YOu Did it

When Sam Borstein
(bottom, right) turned 5,
he and pals Shanna Wayne,
Marissa DeBiase and
Jacob Weiner
celebrated pirate style.

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a change from the
bowling/arcade/indoor play-
ground activities parties often are
centered around.
4) Keep it short. An hour-and-a-
half to two hours is plenty of time.
Remember, most small children have
relatively short attention-spans. Also,
it is best to have the party break up
when everyone is still having fun.
5) Have a separate party, on a
different day or at a different time,
for grown-up relatives. This keeps
the chaos to a minimum and
ensures that activities are age
appropriate. Also, the birthday
child does not end up being torn
about who he wants to spend time
with.
6) Have someone help you,
whether it's a spouse, the parent of
a guest or two, or a hired hand like

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Where's The

Sharon Monello Borstein
Special to The AppleTree

t comes around every year: time

to make a birthday party for my
son.
Competition among moms and
dads to do something special and
memorable can be fierce (not to
mention expensive). But believe it or
not, you can organize and host a
really great party without having the
talents of Martha Stewart or the
pocketbook of Donald Trump.
From the beginning, my husband
and I decided not to get caught up
in the frenzy of elaborate parties.
Instead, we concentrate on making
our son Sam's parties fun, different

and memorable.
Some of our ground rules:
1) One guest for each year of
age, plus "one to grow on" if you
want. This keeps the crowd to a
manageable size and lets the child
invite friends with whom he gen-
uinely enjoys spending time.
2) Make a schedule. Have extra
activities planned and available just
in case. Sometimes, what you think
will occupy a group of children for
10 minutes only keeps them interest-
ed for two.
3) Keep it simple. Remember the
fun games you played at birthday
parties when you were young?
They still go over well, and children
consider them fun because they are

a baby sitter.
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We began giving parties when
Sam turned 4. Sam always chooses
the theme and helps pick the activi-
ties. For his fourth birthday, Sam
chose dinosaurs as the theme. We
made invitations with dinosaur pic-
tures (you could use a coloring-book)
picture for a pattern) and added
wiggly eyes to make them fun. Then
we bought helium balloons and
dinosaur-pattern paper goods.
When the guests arrived, they
made cereal necklaces. Then they
used candy and sprinkles to deco-
rate unbaked dinosaur-shaped
sugar cookies. I baked the cookies
while the children made finger pup-
pets (whose bodies had been cut
out and sewn ahead of time; all
they had to do was glue on the fea-
tures). We also had a bean-bag
toss. Each child had his own
dinosaur-decorated bean bag,
made of felt and filled with soy-
beans, which he took home as a
party favor. We played pin-the-tail-
on-the-donkey and Wonder Ball.
Then the children had a treasure

PARTY?

A creative

mom makes

planning

a child's

birthday a

piece of cake.

hunt to find candy for their goodie
bags. It was all hidden in one
room, and there was lots of it in
obvious places. This went over very
well, as you might imagine.
Finally, it was time for cake and
ice cream. We served cupcakes
with dinosaur sprinkles. While the
children ate, I read them Danny
and the Dinosaur. To finish the day,
my husband performed a puppet
show whose theme was a modified
version of "The Boy Who Cried
Wolf." This time, the boy was
threatened by a dinosaur who
wanted all the treats in the village
candy store. The puppet show was
a big hit.