When I returned from the Christmas holidays the last thing I wanted to do was to organize another party. Just when I needed a nice, calm start to 2018 it dawned on me…birthday party! My eldest son is turning 9. We will all just have to keep on celebrating. No change of a dry January!

It is the same every year.  It is after all the same date every year. Yet again, I have nothing prepared or planned. When I realized the birthday was a week away I’ll be honest, I panicked, I even considered postponing the party. However, looking at our family agenda I realised this wasn’t going to happen so I’d just better put my grown-up hat on and get on with it!

How to prepare a birthday party in a week? I know what you are thinking… “That is impossible!” I had exactly the same opinion until I had to do it last week and … it worked!

So here is how I planned it:

1 – I asked my son to do a list of up to 10 friends he would like to invite (I ended up with 15)

2 – I wrote a text so Dad could send it to the children parents to invite them. I started by apologizing for this “rude” and “very late” invitation of course!

3 – I delegated the inviting task to Dad. He was the one who would be in charge of sending invitations and receive confirmations and then inform me of the number of kids attending.

4 – I decided on the party venue. It was too late to book whatever we wanted and Christmas was already too expensive so we decided to save some pennies and have it at home (panic again!)

5 – With the “venue” sorted, I needed to think what I needed to order ASAP: It was cake, decoration, and candy

6 – I went on Pinterest for inspiration for a Harry Potter Party. When I found the cake I booked it straight away from Parentville Parties. It literally took me 5 minutes to do it.

7 – Then I also ordered 3 jars of Candy and themed party treats to give to the guests as party bags. I explained on Parentville Parties chat with the provider that I was doing a Harry Potter Themed party and in 10 minutes it was all sorted and ordered.

8 – So, at this point, I have: venue, cake, party bags and candy. I still need to sort out the food and entertainment.

9 – Concerning the food, I decided to:

a) Have pizza as main

b) Have some bouls of fruit and vegetables on the table and well as popcorns, cheese and crackers

c) And that we would have cake for dessert

10 – I went to Pinterest again and found some great games to do with the kids at home and then ordered what I needed to do it from Amazon. Here is the list of things I ordered for games and decoration:

Harry Potter tablecloth
Red Balloons
Golden Paper Cups
Golden Party Plates
Golden Plastic Cutlery
Harry Potter Party Plates
Golden Balloons
Popcorn Boxes
Led Battery candles
Pack of A4 Old Look Paper
Brick Print Wall Paper

11 – Finally I printed all the free printables I could find for a Harry Potter themed party. You need to have a colour printer for that, and I just spread them around the house.

Yes it was an intense week, but I have to admit I also had lots of fun!

So let’s recap in bullet points what you need to do if you have to prepare a birthday party in a week:

1) Send Invitations (and delegate this task)

2) Decide and book venue. If you can’t find anything, do it at home… it will be fine!

3) Order cake, candy and party bags

4) Decide on the food and make a list

5) Go on Pinterest for inspiration for games and decoration

6) Order what you need

7) Enjoy the party!