Planning a Birthday Party for Kids Printable Checklist and Guide

Interested in downloading my free, 10-page birthday party planning guide? (Wow, that was a mouthful wasn’t it?)

Planning a birthday party can be stressful, and I mean stressful. Between all the invitations, decorations, and food that you’re expected to make by hand (oh, and don’t forget: it has to be delicious)… It can be a downright nightmare.

That’s where I come in.

I created this guide to help you plan a birthday party that is super stress-free with minimal amounts of muss and fuss. If you follow these easy steps you’ll be golden, my friend!

(And of course, if you wanted to hire that process out just reach out. My favorite thing to do is plan parties, and if I can take one off your plate I would love to!)

I outlined the steps for you in this article, and I created a free printable PDF guide that will walk you through the process and give you ample space, charts, tables, graphs, etc. to plan the most amazing little birthday party of all time. If you’re interested, click here to get it!

So are you ready? Get to planning!

Step 1: Establish the General Information to Plan a Birthday Party

The absolute first thing you must do is establish the general information that will carry you through the planning a birthday party. Where will it be held? Who are you celebrating? Which birthday? And, most importantly, what will be your theme?

Establishing a theme is of utmost importance because it will be with you throughout the whole party. Typically, if I send out invites by hand I like for them to fit the theme. If I just do a Facebook invitation, I like to include the theme in the title.

*Friendly tip: I like to stress when starting this step: if you not a huge fan of decorating for parties, pick a venue that’s naturally beautiful. Then you won’t have to decorate as much!

Step 2: Send Out Invitations

It is always good to make sure invitations are sent out 6-4 weeks before the party. If necessary, they can be sent out 2 weeks or more before the party but that doesn’t give your guests the most time to plan.

Choosing paper vs electronic invitations can be tricky, at least for me. It all depends on the people you’ll be inviting to your party. If your stumped,
I have a great chart located inside my workbook that will help you decide. Make sure to download it, and then you can use the resource there to help you determine which is best for you.

Step 3: Develop a Party Plan

Your party plan is the most essential part of planning a birthday party. It helps you determine food, decor, and more!

Friendly Tip: Always start with the food, which is probably the most important part of the party. After you decide the amount of mouths you’ll need to feed in step 2 you will know exactly how much of everything you’ll need.

Once you determine the food you’ll be making/buying, you will want to determine the decor you will have. You can split up the decorations into sections, such as: dessert table, gift table, wall hangings, standing decor, outside props, etc..

You can make a list of these items (decorations and food) you want to have, and that will allow you to come up with a plan for the party, but not before…

Step 4: Add the Fixins’

There are so many options in this category, and you could theoretically add all of them if you so choose. It really just matters how many people are going to be attending and how much time you have.

The fixins’ could include a photo booth, craft, a pinata, and so so much more. You can find a list of those and more ideas in my downloadable workbook. If you’re curious about how to make your party stand out, that’s the best place to start!

Step 5: Create a Shopping List

After you know the food, decor, and fixins’ you want, go ahead and add all the stuff you’ll need to make that happen onto a shopping list. You don’t need to actually plan your shopping trip(s) until you…

Step 6: Establish a Timeline to Create Your Dream Party

This is where you want to establish a due date goal for each and every item on you party plan list. Whether it be a hanging banner your going to make or those adorable cake pops, have a due date for each item.

When you have each and every due date noted, make sure to put them in order. Make a plan of how you’re going to achieve everything!

Friendly Tip: My best advice for this section is putting crafting or baking onto your calendar. Whether it be a paper planner you have or your google calendar on your phone, schedule that time in so you don’t miss it.

Step 7: Get to Creating that Amazing Birthday Party!

This is my favorite step! Get to crafting and baking and creating! Have so much fun, and of course, please share with me what you accomplish using this guide in either the comments below or by reaching out. It means so much to me to get to read your party stories!

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Don’t forget: if you want even more relaxed party planning, grab yourself a bottle of wine (and maybe one of those head scratcher things that looks like it has spider legs) and download my free, 10-page guide that follows this process. It has extra hints, tools, and really cool ideas. Not to mention, if gives you places to brainstorm, make lists and charts, and even doodle.

What more could anyone want, honestly?

Thanks for stopping by. It means the world to me that you dropped in and read through my post!

Could you do one little thing to help a sister out? If you were to repin this post on Pinterest I might die from excitement. (I won’t, I promise. But I like to add a bit of drama to my life every now and then..)