How To Throw A Stress Free Party

I participated in an Influencer Activation Program on behalf of Influence-Central for Littlest Pet Shop. I received a sample to facilitate my review and a thank you item for participating.

Sometimes we like to invite a few friends over for a little “just because” party and sometimes we get to throw an actual birthday party. Regardless of which type of party we are planning, I have discovered a few simple tricks to keep our parties stress free. We recently got to experiment with these tips and tricks with our most recent Littlest Pet Shop friend party for four of my 6 year old daughter’s friends.

http://www.funonadime.net/how-to-throw-a-stress-free-party/

Pick a Simple Theme

Every party needs a simple theme. You don’t have to go crazy overboard and decorate for days a head of time, but a simple theme will help lead you to the right food and entertainment/games and it will get the participants in the right mindset. Since our theme of our party was Littlest Pet Shop, I created these cute animal headbands based off the Littlest Pet Shop characters {tutorial coming soon}. The girls loved them!

Make Sure Snacks Are Available

No matter what time we set our party, I have discovered at least a little snack is necessary. Without fail one or more of our little friends will be starving and having a few apples and a slice of cheese at the minimum helps ease the hunger monster in them. Also, there is always one kiddo that loves the healthy stuff over sweets, so make sure you do not skip out on the fresh fruit.

With our Littlest Pet Shop party, we made our family favorite Puppy Chow Recipe and had some apples and string cheese.

Ask A Friend To Be The Party Photographer

When I plan a party I tend to forget to take pictures. Have you ever done that? I feel so bad that I put all the effort into the party but have nothing to show for it. So I have been starting to ask a family member like my mom, one of my sisters or a friend, who will probably already be at the party, to take a few pictures. It lets me focus on keeping the party moving and still capture a few memories for my child to look back on later. Plus, with someone else in charge of photography, you may just capture moments like this below that I would have missed on my own.

Plan Simple and Easy Entertainment

No matter the type of party we are putting together, I have learned that 2-3 activities is perfect for a 1.5-2 hour party. Those could be any combinations of games, crafts, activities, etc. Plan on at least one not getting used at all, but available in case you need to clean up a mess or need a minute to prep the next activity. For instance, we had a Littlest Pet Shop DVD that we put on while the girls snacked and they were all zoned in on it, which allowed me time to finish the last headband.

Some of our favorite parties are based around our guests just playing together like with a large set of Littlest Pet Shop toys. It’s a great way to see how your child interacts with the toys, see if it is something they are really interested in (because we all know we hate to spend money on toys they never play with) and to see how the toys work in general.

I did not realize how into Littlest Pet Shop all these little girls were, not even my own daughter. She knew all the animals names and even what kind of animal they were. I was so impressed! So, when I pulled out Littlest Pet Shop kits for the girls to create their own Pet Shop world, you can imagine their excitement.

What I thought was really neat about watching the girls put the kits together, was that it was putting the power into their hands to create their own rooms and stores. They literally were able to build them. The directions were easy enough to understand, especially for our 8 year old friends, and they all enjoyed personalizing them with stickers and other decorative pieces to make their own glamorous space.

Once built, the rooms can be stacked or set side by side to create their own unique Downtown City. The girls built and played so well that they went over our planned party time by a good 30-45 minutes.