Party time from a Dad's perspective

We share with you an insight to how Party time works from Dad’s perspective.

Dad, Alex is lucky he is able to work from home, so when it comes to his family he doesn’t miss a thing, for better and worse he is fully immersed in every aspect of his families day to day life, from lunch boxes and the school run to the tantrums – it’s a lot of fun.

Alex shares his perspective of how he likes to celebrate party time with his children.

Party time – Birthday Parties

I remember my eldest son’s first birthday so well, like a lot of parents we went over the top. I knew my wife wanted it to be special, I could tell that’s what she felt in her heart.

‘It’s our sons 1st birthday, I can’t believe it. Do we do a little party for him?’ I remember her saying, and I felt that we probably should mark the occasion because it was a special day but also because this is what society dictates!

A child’s birthday equals a party with hats, cake, ice-cream, jelly, candles and friends. Even if they are 1, right?!

We decorated the house, went overboard on gifts and got the best cake we could find – all for someone who wasn’t quite sure what was going on and we both felt the pressure to make sure everything was perfect.

Should we have alcohol or is that inappropriate? Should we invite other babies or just family?

With hindsight I can see that the first birthday’s aren’t really for baby at all, it’s for you and your partner (and extended family if you want them there) to celebrate (possibly with a sigh of relief) that you survived the first year.

Not to say our son didn’t enjoy it, he did but really it was for us.

How parties have changed

As the boys have got older, birthday parties have changed considerably. We’ve attended and watched people throw birthday parties at home, where swarms of over excited children run around in a sugar fuelled frenzy, and although it seems fun, I did get the sense that these parties could be a touch overwhelming and rather costly.

The average kids party is in the region of about £250.00 when you include new outfits, presents, party bags, cake, food, invitations etc.

It’s a lot of work in terms of preparation, organisation, supervision and cleaning up, this is why since the very first one – we’ve decided to outsource.

I’d say the best one we have done so far was at a Wacky Warehouse, the cost was about average but the beauty of this was that there was hardly any work involved and the kids have an absolute ball (So did I.)

My wife could keep an eye on things from the café, and actually have a hot cuppa while catching up with some of the other mums and the staff at the venue took care of everything.

The best time of day to do this is in the morning as the venue will be a lot quieter and the kids can go wild.

The additional bonus of a morning party is you’ll have worn out sprogs for the rest of the day, rather than overexcited kids counting down the seconds till the party.

Football parties

One I am really keen on doing is a football party at one of the power league centres great for boys and girls but best of all they take care of everything: activities, food, cake, party bags, even medals.

What I will say about kids birthday parties is, while they are over whelming, sugar fuelled and can often end in tears they do have a time limit.

These types of birthday parties will not last for ever. Depending on the child you may get between 8-12 of these mad days and then that’s it, so do try and make the most of it and relax.

If you are planning your child’s birthday party keep an eye out on Your Baby Club, as we often have vouchers and competitions available for stores such as Babies/ Toys R Us, Aldi, M&S and other brands that could help you spread the cost!

About Alec Dobbie

Alec Dobbie is the Founder and Director of Your Baby Club.

He lives in Bradford, West Yorkshire with his wife Nicola and their 2 boisterous boys, Jack and Tom.

Alec started Your Baby Club after his wife was constantly spammed because she joined a number of Baby Clubs, and being a tech software guy I could see a way of modernising and improving the baby based sampling business.

He wanted to create a platform which gave mums and families great insight into brands, in one place, without personal data being sold to random third parties.