I’ve wanted to share these planning checklists with you all for some time! Now that we just wrapped up another birthday party, it was all fresh on the brain again, so a perfect time to write it out. Having a birthday checklist going into your party planning process is really really helpful. Just like any to do lists and writing things down. It’ll ease some of the stress and organize all the little details that could be forgotten.

Budget

First things first, decide on your budget. That will be your guiding light through this process. You don’t want to spend more and make the party a lingering stresser for your family. The budget will help guid your location, entertainment, number of guests, menu and overall decor.

Don’ forget the purpose of birthday parties. They are for celebrating life, enjoying time with family and friends and creating memories. For me, I like doing birthdays from year 1 but you may decide to start them when your child will remember- around 3 or 4.

Soapbox: please please don’t do anything you don’t want to. Seriously. Pinterest can be fun to look for inspiration and ideas, but it doesn’t have to be the standard you hold yourself to if that’s not your thing. If you want something small, but your mother in law wants a huge party at a fancy place ask her to help with the budget and planning. 🙂 That is just an example- no offense to mother in laws, I happen to have a great one.

It just seems like moms are feeling more and more pressured these days to do more, and at the end of the day you should decide what makes you and your family happy- nothing more.

Themes

Anywho, enough about that…moving on to more planning! After your budget and decide on some specific details, pick out a theme. If your child is old enough, ask for their input. If they aren’t, take cues from what they are interested in or their personality. These were a few of our themes you can use for inspiration or ideas.

My oldest son Miles loves music so his first AND 3rd birthday were music/rockstar themed. His first was so tiny that it was fitting to redo his theme again.

My youngest son Ellis was already proving to be our wild child so a Wild Things birthday was very fitting. This was also an example of going too far on Pinterest. I absolutely loved all the projects I made, but I felt stressed in the morning because I had put too much time into wooden signs and not enough on actually cooking food. Lol.

Both my sons were crazy into playing ball going into their 2nd birthdays so I did a ball theme for both! Redoing a theme was amazing- reusing things and already having a plan made the second ball themed party a breeze.

Planning

Download this party planning guide to help with your next birthday celebration. Includes a checklist to follow, a brainstorming page and a shopping list to organize your purchases. Hope your next birthday party is fun and as stress free as possible!

Access Your Free Birthday Party Planning Checklists!

Use these checklists to plan your best party yet!

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