Birthday Parties should be fun for everybody. Whether it's a small group for cake and ice cream or a house full for the afternoon, you want to be able to enjoy the day with your child and your guests. It takes a little bit of planning, but it's well worth it to make it a special day for everyone. This guide will help you get started, and will take some of the stress out of the planning for you.

Decide, with the party person, what the theme of the party will be. Keep in mind that this is not an easy decision for a young child to make. It's pretty important to them. Spend some time helping them to decide, but keep the choices to three or four too many might overwhelm.
Make out your list of party guests.
Outline the types of party activities, games, crafts, etc.  that you hope to include.
Make lists, decorations to buy, decorations to make, party favors, game prizes, menu, and refer to them often.
If you're ordering party supplies, leave lots of time for shipping.

Write out your invitations and hand deliver or mail them. Let your child help with as much as they are capable of doing. Pre-school children love to decorate envelopes with pictures and stickers, and would feel very responsible having that task to do.

Send out your invitations. When addressing your party invitations and thank you cards, find a fun way to address each one based on your party theme. For example, at a GI Joe party give each guest a surname like Sergeant or Captain or try using favorite character names or slogans from your party theme.

Customize the "Who, What, When, Where" party information as much as possible to fit the party theme.

Include a theme-related object like a secret code typed on a piece of paper or a raffle ticket as their ticket into the party.

Finish up any decorations or favors that are to be made at home.
Check on your party supplies to make sure that you have everything that you need.
Prepare any food that can be made ahead and frozen, including the cake.
Go over your party activity list again, and make sure that you have all of the necessary equipment if any.

Do your final grocery shopping, and don't forget film, video tape, and batteries.
Confirm the number of guests.
Don't worry so much about cleaning the house. 

Your guests will remember what a good time they had, not the dust.

Finish decorating or pick up the cake.
Double check the area of the house or yard to be used for the party. Make sure that it's "party safe". Put away your favorite crystal and plants that might get tipped, and remove any furniture necessary to make room.
Put up the indoor decorations.
Do any food preparation that can be done ahead.

Finish all of the food preparation.

Drape colorful crepe paper streamers, gauzy gossamer or garlands from corner to corner of the party room.

Sprinkle color-coordinated and print confetti and favors all around the table.

Cover the foyer and hallway floors with big, bouncy balloons in all the brightest colors and matching party theme prints! Tie balloons to each chair at the party table, or fill balloons with helium, tie with curling ribbon, and let them fill the ceiling with color.

For the perfect table centerpiece, gather a bunch of helium-filled balloons tied with curling ribbon, and attach to a balloon weight (a soup can works great!). Set the weight inside a print or solid gift bag, fill bag with crinkle tissue and sprinkle with confetti.
Put up the outside decorations.
Mark the designated party area, inside or out, with decorations or signs.
Keep your party activities and menu lists handy, and refer to them often. Many items have been forgotten in the kitchen until it's time for dessert.
Finally, relax, and enjoy the party with your child!

Greet them in theme-appropriate costume, if you dare. A simple tiara will do too. 

Fine-tune your party with the right music and entertainment ideas! Nothing adds energy and attitude to a party like theme-related music and videos. Choose from Kids Birthday Classics, Family Fun Sing-a-Longs, Favorite TV Themes, 70s Disco Sounds, High Energy Jock Jams and more.

Start off by serving plenty of snacks that your guests can nibble on throughout the party. Use fun theme-related accessories for snack and serving bowls like a plastic Pooh honey pot, a GI Joe helmet, Scooby Doo doggy bowls or a Fantasy Barbie makeup case! Buffet style meals are always fun and easy. Plan a menu that complements your party theme like a sports stadium buffet, foil wrapped alien food, everything pink Barbie buffet or Scooby loves pizza extravaganza.

Theme
Once a theme has been decided, and decorations purchased or ordered, help your young child to understand that it can't be changed. If that seems difficult for them, let them see the decorations once you have them. They will probably be excited and look forward to using them.

Food
Decide what the menu will be. Let the birthday child choose some of the foods to be served. You may get some strange requests here, ask your child to suggest several different ones. Or you could make a list, and let the birthday child choose.

Games
There are some guidelines to make a note of to keep the fun happening.
Be sure that any games or activities are age appropriate. Young children probably won't have the attention span to play organized games, but they love duck ponds, fish ponds, bean bag toss, and bowling. By the age of four and five, most kids have started playing more organized games at pre-school and kindergarten. Try to keep them simple, without a lot of rules. If you have a large group, with a wide range of ages, you may do best to run a couple sets of activities for the younger and older ones. Or form teams, with little kids and big kids on each team.
Try to avoid games, like "Simon Says" and "Musical Chairs", especially with young children who are likely to be upset about being "out".
Also try  to avoid competitive games, at least until the kids are older, and then only if that's what they want. Team competitions work well if you really want the games to be competitive. Games can be played just for the fun of playing. Don't feel that prizes must be awarded. If you're choosing teams, don't let the children pick the team members. Draw the names out of a hat, or count off.

Small children can be overwhelmed by large numbers of people, for long periods of time. Under the age of six, a good rule of thumb is to keep the number of guests equal to the age of your child, particularly for an at-home indoor party. If you're in the backyard, going to the park or to the beach, you could probably add to those numbers.
Children over six can usually do well with as many as 10-12 guests.
If you're having a large group like the class or the whole scout troop, don't leave anybody out. Feelings will be hurt!
Don't hesitate to ask friends or relatives to help out. You just can't run games, make hot dogs and take pictures all at the same time.
Have a schedule, but make it flexible. If something isn't working, go to plan B.
Try to schedule the busiest activities for early in the party, to be followed by refreshments, cake and gift opening.

Create a table for young children out of a door or sheet of plywood on top of boxes, crates or end tables. Make sure that it isn't unstable. It's also a good idea to staple or tape your party table cover up under the table so that little legs don't get tangled up climbing in and out.
If you cover your paper party table cover with some clear poly or a plastic cover, you can use your table for crafts, and remove or wipe up the plastic before serving refreshments.
If spills and messes are going to be too nerve wrecking for you, keep the party outdoors if possible, or restricted to an area of the house where accidents are less likely to upset you.
Party proof before your guests arrive.
Put pets in a safe place away from the party
Remove anything breakable or dangerous
Make sure that guests know which areas are restricted
Do a safety check outdoors as well. Barbeques, garden chemicals and tools, pets, pools  and playground equipment.
Be extremely careful with the balloons. Keep inflated ones up out of reach of young children, and discard any broken or deflated ones. 
If you are giving treat bags, hand them out as guests are leaving. Chaos is almost guaranteed if they are given out during the party.
Consider giving each guest a small thank you gift instead of treat bags. The birthday child could be in charge of wrapping and decorating each one.

The Problem Child
Pre-school children, in particular, become over excited easily, and may act up as a result of the stimulation. Try to keep them actively involved in crafts or games, or give them special tasks to help out with. An older child who may be creating a problem can be taken aside and told politely that misbehavior will not be tolerated. Try to avoid a public confrontation if at all possible.
If your party was scheduled at a meal time, don't wait too long to serve the food. Hungry kids will act out more quickly.  Try to keep the sugar loaded foods to a minimum.

The Shy Child
Encourage, but don't force a child who is shy to take part.
Give them something else to do, or a special place from where they can watch.
A child who holds back or doesn't join in isn't necessarily not having a good time.

The Birthday Child
Most children become very excited at birthday time some even for weeks before the "Big Day". Many imagine what their party will be like, especially very young children, and feel let down or disappointed when it doesn't turn out the way they expected. They could even spend the whole day in tears, or worse, in their bedroom. Be patient, and try these guidelines.