I am coming up to another Birthday Party for my daughter. Remember when birthday parties were at your house, you rented a movie and had a sleepover? Well no more! Most birthday parties cost at least $300 and involve quite a bit of parent work. My kids start planning their next birthday party the day after their last one. They get so excited that it is well worth it, you just have to be prepared

After hosting quite a few birthday parties, I thought I would share some of my favourite birthday party ideas or tips.

If you are staying at home for the party, the upside is you can save some money. The downside is you need to clean your house and entertain the kids. Usually, up until Kindergarten, parents stay with their kids for activities so keep that in mind.

At home birthday parties can be simple, you have presents to open and cake to eat but you need to kill more time. Some home birthday party activities that keep the kids from going wild are

• Make own pizzas
• Decorate cookies or cupcakes
• Slip and slide
• Park date with games planned
• Costume party
• Canvas Painting
• Handprint Art
• Dance party
• Face Painting
• Themes (pirate, princess, paw patrol)

Now, you might not have a very big house. You might be allergic to cleaning it. Here are some birthday parties ideas for younger kids.

• SPCA
• Build a Bear
• Indoor Gym
• Gymnastic Club
• Bowling
• Swimming Pool
• Park/Playground
• Movie theater
• Zoo
• Bouncy Castle

When kids get a little older, there are a million party ideas. My favourites might cost a little extra but we keep the party small. I tell the kids they can load up the van with friends, so usually 4 friends. Then I drive them all to the big venue, often West Edmonton Mall waterpark where we spend the afternoon. I drive them back to the house for presents and cake and then the parents pick them up. I have also had some great parties at local businesses. Here are some older kid birthday party ideas.

• Amusement Park
• Waterpark
• Pottery Studio: my favourite is Glazing Pot Studio in St Albert!
• Trampoline Park
• Laser Tag
• Virtual Reality Games
• Party Activity Bus: gaming or gymnastics
• Swimming Pool or Gym
• Skating or Sledding
• Movie Theater and sleepover: my son prefers this every year
• Rock climbing

Birthday Parties: The Extras

The Loot Bag

The first year I did loot bags, it was exciting buying all those little gifts and surprises. Then I priced it out and realized I spent a lot of money! The second year, I tried to do it cheaper, but the kids ended up with garbage that every mom dreads to see come home. Some moms do a candy bag from Buk Barn which I personally like. A $5 gift card from McDonalds or Dairy Queen is also a nice idea. There are a group of moms that do no do loot bags anymore and that is fine with me too. Loot bags are a big hassle.

The RSVP

Here is the real deal. People do not always RSVP any more. If you know the group of moms, they usually do but it is very common to not know who is going to show up. Something to remember; if a child has parents who are divorced and the child switches weekends at each parent’s house, the wrong parents might receive the invitation and not pass it on. This can create a problem. Just keep it in mind and follow up with those kids earlier!

These are my tips. I would love to hear yours. Please comment or contact me with your ideas!

I never considered myself a negative person, I tried to roll along with life. What I know now is that I just did not train  myself to be positive. Quite frankly if you had told me five years ago I would be either blogging or writing about positivity I would laughed my ass off. What I have recently discovered and am still learning, is the Art of Positivity.

Lets face it, bad things are going to happen to everyone. We have all heard the expression “its how you handle hard times” that determines the kind of person you are. The problem is when you are having a hard time, you are having a hard time. It is hard to be positive. I learned that its an attitude you have to train yourself to do. Once you do, it actually makes life easier.

My road to positivity started with two friends, who I met through my business. These two were constantly vibrant and positive. They were encouraging and supportive but just did not dwell on the negative. So Step 1 for me was to surround yourself with positive people and spend less time with negative people.

People are drawn to positive people. Did I want to be a person people enjoyed being around? I decided to work at being positive. This lead me to Step 2. This was an intentional decision to try to be positive, to change my mindset. I really had to work at this. Reading good books with positive messages was  helpful. When I was being too negative, I would stop myself and refocus my thoughts. I could talk to these two friends who would always see the positive to make me feel better. I would stop every night and think of one thing that went well that day and one thing I was grateful for. This takes time but is worth it.

I feel like I was successful in changing my mindset last summer. I had a very early morning flight. For some reason, my alarm did not go off or I slept through it, I do not know. I flew out of bed and raced to the airport half thinking I had missed my flight. When I got to the baggage counter I said “Wow, how awesome is my morning? I slept in and still made my flight. This is going to be a great trip”. Now a year ago, I probably would have thought “This trip is doomed. I started my day by almost missing my flight, grump, grump”. My day continued on but I was happy and thankful I made that flight instead of flustered and grumpy. I understood that all my work in Step 2 had finally paid off. My mind naturally went the positive direction without me having to redirect it.

Now how does this effect real life? Lets say that you are working on losing some weight by eating well and exercising. Its Sunday morning and you go to breakfast with your husband who orders the big egg and pancake meal. You look at the fruit and yogurt but pick some eggs, toast, bacon and hash browns instead. As soon as you are done eating, you feel sick, you feel guilty, you feel like giving up and ordering dessert. Well what is done is done, you need to move on with your day. The best way to do this is to think of the nice meal you had with your husband, to appreciate the experience with him and your joy of eating it. You can count the meal as your cheat day and refocus your energy on having a good balanced dinner. You can’t change the past so “just keep swimming” a Dory would say.

I challenge you all to try this. Even actively trying to change one negative thought to a positive thought once a week will greatly benefit how you feel! I would love to hear about your experiences, please feel free to share them with me. I would love to hear from you!