you only turn 5 once.

wherever i said previously that you shouldn't hit your guests over the head with a theme, i retract in the instance of children's parties. there is no better place to go over board and exhaust all the crazy themes you've thought up, then at a kids fifth birthday. though your office crew is cool, i'm not sure your stint on the holiday party committee will last long when you suggest a SHARK theme. your son, on the other hand, will shout from the tree fort that you're the coolest mom in the land. (i must give credit to my three year old for his SHARK theme...complete with red beverages to resemble blood. go ahead, take it.)

kids are cool. they will love whatever outlandish, nonsensical stuff you can dream up. and i promise you, a do-it-yourself-er with a funktified theme can come with the same price tag, if not less, than one at the local arcade with the guy in the mouse suit. my advice, is to ASK them what they want...their answers may surprise you at how cool and DOABLE they really are.

another place that i love flexing my thematic muscles is for mitzvahs. for those of you who don't know, the party part of the mitzvah weekend is usually centered around a strong theme. there is no better source to extract the theme than from the kid directly. therefore, as i do with my brides & grooms, i have an interview session. i ask questions about their hobbies and interests...what they value, what they think they're good at. what emerges from the interview? what they like and therefore, a theme. many are top secret now as they are in the planning stages, but i never seize to be amazed at how creative, uninhibited and cool my 13 year old clients really are.

one of my favorite kids parties you ask? had to be "under the big top"...a retro circus complete with pink ponies, freaky magicians, belly dancers, mini doughnuts, jugglers, stilt walkers and a brass band. mid-party i had a "pinch me moment"....it was the coolest, weirdest (in a good way) party yet. and who dreamt it all up? a kid.

regards,

lindsay piram

event planner & producer