Taming your kid's birthday parties

It’s always a pleasure having families over for parties. There are grandparents, parents, children, uncles, aunts, friends, classmates etc. People of all ages are usually invited for family gatherings such as these. Such events take lots of planning, time and effort, but don’t let them scare you. The smiles on the kids' faces makes up for everything. After the party, my younger boys said that they want their next birthdays to be at home as well.

Decorating the living room was a lot of fun. We used streamers, banners, balloons, mobiles hung from the ceiling, disco balls, signs and tissue paper accessories. I could have gotten more creative, but the room needed to look welcoming, not overcrowded. I placed the loot bags in two baskets and they became a part of the décor.

Lots of factors had to be taken into consideration when deciding the menu for this special occasion. One of the most important ones was food for different age groups and dietary needs. In order to make this easier for myself as well as my guests, I set up three tables. The first one was a kids table, the second for drinks and desserts and the third was the adults' food table.

Loot Bags

Harry Potter Cake

I also don’t like it to get too crowded around one table with all the food and drinks. Entertaining about 50 guests can be overwhelming as it is, so I wanted to be really organized about the whole presentation. Planning requires lots of effort and thinking ahead. It’s always a good idea to have some items on hand that don’t need to be cooked, or heated before serving.  It’s best to have a mix of room temperature, cold and hot menu items so that everything doesn’t have to be warmed up when dinner is served.

We had lots of kids games at this party. This came with lots of fun, laughter and noise. In order to contain the kids in one room, I made sure that everything that they wanted was nearby and easily accessible.  After all this was a kids birthday party, so they were the focus of everyone’s attention.

I was taking the photographs, my brother was making the video, someone else was conducting the games and my sisters and sister in law were in charge of serving the pizza and making sure that it didn’t get burnt. It’s a blessing to have a family that helps you willingly. I was very lucky to have them when the party was done. They helped me with the dishes and we lay out a clean towel on one of the tables and let them dry there. I put away everything the next day.

Plan your next party and let us know how it turned out. Remember, you don’t always have to make all the food yourself; that’s what kitchencultures is for! Also, refer to our other blog posts about party planning and I am sure you will find lots of other ideas there. (Look under the tag tools & tips or use the search bar in our header for keywords; such as, easy entertaining etc)

Kids' Table

Kids' Table

Below is the menu I served. 

Kids table
Salsa + tortilla cups
Popcorn
Cheese pizza
Veggie platter - baby tomatoes, celery, baby carrots, mixed peppers, onion dip and ceasar's dressing
Chocolate cookies
Trail mix
Egg sandwiches
Juice boxes

Dessert/Drinks Table
Two bite brownies
Fruit stand
Birthday cake
Pineapple Glory
Punch bowl
Water pitchers
Tea

Adult Food Table
Dahi Bardey (Dumplings in Yoghurt)
Street Style Chickpeas & Potatoes (recipe coming soon!)
Tamarind Chutney (recipe coming soon!)
Green Peas & Rice (Matar Pulao)
Tandoori naan
Chicken Karhai with Gravy 
Veal black pepper (recipe coming soon!)
Mixed vegetables (recipe coming soon!)
Tangy Minced Beef (recipe coming soon!)
Marcaroni, fruit and vegetable salad (recipe coming soon!)

A.K