As the founder of Mr Bottle’s Kids Party, you would think that organising a party is a breeze right? It does take a lot of planning, testing and execution to make it a successful celebration.
My son wanted an airplane theme party and I didn’t want the usual activities like Facepainting and balloon sculpting so I planned several activities all related to planes.
The decorations were all printed in by Mr Bottle’s Kids Party (Taiwan) using the DIY decor package, saving me time and money since printing there is 1/3 the price here. (Yes, we offer that to our customer too!) It was breeze to set up even for layman. I even asked my children to help put some of them together.
Here are some photos:
It was an amazing experience, all the guests enjoyed it but there are still regrets…. why?
Mistake #1: I ran the activities myself.
I was a very hands-on person. I am a perfectionist so I wanted to make sure nothing can go wrong. I decided to run the activities by myself. That was my biggest mistake! Why?
Birthday parties are great opportunities for me to catch up my guests which I probably only meet once or twice a year. My son invited his favourite teacher whom left the school and I wish I had caught up to find out how she is doing. There are also parents whom I never met before; I wish I had the chance to get to know them better. I invited my parents which I had no time to even say ‘hello’.
There are situations which arose eg. spilled drink, I couldn’t go and help.
When people wanted to take photographs with me, I was too busy.
In fact, I should have learned my lesson because I have seen customers trying to order and do everything themselves instead of getting a party planner to handle. Can you imagine whenever delivery, like cake, cupcakes, catering, decorations and balloons arrives, she had to receive them personally? She was so stressful that day, I told myself that I should not make the same mistake.
As a host, I should be welcoming guests, NOT manning or running a station.
#Pay a Professional Party Planner to do things.
Mistake #2: I asked relatives to help.
Since we had events that day so I decided to let my staff rest after that event. Instead I engaged my relatives to help out at the stations. There’s nothing to lose with free labour right?
My relatives, unlike my staff, are not trained to handle children and may not understand my line of work as well so it is difficult for them to do this with just short briefing and training.
When they have a situation, they come and look for me, making me even busier!
My relatives also deserve some time to catch up, not man the booths!
#Always get professional trained helpers.
Mistake #3: I didn’t engage a professional photographer
With handphone resolution getting better and better, it is probably good to save some money on photographer? I was wrong, again, because of mistake #1, there are a lot more photos I wish I had taken! When you are cutting the cake, the quality of the photos are at the mercy of the person helping you.
It is always good to engage a professional photographer, but if your budget doesn’t allow, the photographer can be a friend who is passionate about taking photos. They probably can capture memories much better than you do! (If you are always invited to my party, you probably has good photography skills! 😛 )
I had such nice decorations so make every penny count.
If the photos here look amazing, I have many of my friends to thank!
#Get professional event photographers.
Bonus Mistake #4: I did the show by myself
Yes, I did the birthday magic show myself too. The children had a great time, although it wasn’t as easy as my usual shows since most of the children know me too well. (Yes, whenever I pick up my son, the children know that I am very funny and they get away with bullying me sometimes.)
I have seen parents doing the games themselves because they thought playing games for children are easy. Frankly it is especially difficult because:
- children of age groups thinks and behave very differently,
- you must think of ways to engage them every minute of the time if not, they will lose interest, and
- kids who knows you well may try to interrupt.
We do have some tips on playing games for children on our interactive games page so at least you are prepared.
On the other hand, there are situations in which I saw maids do activities like stick-on tattoo very well. My take is that decide on what each person’s jobscope may be on the day itself and do not overload yourself with many roles.
#Get a professional to do activities, even if it is ‘simple’ things like games.
In the end, everyone was very happy and appreciative of the party and eventually, all the happy faces made it worthwhile. Maybe the title of this blog is a little misleading since I don’t feel regretful organising it for him, I just wish I had done it better. Don’t make the same mistake as me; get professionals to do your celebrations, they are worth it!
Good luck with your party! We just launched our airplane themed party, contact us for more information!