Tips : How to Throw a DIY Kid's Birthday Party (for Dummies)

Hehehehe....

Because if I can throw a DIY birthday party without hiring a professional event planner, so can you!

This was the first time ever (i'd like to say the last too, but no... Who knows what the future might bring? I even said i would never throw another big scale birthday party for Baby Boy again last year, but i ended uip throwing an even bigger one this year!) i threw a kid's birthday party at home (usually i'd just celebrate Baby Boy's bdays at his school or restaurants, we simply show up and pay hahaha don't even have to do anything else) and it went rather successfully (if i may say so myself *ahem*).

Of course, it wasn't perfect, i guess i was way too chill and didn't really have a solid plan so we were met with a LOT of problems-but nothing that we couldn't handle, so with this blog post i hope to give some pointers to other clueless mummies (or aunties) out there on how to throw a DIY kid's birthday party!

Remember ah, this is somewhat or a blind leading the blind kind of tips, that's why i call it for dummies *LOL*, if you're a domestic goddess and has been throwing DIY parties for breakfasts, this post is not for you hahahaha.

First and foremost :

1. Gather up your troop

Which means your friends and family members (if CL's in town then she'd definitely be in the team, in fact she's actually still heavily involved even though she wasn't!), preferably the ones with DIY capabilities and if possible, event organizing background *LOL*. Okay, maybe i am asking for too much, i guess any friends you can find willing to help are okay lah. But make sure you have one or two who are at least creative and artistic.

In my case, they happen to be these guys :

Av and her bf Yuli, Silv and her bf (soon to be fiance and hubby) Okky, Lid and Dermy, #Undecided (who was abandoned by the hubby after spending the afternoon preparing the party at my home *LOL*). #Undecided used to own a party planner business so she's totally helpful during the event (always alert and looking out for things to fix, even though she was completely useless during the preparation stage *LOLOLOL*. Anyway, it's always good to have your BFF by your side for moral support even if she can't help out!), Av used to join that party planner business so she also has experiences in the field-she's also an AWESOME party decorator and so is her friend Lid (check out Av's own birthday party last year, all decor and set up were done by these two!), and Silv is simply a DIY master, she's awfully neat, creative and cannot stand still. I got the perfect team!

Of course, when it comes to troop, mine wouldn't be complete if i do not mention my other lovely BFF, A! She helped me do all the DIY and also managed to come to the party despite being very sick. I am truly touched when someone cares enough to do something for me (us) even though they totally have reasons not to, that's what friends are for, no? FYI, she wasn't in the picture above because it was taken after everybody else went home and A had to go home early (because having a toddler demands so hahaha)

2. Get a sponsor (s)

LOL. I mean, if you can (particularly if you're a blogger/youtuber/social media influencer) lah, if not then maybe you can collaborate with your friends' business (in exchange of your own business?)-if that's also impossible then you'd have to fork out lah hahaha. Errr, do i sound very cheap? Don't be mistaken, i never actively seek out any sponsor (i hardly even get product review offers *LOL*), i am both too lazy and my pride gets in the way *LOL*. But for this party, the sponsor (my cousin L) seek me out hahaha.

Honestly i planned to just order some food and have a quiet dinner with my close family members and BFFs only, but when i told L about it, she told me she wanted to sponsor a nail corner for me! So thank you so much Me-Nail for the super successful nail corner, it truly was a total hit!

Ruko Klampis Jaya 33D Surabaya

Phone : 031-5946975

081 864 3166 
 BB Pin : 54bce22b or 56D9B20C
Line : menail_shop

My other sponsor was my sis in law CL hahahaha (and my bro la :p). Actually i was just whining to her, asking her to make me some invitations and props (coz i wanted to have a little photo corner too)-as she is a wonderful sis-in-law *ahem*, she obliged and refused payment. So i'll just mention their company which produced all the invitation and party props here lah :

@print Large Digital Printing, Banjarmasin

3. Get a theme and prepare your props

Again, involve someone creative *LOL* coz i'm guessing if you're a clueless mom like me then you'd be pretty stumped for ideas as well, especially if you're a very girly person and it's your son's birthday. I would never throw like, a Transformer bday party or something (personally find that kind of parties tacky, completely my opinion of course! It's a matter of taste, you know) and honestly, i didn't even plan to have a theme *oops*. I was like "Just something blue... Baby blue maybe. I dunno, something simple" to a point that i annoyed CL hahaha. 

She told me it's better to have a theme (L suggested a circus theme, which exhausted me even just thinking about it....) and she's totally right, it's so much easier to plan your party around a theme. I really couldn't come up with anything so i just whined some more asking her to come up with a theme herself *LOLOLOL* and she ended up sending me a mock of the invitation which has a mustache theme on it, and i was sold immediately!

Invitations and props all by @print Large Digital Printing, temporary tattoos bought from Stroberi!

The invitations, just for Baby Boy's friends lah, i invite my own friends and relatives via BBM/Line hahaha

Thank you card

Mini mustaches for the cupcakes

Props for photo corner

4. Throw a crafting party *LOL*

If your props are all DIY (in this case we just need to cut and glue la because everything's already prepared by @print), gather your troop to help you get everything done!

A and i really working and #Undecided just acting busy *LOL*, but she did glue the props la hahaha

If your hand writing is bad like me, get a friend with nice handwriting to help you write the guests' names!

Also don't forget to ask your troop to come very early on the D Day to finish all the preparation and also the decor the place!

Crafting session in full swing, #Undecided once again just acting busy

Perfectionist Silv hard at work. It was the first time we were formally introduced to her husband-to-be and he immediately jumped in to help out *i'm so touched*, thank you so much Silv and Okky!

It's always a good idea to have a little corner set up as a photo corner, if you want to cut corner, then do it the easy way like me hahaha. Just get a large backdrop (big enough to be your photos' background) and get it up, it will give your party more of a festive mood and it's actually a big part of the decor (because i did very minimal decorating).

Backdrop also provided by @print ^^

Just put your props on a table beside the backdrop and get your digital camera ready (all of my friends and i/hunny took turns to handle the camera) and get your guests to pose!

Some of the pics from the birthday, more photos would be at the actual party post!

5. Prepare your outfit

I mean the birthday kid's lah mostly, but it'd be cuter for the parents to be matchy matchy with them, no? I got the idea to print our family's pic in plain white tees and use it as the costume for the party!

Of course, i chose my current fave family portrait taken at Nami Island from our South Korea Trip last December hehe

Not only the three of us, but when i shared my idea with #Undecided she was excited to make one for herself too (as well as A and Av, don't i have awesome friends *teared*?). You can see their tees in the earlier photos!

6. Decor your venue

Take my advise if you're lazy (or cheap hahahaha) like me : get lots and lots of balloons. They instantly turn your venue party ready and they're a huge hit with the kids. Every single kid asked for a balloon and we ended up with... probably 10% left by the end of the party *LOL*.

Get name and number balloons as the center piece!

Of course, launch your creative troop once again for the placement of the balloons!

7. Prepare some booths 

It'd add activities and excitement for your party! It can be any booth that's suitable for kids. Cupcake decorating, face painting, accessories making, or whatever! Since my party was sponsored by Me-Nail, of course the main booth was a nail corner! It was a total hit for old and young!

Me-Nail nail corner is available for events (public AND private), for price list and type of services available please contact them yourself ^^

That's my other BFF G getting her nails done hahaha

When #Undecided heard about the nail corner, she complained because it's a boy's birthday and how come we'd only have a booth for girls??? She suggested a tattoo corner for the boys (but in the end most of Baby Boy's friends refused the tattoos -____- they thought it was "Uncool" so mostly the adults and smaller kids (and again, his female friends haha) got them.

Accidentally found a corresponding temporary tattoos at local chain accessories store, they were super cheap and at Buy 1 Get 1 Free promo, score!!!

Because temporary tattoos are so easy to apply, again just take turns with your troop to handle it!

I totally involved my friends in the party hehehe, here's Sabsab handing out glow sticks (that can be worn as bracelet) to the guests

8. Prepare door gifts

Again, it was CL's idea *LOL*. I was too lazy (and frankly, too cheap. I'm just bored la, been doing it for the past 5 years) to get anything, then CL said "Why not mold your own chocolate and gave them as the door gift?". It's super easy la, just get those huge chocolate blocks from your local baking stores (get the ready-to-eat type, of course. This way there's no way to ruin it!) plus the molds (get cute shapes!), then you just need to melt + mold them! It takes time, of course, but we had plenty of it (it was a holiday and all).

Hunny getting ready to "make" the chocolates

The white chocolate really smells heavenly!

Chop them finely

Melt

Mold!

From the same store, we also got the boxes to place them in, then we stick on the thank you cards :

Some of the shapes of the chocolates we made!

9. Order the birthday cake

Because of the mustache theme, i decided to get a very clean looking, simple cake as the birthday cake and stick on a mustache from @print. I usually order cakes from my own sis-in-law (hunny's brother's wife) but she was unable to receive any order so i ordered one from Buttermilk Pastry by Silv' recommendation. Be very very clear with your instructions because there were some misunderstanding with the designs, but maybe i wasn't clear enough (and honestly, it was hard to be because they took VERY LONG to reply)-everything's forgiven because the cake is YUMMY. I LOVE it (not sponsored, i just really like it!)

Sigh. I swear i asked for Happy 8th Birthday *LOL*. This is the Before

And After it was fabulously arranged by Lid's artistic hands *teared again*

I also ordered mini cupcakes (because i tot a mini cupcake would be cute. And kids tend to leave half of normal cupcakes uneaten so what a waste right!) for the dessert, BUT i  totally forgot that mini means very mini lah! I ordered the minimum amount (50 pcs) and was shocked when i saw how tiny they are (stupid or what). I should've ordered 200 -____-. stupid mistake by me. Don't repeat.

I actually asked for mini red velvets with full buttercream on top so we can stick on the mustaches, but they arrived with dollops instead -____-. Lid's really good though, so she managed to make them all look cute anyway! It was a total hit with the kids! Adults too but i didn't have enough >.<

Lid was really busy while Av's just acting busy hahaha

10. Make a list of your guests and order your food

I... errrr... didn't make any list and anyhow invited people. Baby Boy's classmates and several teachers, my BFFs, close friends, some friends who has kids, and some blogging friends, then my (and hunny's) family and relatives. I totally forgot that our own family's already a battalion on itself, then Baby Boy said that most of his friends couldn't make it, but majority of them actually did (and i forgot to count in the parents-although most of them actually dropped their kids off) so... errrr.... We were under-stocked for food OMG.

We ended up making some last minute orders for extra food but they didn't come soon enough (so i was really, literally, panicking!). Ideally they'd arrive before the guests started eating (i already asked the MC to stall sometime, but he can only do so much!), but they arrived when the guests were at the middle of eating so the dining table looked pitiful -___-.

DO NOT repeat this mistake (i am slapping myself here, but i honestly thought we'd have... 50 people? But it was closer to 100 -___-"), make a list to determine the number of guests then double it (or at least 1.5x la) when you order the food. 

I was already planning for a carb-loaded feast, focusing on character tumpeng and nasi krakatau, they did not disappoint!

The uber cute Angry Bird tumpeng

Another one with Minion Theme

By some miracle, we got almost enough character rice for the older kids (the one who actually understand the cuteness haha). Again, i was expecting 10, 12 kids? It was 30 -___-.

I ordered the tumpeng from Fennywong79 who's very friendly and nice, a quality i look for in a seller (again, not sponsored. Just a satisfied customer, gotta spread the love, hun). I actually contacted another character tumpeng seller who's on the rise in the IG world right now, but they were being very cold and not very friendly at all-they kept on replying me using templates, not even bothering to greet me or whatever, THEN they refused my order because they're off on weekends -___- WTF. Highly recommending Fenny (i got the recommendation from Lely, she ordered a super cute piggy tumpeng from her too for Cherish's bday), the characters were really cute, the kids were amazed, and they taste GOOD. The adults verified that!

As for the adults and particularly the hot and spicy food fans (like moi), i ordered the "hip and happening" Nasi Krakatau :

It's yummy! I actually got parents of the kids' asking me where i ordered it from, for those of you who are interested, we ordered them (we ordered two) from Nyamuda. Still not sponsored, people *LOL*. Hunny was the one who made the contact with them and he said they're friendly and attentive enough, so... It's pretty recommended too. I got my a-hole burning the day after but it's totally worth it.

We also ordered some fried rice and noodles as backup food (then my mum went to fetch the extra 20 portions because these two ran out within seconds...

That's actually 10 portions, if you think they look small hahaha

I am really embarrassed about the low supply of food, in my defense the portions are for 70-80 people and i was prepared for 50 (i was like "It's better to have overflow than low supply" WTH), but since the guests were almost 100, the extra portions couldn't come sooner!

Not only i was short-supplied for main courses, i forgot to prepare desserts -____- WTF is wrong with me. I was relying too much on the cupcakes that turned out to be too mini to be true (i planned to slice the birthday cake for the adults and let the kids' eat the cupcakes, but we also had more adults than i was prepared so the cake wouldn't be enough anyway!), thankfully my mum is very quick and she went to get some (if 80 can be called some) ice cream so she saved the day *LOL*.

11. Prepare the food for the kids

Yea.... Again i totally forgot that i was holding a KID's party, which means his friends would be kids too and you can't really expect 8 year olds to get their own food orderly and neatly, thank God my sis CW is a great host (i am most definitely NOT) and she was the one who told me to prepare the tumpeng for the kids-to make sure they get the characters too instead of the adults *LOL*

12. Hire entertainers

I suppose you wouldn't want to have to entertain the guests yourself? Even when i only invited people for dinner (for Baby Boy's bday in the past), i was pressured to mingle (i am horrible at being a host, remember?) and it stressed me out because i hate socializing with people who are not my close friends (how annoying am i?) SO the solution is easy : hire (an) entertainers! 

I have this MC slash clown that we've been using for years (but he's extremely busy and successful now so we could actually booked him once and had to settle for his assistants in other times), when Baby Boy was younger he kept on asking for a second entertainer-a character (you know, power rangers or whatever) that doesn't really do anything except dressing up i costumes and take pictures with the kids. He's now old enough to find the second entertainer unnecessary so we hired a backup musician instead to accompany the MC.

If like me, you plan to hold your party in your private property, DO NOT forget to prepare the loud speakers and microphone. The MC was late (GRRRR) and we still had to scramble around to find loud speakers (we used my old radio tape!) and microphone (it was a very dire situation!!! How are we supposed to have microphones in our house??? Well, apprently we do! Thanks to my mum's penchant for in-house karaoke session in the far past :D).

Also PREPARE small gifts OMG, i totally forgot about it until the friggin' MC started calling kids up for quizzes and games -____-. #Undecided, G and i scrambled around and i found stash of stuffs (errrrr, re-gifting is always a good idea guys. You know how kids receives 1000 pencil cases in each birthday party and all) in Baby Boy's (old) gift stash! I didn't even have time (or wrapper) to wrap them up so we just chucked them into any paper bag i could find, Bee Cheng Hiang and all *LOLOLOL*. 

I think i covered almost everything! I hope this post can be helpful (or just entertaining, it must be funny reading all of the silly stuffs i did/forgot) to some of you and i wanna thank my troop once again for helping out! You guys are awesome and i could never have done it without y'all!

Now imma gonna and rest, i'm still traumatized from that party. 

#Pink