Party Length And Schedule

The next thing we should talk about is planning the schedule for the party. 

There are three major components to a schedule of a birthday party and you should plan them in the following order:

• Games/Activities
• Food/Cake
• Opening Presents

Note: Depending on timing, you can also start with food first before activities.

One important rule to remember is this: Children should not be expected to entertain themselves at a party.

So, you’ll want to plan a schedule for activities and have an idea of what time each part of the event will begin and end. The younger your child (and your child’s guests) the less free time you can give them without encountering a problem. 

If you do not plan to have scheduled games or activities during every hour of the party, be sure there are activities and toys available and that all activity (whether structured or unstructured) is supervised.

If you have young kids (2-4 yrs old), it is even OK to have all the young kids to sit down and watch their favorite cartoon as an “activity”. It’s the simplest and I do give such suggestions to parents who find it hard to plan activities for young kids.

Party Length

Set the length of your party by the age of the party guests, as well. 

A toddler’s party should be no more than 2 hrs in length, whereas a party for an 8 year old can probably be 3-4 hours, depending on the size of the group and their interests. 

By the time your child is nine or ten, you can contemplate a sleepover for a few children. 

Note that, if you schedule a birthday party at another location (bowling alley, ceramic shop, museum, or other location), the birthday party ‘package’ will probably be set for a certain length (2 hours perhaps), and you will have to fit everything into that time frame.

Before I leave this section, I’ll show you the planning template I mentioned in the downloads page.