You wanted to host a birthday party for this special friend of yours or a close member in the family, but you have remembered his birthday at the last moment. Is it time to panic? No it’s not, for here we give you some last minute birthday party ideas.
It’s a Good Idea to …
… Organize a game night if you’re hosting the party at home. Everyone’s focus is on playing. You hardly need to worry about decor, food, and the rest.
… Or host the birthday party at a restaurant.
That when it’s last minute!
Hosting a birthday party at the last minute is not quite easy. You need to consider the venue, the last minute decorations, the food, the birthday cake, and the gift. You need to find a quick way to send your invites and buy party favors for the guests. You need to organize some activities for them. And you may want to choose a theme for your party (that’s not a must though). Due to previously planned commitments, all those invited may not be able to make it. But try your best to fix a time that suits the majority. You may not be able to give enough time to do all the shopping (gifts, food, decorations, etc.). Try to delegate work so that you don’t have to do all the preparations by yourself. You can actually turn a last minute birthday party into an informal surprise party for the birthday boy or girl.
Invitations
✦ Since you are planning the birthday party last minute, you don’t have much time for invitation cards. Create a Facebook or Whatsapp group of all those you wish to invite and post your invitation on the group.
✦ Or simply make phone calls and invite them personally.
✦ Invite the birthday boy or girl personally.
✦ Give details of the date, time, and venue of the party to all the invitees.
Venue
✦ The most important thing to decide is the party venue. Choose a nice restaurant or a small party hall depending on the availability of party locations in your town.
✦ Perhaps, the best choice of venue for a last minute birthday party is a restaurant or a pizza parlor. Depending on the number of guests, you may choose to book tables. But the best part is that you don’t have to look into the food arrangements or decorations. You only need to carry the birthday cake, the gift, and the party favors.
✦ Another option is to organize the party at home. A spacious room in the house or your backyard can be suitably decorated and turned into a party venue.
✦ If you prefer the last minute birthday party outdoors, host it in a park that allows you to carry food. The adults can have fun chatting while the kids can play around.
✦ If the birthday is of a family member, ask others in the family to help you with the plan. If you are hosting a last minute birthday party for your friend, have other friends help you with the preparations. Outsourcing work is the best thing to do when you have less time.
Decorations
✦ Next come the decorations. Choose something that is easily available and can quickly decorate your party location.
✦ Balloons and streamers are the best options as last minute birthday party decorations. They are readily available at the local stores and quickly give a decorated feel to any space. Buy party hats and some other decorations to make it more colorful.
✦ You could use candles and flowers for a calming ambiance, if the party is indoors. Let the flowers blend beautifully with the candles. Their fragrance and the soft lighting will make the location all the more inviting. You could place them in vases or arrange them as centerpieces.
✦ For a little something personalized, you could go to the Facebook or any other social networking profile of the birthday person, select some of his good photos, have them printed, and put them up for display.
✦ You could set up a board where birthday messages from guests can be written or pinned, as a surprise for the birthday boy or girl.
✦ Dance to it or just let it play in the background; music is always a great addition. Choose peppy numbers, if the party is outdoors and soft music if it’s indoors.
Food
✦ When you are planning the birthday party last minute, it’s best to order food. If you choose to make it yourself, select easy recipes that don’t take long to cook.
✦ If you are ordering food, ask the restaurant to deliver it at the party venue. It will save you time. Whether to serve an elaborate meal or snacks is for you to decide.
✦ One idea for the last minute birthday party food is to order pizzas and cold drinks. Everyone loves this menu. The other option is to have fast foods like chips, french fries, burgers, kebabs, and the like.
✦ If you plan to cook, choose dishes like pasta, sandwiches, salads, or cutlets; something easy to prepare.
✦ Homemade snacks, cut fruit, cookies, and bread toasts are among some good choices of your last minute birthday party food.
Cake and …
✦ If it’s a last minute party, it’s wise to order a cake instead of baking one yourself. Great if you are lucky to find one or get it made in a particular shape or decorated in a particular way. If not, have a personalized message and/or the name of the birthday boy or girl iced on it.
✦ As an addition or an option to the cake, you could have donuts or cupcakes. Kids just love them. An ice cream or any other dessert along with the cake is always a nice addition.
Activities
✦ If you have some time before the birthday party, you could organize some fun games for the kids (something quick to plan like races on the lawn) or something like musical chairs that doesn’t need much planning.
✦ You could have fun games like charades and truth or dare. Here again, you won’t have to put in much time in planning them. They can be played impromptu.
✦ If the last minute party is in a park, and if the park allows inflatable play equipment, you could carry a bouncehouse for the kids. And if it has a play area, you could let the children play there. If you are hosting the party in your backyard, you could rent inflatables for the kids.
✦ Or you could have fun outdoor games that require less time to plan.
✦ Another option for a kid’s birthday party, especially young ones, is to plan it at a zoo. They make all the arrangements, and the party is sure to be loaded with fun activities.
✦ If it’s a party for children or teens, you could even plan a video game party at home. Have everyone carry their own video games and use the ones you have.
✦ Or you could have a movie party; host it at a local movie theater or at your place. In the former, you don’t have to look into the preparations. In the latter, you rent a movie and no other activities need to be planned. But food and such other arrangements are still your responsibility.
✦ If you have a few days to plan, you could organize a bowling party or go for indoor paintball.
✦ If the birthday person is a close friend or family member, you could organize a day’s trip or a visit to someplace they like. You could visit a museum or an art gallery, go for a movie and then for dinner. You could plan to spend the day at a resort or visit an adventure sports park. A day out with some friends or family is a great way to celebrate birthdays.
Theme
✦ Remember, you are planning the party last minute. So you as well as the guests won’t have much time for the preparations. Don’t make the theme difficult for you or the guests. The decorations will have to go with the theme, and perhaps even the food and the activities. Moreover, you have less time. This may leave you with limited options.
✦ If you have to keep a theme, you could have a particular decade or a theme like Hollywood, Disney, and the like. But remember, you or the guests shouldn’t have to spend hours finding the right attire to suit the theme. And you shouldn’t find it hard to select the decorations and food that go with it.
The Gift
✦ Since you are planning the party last minute, you might think you don’t have enough time to decide what to gift the birthday boy or girl. Don’t you worry, for the options aren’t less. Buy chocolates and a bottle of champagne or wine and cheese; they are the easiest gifts to buy and anyone would love them.
✦ Coming to last minute birthday party gifts, you could buy a watch or other accessories like a wallet or a bag or some funky jewelry. Buy books or music, or get keepsakes as gifts. These are options where you don’t have to think much about the specific choice of the birthday person. These gifts more or less suit both males and females and people of all ages. Simpler yet is to get gift cards.
✦ With gift vouchers or gift cards, you don’t have to worry much about the age and taste of the birthday boy or girl. Gift certificates or vouchers will allow them to shop for things of their choice.
✦ To the birthday gift, you may add flowers and a greeting card.
Favors
✦ When it comes to last minute birthday party favors, you could choose books or toys for the kids. Even quicker would be to get cookies or candy.
✦ For the adults, you could buy candles and potpourri.
✦ You could give goodie bags to kids and adults alike.
With these ideas, the last minute birthday party that you plan to throw, should be a success. Since you’d be planning last minute, some things may not go exactly the way you thought. But that’s fine as long as everyone attending the party enjoys it, especially the one you planned it for.
