What month is it? You check your calendar and immediately you realise your child’s birthday is right around the corner! You panic because you have nothing planned! Relax. Take a deep breath and re-organize your thoughts.
What’s easy about planning a child’s birthday party is that children are easily entertained. A simple lunch party with family and his friends, a birthday cake, gifts and simple games that can be done at home with absolutely no effort whatsoever and you are good to go.
But wait, if you arrange a party and invite his friends over, surely you’ll need to prepare goodie bags for them right? Planning what goes inside the goodie bags can be tough, especially with parents who nitpick every single thing their child brings home.
Most goodie bags are filled with junk food and sugar. Of course children will love this but parents can feel quite concerned as to what their child is bringing home from a party and will consume later.
So, what can you do to please both parents and children? Easy. Plan your goodie bags according to the theme of the party (without the candy of course!). Now, children can be absolutely creative when it comes to deciding a theme for their birthday party. Seriously, I’ve attended a glorious amount of children’s birthday parties to know that some are downright ridiculous.
Therefore, in this list, I’ve listed popular children’s birthday party themes and how to plan your goodie bags according to each theme:
1- Cartoon-themed
Image Credit: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a6/8e/1c/a68e1ced78dc5d0dbd30785b50b40b7a.jpg
This is definitely numero uno on the list. You know how children love their cartoons. From ‘Paw Patrol’ to ‘Frozen’, the choices seem endless. Most cartoon-themed birthday parties will have goodie bags filled with cartoon-themed items such as stationeries, puzzles, mini toys, and stickers to name a few.
What’s easy about planning a cartoon-themed birthday party is that you are able to purchase items for decoration, prizes, gifts, and goodie bags according to the cartoon show’s merchandise which can be found almost everywhere – from gift shops to bookstores to supermarkets.
Apart from that, these cartoon shows know their audiences, so there are also cartoon-themed educational toys such as activity books which you can pop into the goodie bags.
2- Movie-themed
Image Credit: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fd/c9/54/fdc9549443af5c65cdc6a92fe993ce34.jpg
This is another popular one on this list as children these days are so familiar with what’s playing on the big screens. I think all parents have experienced this before: You take your child to the movies to watch the newly released ‘Frozen 2’ and after the movie ends, you go home and your child suddenly turns into Princess Elsa for weeks before he/she moves on to something else.
Yes, children are full of imagination and sometimes they can get carried away in their own fantasies (laughs). Similar to cartoon-themed birthday parties, planning movie-themed parties is easy as well. The only thing about it is that it could break your bank as movie-themed merchandise can carry hefty price tags.
How to overcome this? Easy. Let’s say, your child wants a ‘Coco’ birthday party. Do a little bit of research on the movie and you will find that it is filled with references to Mexican music, culture, and folklore. Simply look for items that represent these elements of the movie such as mini toy guitars as music plays a huge part in the movie, mini sombrero keychains, or even mini face painting kits so the children can paint their faces as skeletons like what the main character, Miguel, did in the movie.
In summary, all you need to do is research…maybe watch the movie several times and you’ll get the hang of it.
3- Education-themed
Surprisingly, this is one of the top three on the list! As most children spend their time being in school, they can be more familiar with school subjects than cartoon shows. Education-themed birthday parties are easy but detailed. Parents love it, but planning one needs time as you need to integrate actual parts of learning into the party.
So, if you have a lot of spare time in your hands (and not planning a last-minute birthday party like some of us here), you can suggest an education-themed party for your child’s birthday. Ask your child to choose their favourite school subject and plan from there. For instance, if your child loves arts, fill their goodie bags with arts and crafts materials. If your child loves science, you can purchase science experiment kits as their goodie bags. These are easy to find, you can visit your local bookstore and you can even find them online such as the ALFA and Friends’ Spark kit which is sold in individual boxes (perfect as party goodie-bags) or in subscription form (kids subscription box) of 4 to 8 months. Give it a try and parents attending your child’s birthday party will be amazed at how you can incorporate fun into learning.
4- Transportation-themed
Image Credit: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1c/25/19/1c2519ca88c081708f3915756d5cb526.jpg
This is a popular one with the boys, but you would be surprised if your daughter decides on this theme too! I mean, what’s not to love about fast and roaring cars, firetrucks, airplanes and many more.
Planning a goodie bag for a transportation-themed birthday party is one of the easiest. Simply put in toy vehicles or any other road-themed toys such as a mini traffic light or you can include road signs stickers to teach the children about road safety and what the signposts they see on the road means.
5- Organic/Healthy Food-themed
Image Credit: https://naturalnewagemum.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_6185.jpg
You may be surprised to find this theme on this list, but since most parents are more knowledgeable and aware of the importance of taking care of their children’s health, more and more parents are going for that organic, healthy lifestyle in which all the produce at home consists of organic and natural food items.
This is also fairly easy, you can fill the goodie bags for an organic/healthy food-themed birthday party with healthy snacks such as trail mix or even, popcorn! Yes, on its own (without adding heavy amounts of sugar and salt), popcorn is a nutritious whole grain. Other snacks include organic crisps, snack bars, dried fruits and veggies and the list goes on. Rest assured, parents will thank you for replacing candy bars with granola bars in their child’s goodie bags.
6- Sports-themed
Image Credit: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d7/da/c5/d7dac58c69df12e17c9f7ebdc09d9e00.jpg
Last but not least, a sport-theme birthday party is also one of the most favourable children’s birthday party themes out there. All you have to do is ask your child to decide on one sport, be it soccer, gymnastics, or basketball.
Whatever it is, it is easy to plan as sports-themed birthday parties often focus on one thing: Medals and Trophies. So, fill those goodie bags with healthy snacks that an athlete would eat, a small carton of chocolate milk would do too or maybe mini sports medals and trophies. You can also include sports-toys such as those miniature basketball hoops sets.
And there you have it, all the popular birthday party themes for you to choose from and ways to plan the goodie bags for each theme! Just remember, planning your child’s birthday party should not stress you out. Planning the party together with your child can turn it into a fun, stress-free and memorable family bonding time.
