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Are you planning a Birthday Party for your small child? Looking for some creative places on where to hold the party that young children will love? If so, I got some great ideas to share with you! Some of these ideas are low cost places and other’s are more expensive. Most of these places are great unisex places but a few are more geared towards boys or girls.

Before you try to find a place to hold the Birthday Party, you will want to come up with the guest list first, as the places you contact will ask you how many will be attending and that will include your adult chaperons too. They will also ask you about the food, will you be providing it or will you need it catered by them?

Once you find the perfect location to hold the party, you can then work on picking out a theme and purchasing all of the food and supplies that you will need. A piece of advice, always plan for a few extra guests when making your reservations and purchasing your supplies!

My Top Places On Where To Hold A Party List

1. Your Home (always works well if you have space and a backyard)
2. Bowling Alley
3. Salon or Day Spa
4. Pottery, Arts and Crafts Studios
5. Horse and Pony Stables (for horseback riding)
6. Snack Food Factory (a lot of them have children’s parties with factory tours available)
7. Zoo, Aquarium or Local Farm
8. Circus or Hire A Clown To Attend Home Party
9. Ice Skating, Roller Skating Rink or Ski Lodge
10. Movie Theater for Private Showing
11. Sporting Event or Athletic Arena (football, baseball, hockey, basketball, etc.)
12. Music Concert (geared towards children of course)
13. Puppet Theater (for a Puppet Show)
14. Local Outdoor Park, Picnic Area or Beach
15. Cooking & Baking at local Culinary School or Bakery (kids love to cook and bake)
16. Tea Party (at a local tea house)
17. Restaurants (if you child has a favorite place that they like to eat, contact them to arrange a party)
18. Outdoor Camping (with plenty of adult supervision)
19. Miniature Golf
20. Arcade and Game Center, Amusement Parks
21. Nature Science Center or Museums
22. Airports (usually your smaller community airports allow parties)
23. Music Recording Studios
24. Ballet and Gymnastic Studios
25. Local Fishery (for boy’s fishing party)
26. Local Speedway or Racing Facility
27. Train Stations or Train Museums (boys love trains!)
28. Boating Facilities (near big lakes, rivers and oceans)
29. Rock Climbing Facility
30. Pet Shop, Pet Rescue Group Facility or Shelter

This article was written by Shelly Hill, copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved.

Now that summer is in full swing, do you and your family enjoy outdoor picnics? I am not talking about big family reunions & gatherings, what I am specifically talking about is some family time with just your spouse and kids?

One of the things we enjoy doing as a family is going out to remote areas, public parks, etc. and planing an afternoon picnic.

Now if you have never done this for your family, here is a list of things you will need:

Picnic Blanket or Picnic Table
Picnic Table Cloth (if using a table)
Plates, Napkins, Plastic Utensils and Cups
Picnic Basket and/or a Cooler with ice
Trash Bags (for clean up)

You don’t need to get all elaborate with your food choices…you can plan simple sandwiches/subs, macaroni or potato salad, some chopped up fresh fruit, potato chips & pretzels and perhaps a few pickled eggs.

While out on your picnic, you will want to bring along a few things to keep the kids busy or activities that the entire family can enjoy such as: a ball, kites, fishing poles (if near water), bubble blowing machines, bocci ball, frisbee or any other small & portable outdoor activity that you can think of.

The most important thing is to keep it simple so that you don’t stress yourself out. Remember, this is family time so you will want to plan ahead for a stress-free afternoon outdoors!

Shelly

Now that it’s the middle of the summertime season, what kind of family activities do you enjoy doing outdoors? One of the things we have always enjoyed doing as a family in the summertime has been kite flying.

Kite flying is an inexpensive family activity because all you really need is a kite! You can buy inexpensive ones at your local dollar type of store or you can go for more expensive ones at a kite shop.

If you have small children, I recommend getting the cheap and easy kites. If you have older children, you can purchase the more expensive kites…but either way, kite flying is a lot of fun!

When we plan kite flying family days, we also pack a picnic style lunch. All you need are some sandwiches, fruit, a snack and a few drinks. While you are at it, don’t forget to pack a blanket!

So this summer when you are thinking about a good family activity to do outdoors…consider going out and flying a few kites!

Shelly

If you are looking to keep older kids busy this summer, how about letting them tie-dye their own T-shirts? You can go out to your local craft store and buy kids T-shirts for about $3.00 a piece or better yet, dig some out of your child’s closet and use those!

I recently did a product review for a company called Simply Spray which has these awesome spray fabric paints. Sort of like traditional spray paint but made for fabrics! These were really easy to use and it only took me 90 minutes to make a tie-dye tshirt for my nephew (allowing for drying time).

Here is what you will need to make one:

100% cotton T-shirt
Simply Spray Fabric Paints (3-5 colors)
Newspaper

You will want to do this project outdoors during a nice weather day. Lay down several sheets of newspaper. Take your cotton short and scrunch it up. Stand back about a foot or two and lightly spray your T-shirt. I left mine dry for 10-15 minutes, rearranged the shirt by scrunching it again and then sprayed on another color. Repeat that process until your shirt is done.

Note: You do not need to heat set the paint! I left mine dry for 72 hours before washing it.

Pretty easy and fast! A great little summer craft project for the kids to keep them busy.

Shelly

When it comes to hosting a birthday party for your child, what kind of things do you like to do? Are you the type of parent that does the same old thing every year by just having a sleep over party or do you get creative and look for alternative ideas?

I raised a daughter so I have hosted a lot of birthday parties and been to hundreds of kids birthday parties over the years. I have seen some common theme’d ones and some really over the top parties.

Here are some that I have attended over the years.

Bowling Alley
Circus
Spa Salon
Backyard Pool
Backyard Carnival with Games
Public or Private Park
Outdoor Wilderness – Camping
Backyard Camping
Roller Skating
Ice Skating
Game Night Slumber Party (board & card games)
Movie Slumber Party
Movie Theater Party
Horseback Riding
Miniature Golf
Game Arcades
Arts & Crafts Party
etc. etc. etc.

So my blog question today deals with kids Birthday Parties. What kind of parties have you hosted for your children?

Shelly

In just a few short weeks, the children will be out of school for the summer vacations. Once that happens, many parents will be scrambling for ways to keep the children busy.

As a mother and grandmother myself, I am not fond of letting kids sit in front of a television all day long or allowing them to play video games for hours on end.

So, my blog post today is to give you some ideas that you can utilize to help keep the children busy this summer.

* Invest in some new board games that are appropriate for their age, including puzzles.
* Plan to have mini arts and crafts days a few times a week.
* Exchange babysitting services with another local mom for 2 afternoons a week. (play dates).
* Invest in some new reading books that are appropriate for the childs age.
* Invest in some outdoor games such as Bocce Ball, Volleyball, Badminton, Croquet, etc.
* Plan to take your children to the neighborhood park 1-2 times a week.
* Visit your local library 1-2 times a week.
* Plan afternoon trips to: the museum, the zoo, rollerskating and ice skating rinks, amusement parks, swimming parks, movie theater, etc.
* Volunteer this summer in your community. There are many organizations that will accept an entire family to do some volunteer work for them.

As you can see from this ‘short’ list, there are many things you can do that don’t cost a fortune to keep your children busy this summer. If you ask me, these ideas are so much better for them than letting them sit all day long in front of the tv or video game console!

How do you plan on keeping your children busy this summer?

Shelly