Baby Genie

How to host a third birthday party – and enjoy it

Two weeks ago, our little bear turned three.  Three.  I know – that old cliché; where does the time go?  A blur of magic, milestones, tears and momentary (mummy) meltdowns, that’s where.

We wanted a big bash this year, and being an August baby we crossed everything for a sunny day and planned a party at the nearby park and invited 28 children and 36 adults.  Madness you might think, but with my new ‘enjoy life to the full’ philosophy, I was determined to not only pull it off, but enjoy it – see it and remember it too.

And I am smugly proud to report back – I damn well succeeded.

It might have been a big get together but it was simple, outdoor, childhood fun – like we used to have as kids.

We invited people with paper invites and on Faceb00k and provided a map to a nearby car park which was a short woodland walk along the river away.  To keep children moving we placed 10 clues along the walk with a secret party password at the end which went down a storm.

We called in a little help from Tesco and their picnic food expertise – we were catering for the masses so a trestle table, card table and huge table-cloth hosted the ultimate in party food.

We feasted on veggie sticks with dips, crisps, assorted sarnies, savoury treats, strawberries and chocolate cakes.

Everything was gorgeous, fresh and there was barely a crumb left.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I’ll be damned if you can go wrong with Tesco party food.  The mini pizzas seemed to be the overwhelming favourite; we could have got through enough to put them out of stock for a month.

Lego Duplo came into their own with a giant building block birthday cake and invites, as well as balloons, cups, plates and party bags (which we filled with sweets, tiaras and jewels for the girls and parachute men and motorbike toys for the boys).  The hugely coveted ‘winner stickers’ had the children’s eyes as big as saucers and willing to do anything to get their hands on one.

The sun shone, we played football, a hugely successful game of ‘what’s the time Mr Wolf’ – and then the highlight of the day, throwing water bombs at daddy.

The reason it was a success was the simplicity – green grass, plenty of food and drink and 20-something kids ready to paaaarteeeeee.

My tips for hosting a third birthday and enjoying it…

1. Get someone else to take photos.  And get some with you in.

2. Accept help – one mum can only get so many sausage rolls out onto platters so fast.

3. Keep it simple – make games spontaneous and don’t try to include everyone if they’re having fun elsewhere

4. Give everyone a winner sticker or tiny prize to avoid tears

5. Get the parents playing games too.  It’s the most fun I’ve had in ages.

6. Stand back and take it all in like it’s your wedding day.  They only turn three once.

This is a sponsored post.  We were lucky enough to receive the majority of the food and drinks from the fantastic Tesco picnic range and Lego Duplo supplied all of the party accessories..  I stick to the Bloggers with Integrity Code to post honest open reviews.