Fun Theme Ideas for Children's Winter Birthday Parties

It can be tough having a birthday after the holiday season’s finished! Bank accounts may feel empty, and guests can be partied out after all the festivities between Halloween and the New Year.

If you’re tasked with throwing a birthday party for your child during this season, you’ll want to make sure the day is extra special.

Image credit: Pixabay

This can be a bit challenging when you’re cooped up indoors, but with a bit of creativity you’ll be able to make their special day one to remember!

Here are some fun themes to help you begin your planning.

Winter-inspired Theme

Make the most of the winter spirit by throwing a winter-themed party! A winter wonderland type of theme can be really fun and easy.

The décor can help you reuse some old Christmas decorations, with snowflakes, twinkly lights, and paper crafts.

Decorate with paper cut-outs of snowflakes, trees, or arctic wildlife like penguins and polar bears.

You don’t need it to be snowy outside to get in the spirit indoors, either. You can have a mock snowball fight with fluffy fabric balls, or create your own snowflakes with plenty of glitter.

Keep your guests cosy and warm with steaming mugs of hot chocolate and marshmallows!

Cooking or Baking

Does your child love to help you out in the kitchen? Are their friends old enough to handle some light decorating or mixing duties?

Throw a baking party with the kids, setting up a buffet-style bar with decorations to create customised cookies, cupcakes, or other baked treats.

This will not only keep them busy for the better part of an hour, but it takes care of goodie bags because you can send kids home with their creations.

Fancy Dress Party

If you’re like many mums, you may immediately reach for the dress-up box on a rainy day.

It’s amazing how long children can be entertained by dressing up in costumes of all varieties, and you can use this same idea for your birthday party.

A fancy dress party lets them choose what character they want to be, and you can join in the fun by wearing Funidelia opposuits or a fairy princess costume, depending on your own mood.

Add to the fun with props and a “photo booth” that they can pose in.

Book and Movie Characters

A book or movie theme is always a popular party idea for kids, and it can be particularly useful in the winter months.

If you want to narrow down the general fancy dress theme a bit, let kids choose their favourite book, TV, or film character.

This lets them choose between funny fancy dress or more serious and elaborate costumes, and you can always run with the theme in terms of décor with cinematic cut-outs and invitations.

Animal Themes

Finally, why not try a wintry animal theme? Have someone on face painting duty, whether it’s yourself or a more artistic friend.

Let children choose from a selection of animal faces, or make masks together as a party craft.

You can play animal-themed party games like pin the tail on the donkey, and use cookie cutters to cut out finger sandwiches in animal shapes.

Does your child have a winter birthday?  What party themes have you chosen?

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Birthday Gift Ideas Your Son Will Love

Buying for a boy can be harder than girls. There just seems to be more choice out there for girls. From princess themed things to everything pink. While you shouldn’t gender stereotype there doesn’t to be much out there for boys. Especially older boys. So I thought it would be a good idea to share with you some ideas for a birthday gift that your son will love.

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Vouchers 

It may seem like a boring present to some. But vouchers can come from all different companies these days. You could stick with a clothing store or shop voucher. Which would go down well with an older boy, allowing them to pick some new clothes. Or you could go down a different voucher route. Things like experience days or Paintball Vouchers would go down well. Paintballing is something that can be a lot of fun for a group of people to take part, so that it could be part of a birthday party as well. Experience days offer all kinds of options from driving a race car to a hot air balloon ride. There will be something to appeal to your son.

Sports lessons 

Maybe your son has shown an interest in taking up a new hobby. Perhaps something like boxing or football. Maybe even street dancing or hockey. Whatever it may be you could buy a block amount of lessons so that they can try it out. They may fall in love it and it could be a new lease of life for them.

New clothes 

If you know your son’s style then why not pick out some new clothes for them. Again it may be perceived as a boring present, but everyone needs clothes. You might want to indulge them a little and buy something designer. If that is their thing of course.

Games console 

A lot of boys these days like to play online on a games console, so if your son needs a new one, then a birthday is a perfect occasion to get one sorted. Some boys tend to play online with their friends from school.

Games for a games console 

If they already have the latest games console, then some new games will always go down well. There is always some new release available.

DVD’s 

If your son is a bit of a movie buff then why not get them some new DVD’s to enjoy. You may even want to go one step further and get them a DVD player for their bedroom. As much as you will want to spend time with them, it would be nice for them to have somewhere to watch their films and enjoy them in peace.

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The latest gadget 

Finally, you could consider the latest gadget to hit the market. That may be the newest phone, an iPod, some fitness device that tracks their steps. It could be anything. There is always something new and exciting to on the market, and some boys can’t get enough of the new technology.  It depends on your budget, of course.

I hope this guide helps you buy a birthday gift for your son.

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Kid's Birthday? That'll Be £545 Please.

There's no doubt that the costs involved in raising your kids are rising.

I don't know about you but there seems to be a new expense every two minutes - whether it's for school trips, kits for sports and after school activities and school shoes (which seem to last about 6-8 weeks before having to be replaced).

Christmas and birthdays are times when the expenses seem to ramp up even further.

As Princess Charlotte turns one today,  American Express® has carried out some research into exactly how the costs of a child's birthday can mount up - and the company has discovered that parents plan to spend, on average, £545 to celebrate their little one's birthday.

Now I'm not entirely sure who they asked because a straw poll of mums here in Dinas would find some who will pull out all the stops and others who will happily say "enough is enough" and impose a modest budget which covers all the bases without being overly extravagant.

Here's how the costs in American Express' research mounted up:-

Gifts - £122
Entertainment - £94
Party food - £91
Party venues - £90
New outfits - £85
Party bags - £62

And you don't escape the expense if you're a guest at a child's birthday.  Parents were found to spend on average £32 on presents and £28 on new party outfits.

I suspect that some of these parents are strangers to the words "Mothercare Sale" and are desperate to keep up with the Jones'.

I have always thought you could do away with a child's birthday party altogether and just go straight to handing out the party bag and slice of cake after school because that seems to be the main lure of attending these things.

In fact, if the Sugar Police in our schools weren't so hot on scanning each child for the merest hint of dried fruit in case something that could rot teeth has sneaked in, this is a scheme that would save parents hundreds of pounds each year.

Caitlin just before her first birthday in 2008

On the basis that I'd like to save Jamie Oliver the stress of starting another campaign, here are American Express' top tips to help you cut the costs when planning a child's birthday celebrations.

Venue

If the thought of having 20 children running round your house is too much to bear but you don’t want to hire a venue, then local parks or an outdoor play area can be the perfect location for a summer party. Just make sure to check the weather.

There's always your local soft play centre of course (and you know how fond I am of those).

Entertainment

Professional party entertainers are expensive, so keep the stress levels and costs down by doing it yourself. Ask friends or family members who could do simple activities such as face painting. I don't think you can go far wrong with the old favourite party games like Pass The Parcel of Musical Chairs. I did once ask the Husband to appear as Spiderman in a morph suit but he still hasn't "got back to me" on that one.

Party bags

Those little bags can often be the things that cause costs to rack up quickly. So get creative and make them yourself. One of the simplest ways to do this is to fill clear cellophane bags with sweets or pocket-money toys or even put a book into each bag.

Back to haunt the party-ware aisle in your local ASDA it is then. I still have a cupboard full of small bouncy balls and unsharpened pencils.  (Why can you not buy sharpened pencils any more?!).

Go halves

If a friend’s child has a birthday around the same date, then you could coordinate with their parents and throw a joint party. Your child would probably love to share the day with their friend, but you’ll also save money by splitting the cost of the party.

Keep it fun

If the planning becomes hard work, the party could end up feeling forced and often costs rise. Remind yourself to opt for the simpler, easier options. By keeping the guest list manageable and offering a few kinds of drinks and snacks, not only will this be more manageable for you and enjoyable for your child, but you can save some money.

This does, however, lead neatly into the social minefield of how many children to ask to your child's party.  Do you ask the whole class, their special buddies, just relatives? Whatever decision you make has the potential to upset somebody.

I think it's worth reminding ourselves that, in many instances, one or two nice presents, oodles of love and affection on the day, time spent on a favourite activity and perhaps one or two special friends to tea is probably all that is needed to give your child a memorable birthday.

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