Winter truly 'tis the season to be jolly , but it's also the season to be stressed and exhausted, especially if you have to organise a children's party. Apart from birthdays, Christmas is the most popular time for throwing a children's party. Yet, pulling off a party takes planning and creativity, at a time when we are at our most busy. But despair not.

Whether you're throwing your first children's party, have been roped into planning a party for the PTA or just want some ideas to make your party a success, MyFamily has the answer - we've got all the shortcuts to pulling off the best party yet.

Step One: The décor
You don't need to go to too much trouble, but there has to be something Christmassy and festive-looking that the children can identify with:

• Tree
  Putting up a Christmas tree is a good place to start, but you need to make sure the Christmas tree is in a corner of the room, so that it doesn't get knocked down or damaged during the party.

• Party Decorations
  To distinguish the party as a Christmas one, get disposable decorations featuring Santa Claus and other festive characters, as well as shiny paper decorations in seasonal colours (red, green, dark blue, silver, gold) that you can hang from the ceiling and walls. Wilkinson's and Woolworths.co.uk both have an excellent range of very affordable decorations.


• Balloons
  Balloons are a must for any children's party – blow up about 30 balloons and leave them on the floor, where children will happily amuse themselves with them while you're waiting for everyone to arrive.

Step Two: The Food
Children are notoriously picky eaters (especially other people's children) and prone to be messy, so here are some tips for stress-free party catering:

• Disposable cups and plates, plastic table cloth
  To minimise mess and clean-up time, paper plates and plastic cups are a must, as is plastic party table cloth, all of which you can get from most supermarkets or Wilkinson's. Don't buy polystyrene cups as they can't be recycled and are bad for the environment; instead, choose plastic cups that you can wash and use again in future.


• Punch bowls of drink
  To avoid kids knocking over bottles, put drinks like orange juice into a large bowl or basin, together with a soup scoop, and teach the children how to ladle the juice into their cup over the basin.

• Finger foods
  Easy to pick up finger foods are a sure bet at children's parties. Suggested foods could be anything from chicken nuggets, cocktail sausages and pizza to mini sandwiches, grilled chicken wings and small slices of apples, oranges or peaches. Try our recipes for halloumi kebabs, chocolate brownies and christmas cookies.

Step Three: Party Games & Favours
The children attending your party are most likely to remember the games they played, so these have to be good. Here are some suggestions:

• Pin the Nose on the Reindeer
  Draw or print out a large picture of Rudolf the reindeer, then cut lots of nose-shaped circles out of red construction paper and attach double-sided table to the back of each one. Santa's Postbag have a great picture you can print out and colour in here. Blindfold the first child, give them a nose and turn them around 3 times, then lead them to where the picture is hanging on a wall. Repeat with the other children. The winner of the game is the child whose nose is closest to where the nose is supposed to be.

• Pass The Ornament
  Cut out some Christmas ornament shapes (i.e. tree, snowman, star) out of coloured tissue/crepe paper. Divide the children into two teams, standing in straight lines, and give them each a drinking straw. Get the children to pass the ornament shapes down the line from teammate to teammate, by inhaling and exhaling on the straw to hang on to or release the ornament. No hands are allowed.

• Christmas Tree
  The children sit in a ring, with the host outside. The host labels the children with one of the following (making sure there is a minimum of 2 of each) Star, Bauble, Tinsel, Angel or Snowflake. The host now calls out one object, for example - “Snowflake”. All the snowflakes must now jump up and exchange positions with other snowflakes. The game continues in this way with the host calling out different objects and the children exchanging places with objects of the same kind. If “Christmas Tree” is called out, all of the children must jump up and exchange places with other objects.

• Christmas-themed Pass-The-Parcel
  This game is a favourite, no matter what the occasion is. Put a big present like a book or a game in the centre, and wrap layer upon layer of Christmas wrapping paper on top. Insert little presents like stationery, stickers, activity and colouring pads between the layers, and make sure there are the same number of wrapping layers and presents as the number of children attending the party. Sit the children in a ring and play music from a stereo. While the music is on, the children pass the parcel from one person to the next, and when the music stops, whoever has the parcel gets to unwrap a layer and claim a prize. Time the music so that each child gets to receive a present.
  
  
• Party Favours
  At the end of a party, it's a good idea to send the children home with a party goodie bag or alternatively, a present from under the Christmas tree. Goodie bags are simple to put together – you can get party bags cheaply from the stores mentioned above and include a few small toys, sweeties and stationery in each one.

Picture Credit: Photo by ugurv on stock.xchng