | | | | children to walk over to their seats. Usually finger |
| party. | | | | foods like pizza do very well here. Sure, it's not the |
| One piece of advice most party planners will share | | | | healthiest food, but heck, it's a party. You may wish |
| with you is to plan an age appropriate party. The | | | | to publish the menu on your invitation in case there |
| younger the children, the shorter the party. In | | | | are any children with food allergies. Suggest that |
| today's busy world, it's often hard to get other | | | | parents of children with any medical conditions stay |
| young parents to spend a day at birthday party. | | | | with their children during the party. |
| Two hours is a perfect length of time for children's | | | | Next, serve the cake. Be sure to take plenty of |
| party. | | | | photographs. And, now to open the presents. Stop. |
| The Two Hour Party. The first half hour will be meet | | | | If there are lots of little children at the party, save |
| and greet. Some children will be shy in a party | | | | opening presents till after the guests have left. You'll |
| environment for the first thirty minutes. This is a | | | | preempt lots of confusion and fighting. |
| good time for unstructured activities. Let the children | | | | Poof! You're done. Thirty minutes for guests to arrive |
| acclimate. | | | | and settle in, a one hour quality magic show to |
| The next hour is party entertainment. An entertaining | | | | entertain the guests and a fast and furious thirty |
| children's magician can keep even the youngest | | | | minutes to serve food and cake. Hand out the goody |
| children fascinated for an hour, but beyond that, | | | | bags and put your feet up. See, I told you it was |
| you're pushing it. Ideally, plan on a 30 to 45 minutes | | | | easy. |
| of show and 15 to 30 minutes of face painting or | | | | |