birthday parties for kids

Having your child’s birthday in lockdown can feel daunting but there are plenty of amazing ways to make it just as special.

Celebrating your child’s birthday in lockdown can seem like your options are limited when it comes to making it special and memorable. But there are many ways you can celebrate with a bang all whilst in the comfort of your own home.

1. Ultimate movie night

Family movie nights are a fan favourite but make it extra special with all the stops, by having a themed movie night including themed snacks, drinks, costumes and fairy lights! Let your child choose the movie and theme in advance so you can order ahead to make their birthday movie night extra special. Making your own personalised movie tickets is another great way to get them excited for the event and create that real cinema experience!

2. Themed treasure hunt

Think of this treasure hunt like pass the parcel! There are a fews ways to do this; you could hide the treasure and then play music to let them know if they’re hot or cold or you can create clues and hide the treasure all around the house. But make it fun with a theme, get everyone to dress up as pirates, detectives, robbers or whatever their heart desires! You can even make the treasure themed or it could be a fun way for them to find their birthday presents in the morning.

3. Decorations galore throughout the house

Surprise your child with a house full of decorations to give them a day to remember. You could fill their bedroom with balloons, hang streamers from their door, set up fairy lights around the house or even fill the entire house with balloons! Let your own imagination run wild and wake up your child with the coolest surprise ever.

4. Birthday message video from friends

Your child might be missing their school friends and family so organised in advance for everyone to record a special birthday message for them and then put it all together. If editing videos isn’t your thing there are many easy applications you can use, such as iMovie or apps like Splice and InShot. This is a great way to make your child feel loved by everyone they are missing.

5. Living room disco with extra lights

Children love a good disco party so why not make your own disco in the living room. All you need is music, costumes and lights! You can order disco lights, a disco ball, light projector or even LED lights from Kmart. It’s a good idea to pre-plan and order props and lights in advance to make sure they arrive in time.

6. Takeaway but make it fancy with a theme

Ordering your child’s favourite takeaway is a great way to give them a treat and avoid hours of cooking. There are so many easy ways to make it feel fancy with a theme by decorating the table, dressing up in your fanciest clothes and even creating menus for the table. You can do this with any kind of take away and let your child choose the theme in advance so you can order party hats, themed table decor or even a special costume. It also could be fun if you dress up as a waiter or chef to deliver the food to your at home restaurant.

7. Indoor camping

If you don’t have access to a backyard or if the weather isn’t looking good, indoor camping is an easy way to create a new world in your living room. If you have the space you could set up a tent or make a fort to sleep in, then grab some sleeping bags and lots of cushions to create an indoor camping getaway. You could even sleep under the stars and buy a star projector from Kmart to create that starry night feeling. There are plenty of fun snack ideas too, like roasting marshmallows on the stove, making smores or hot chocolates and telling campfire stories (but without the fire).

8. Drive by party

If you live in an area where it’s safe to do so you could organise a drive by party with school friends. This is a great idea where you can socially distance and say hi to friends your child might not have seen in a while. But if this isn’t possible, even setting up a zoom party with their classmates or family is a great way for them to have a chat and feel special.

9. A personalised message from a celebrity

This may seem a bit far fetched but you can order a personalised video from your child’s favorite celebrity using Cameo. You could choose a message from the original yellow Wiggle Greg, the new purple Wiggle John, there favourite sports player, musician or actor.

10. Make an ultimate birthday cake together

Having a birthday cake is one of the most exciting things for children and in their eyes the most important parts of their day. Making a cake as a family can be a great way to spend time together and get creative. To make sure you are prepared, get your child to draw their dream birthday cake beforehand and then come up with a concept together that is achievable. Order all the ingredients and extra toppings you might need to create their dream cake!

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Lisa lets it out, “I hate kids Birthday Parties”. With mounting pressure to keep up with escalating extravagance for children’s birthday parties.

She decides to make a bold stand and opt out of Birthday parties in favour of mum-daughter holidays. I’m going to share a fact with you right now that might result in you spitting out whatever hot beverage you’re consuming or cause you to want to throw a heavy object at a picture of my head, so my advice would be to stop drinking immediately and move away from all objects not connected to the floor or plugged into an electrical socket.

This fact is humiliating to admit and it’s a game changer in terms of parenting. Good, loving, decent mothers shouldn’t feel this way. But I do. And I want to get it off my chest because I’ve kept it inside for too long. The fact is, I hate children’s birthday parties. Yes. You read correctly. I hate them. Including the birthday parties of my own child. I don’t want to have them and I get absolutely no joy out of attending them.

“I am a busy working mum who still loathes the thought of organising a child’s birthday party.”

Let me go so far as to say that I cringe at the thought of year, after year, after bloody year, having to come up with a plethora of brilliant, new, innovative ideas so that my child can have a better party than Sally up the road, because hers was a circus theme with proper clown machines where you can stick balls into their mouths and all the kids ate fairy floss and toffee apples and would you believe that her mother hired ponies for the kids to ride on the front lawn and it gets better because Tinkerbell herself flew all the way from Pixie Hollow just to say hello as she is great friends with Sally’s mum. Oh please. Give me a break. Without a party planner I cannot afford and a thousand helpers I can’t pay on the day, I’m not going to be able to top Sally’s party EVER.

But I’m not ignorant to the pressures on kids these days to fit in with their peer groups and to be able to talk about awesome experiences their parents have bestowed upon them.

So I’ve worked out my modus operandi to explain to my precious child for years to come why this is the case and why she is never, ever, going to have a fantastic birthday party like Sally. I’m going to lie. Well ok. If that sounds too harsh let’s say I’ll stretch the truth.

I’m going to tell Bells (my three year old) that mummies only have a certain amount of money for one special thing every year, and Sally’s mummy uses her money to hire ponies that hate being ridden by annoying children who grab them by the hair and kick them in the ribs so they go home and cry. Hopefully she will see the error of Sally’s mother’s ways and ask what special thing we will do for the year. Which will be my cue to explain that we do a much more special thing than Sally’s diabetes-enabling, pony-abusing, mother because I take us both to Bali where we swim for hours in the pool and Mummy drinks Daiquiris which make her relaxed and fun and, really Bells, if you had to choose would you prefer a happy mummy or diabetes in later life?

Yep. I reckon I’m on a winner with that one. Sally’s mum is probably having a nervous breakdown from the stresses of organising a small child’s birthday party of epic proportions while I am sitting on my couch googling Bali Villas and thinking about how many Christmas presents I can buy in one Balinese DVD store. What can I say? I’m super practical.

But I’m not ignorant to the pressures on kids these days to fit in with their peer groups and to be able to talk about awesome experiences their parents have bestowed upon them.

I’m sharing all of this with you because my daughter turned three in October. I can recall like it was yesterday being asked to feature on the cover of the inaugural Offspring magazine when she was only a few months old. But I can honestly say that back then, I wasn’t sure I should do it.

I was just easing into my breakfast show on 92.9 and by easing I mean struggling. Being up from 3.30am whilst breastfeeding and thinking of strategies to get inside Lady Gaga’s hotel room are a lot to deal with, and I felt quite alone as I’m not the type of person to let on that I was finding circumstances tough or that I wasn’t getting enough sleep. Unfortunately both were the case but I kept those emotions locked away and I pushed on because I had no other option. I had to work to earn money, I’d made a commitment to my co-hosts and I’d said I was ready to come back. Also, I was not a typical role model parent (I was a single mum working full-time and living with my Dad), and these facts only served to lower my self-esteem and I absolutely doubted my capabilities as a parent. So to be approached by a parenting magazine to talk about parenting was completely out of my realm. But I hesitantly said yes.

I was met at my house a few days later by a young girl who looked about 18 years old. It turns out she was Offspring’s founder and editor, Kate, and after chatting with her for a few hours I realised there were others out there juggling being mothers and wives, while taking on jobs and careers that are, to be brutally honest, really bloody challenging. That day was, as they say, a game changer. My meeting with Kate opened my eyes to the fact that there are lots of women doing more challenging jobs than me and doing them well.

Since then I have become less hard on myself about the parenting decisions I have made and will continue to make. I am a busy working mum who still loathes the thought of organising a child’s birthday party. So when my workplace offered to do just that for Isabella, I jumped at the opportunity and it was an absolute blast. The very first ‘Baby Rave’ in Perth on the rooftop of my station. There were 30 kids dressed up as little Ravers, 30 parents who were thrilled they didn’t have to do anything at all, a kiddy dance floor, Wiggles music blasting through a loudspeaker, kids dancing while shoving handfuls of lollies into their mouths, bubble machines, balloon animals and a Miss Maud’s Dora Backpack cake. Brilliant. Because I organised nothing. I wonder what Sally’s mum would’ve thought? But then again, should I really care if my kid had fun on her birthday?

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