What to do for my child’s birthday? Every year I and my partner are lost for ideas on what to do for our children’s birthdays. Our daughter is in the summer, so it is normally warm enough to do outdoor things. Whereas our son’s birthday is in the autumn/winter so almost every year it rains. As they are both still so young, all that matters to them is the cake on their birthday.
For summer babies I would recommend theme parks or hiring a hall for a birthday party. Perhaps a day out at the beach, going to the zoo, visiting a wildlife center, etc. For my daughter’s birthdays, it’s been difficult because her birthday usually falls on a heatwave! Then it is too hot and we can’t be out for too long without getting burned.
When it was our daughter’s first birthday, we had a gathering at the flat with food. We visited a place called paradise park for her 2nd birthday. Which had soft play, pretend dinosaurs, a cafe, an outdoor playground, etc. For her third birthday, it was a heatwave being 32c we attended a zoo called Drusilla’s park, but the animals all hid away because of it being too hot. Finally, for her 4th birthday, we had a day out on the beach, the pier, and had dinner out, it was also a heatwave that time so her ice cream did go everywhere but she still had the best time.
For my sons birthdays, we have pretty much stayed in and played all day with new toys and cake, for one because of it raining every time and the second reason being his sister having to go to school and us having to get back in time to pick her up, so we tend to celebrate his birthday on the weekend and do things like swimming, party, soft play, etc.
Birthdays for ages 1-6 years
I would recommend a small family gathering at home for a 1-year-old. Or a community center, indoor bouncy castle, food, and party games with some family and friends. For young kids, meals out are always fun. Soft play parties are good for 3 years and up. They provide you with food and offer entertainment such as balloon making and face painting. The circus is a good idea to attend as a family.
A more affordable alternative can be having a picnic with their favourite snacks and going to a park and spending hours there until they get tired then home to watch a nice family film all cosy on the sofa together with some sweet treats.
The cinema can be great for 3-year-olds and older depending on their dependency on sitting still for up to 2 hours. As long as you bring them their favourite food and popcorn to make it extra special.
Birthdays for ages 6-12 years
For this age range, you have loads of ideas. These Include, going to a theme park for the day (weather dependent) can be a fantastic idea, at these ages they should be able to visit the park and ride almost everything. For younger ones, it can be frustrating as they have so many height restrictions. But these get better as they get older. You can do laser tag, roller disco, ice-skating, cinema, glow in the dark golf, birthday party with bouncy castle and entertainment.
The older your children get, the easier the choice is to make for what they can do. Just make sure you prepare in advance for weather depending on where you’re from. Have a fabulous time, if money is tight do something cheaper a home; family is the most important thing to children although they may not show it much.
I hope you liked this article on what to do for your child’s birthday. If you’re stuck on what theme for your kid’s birthday see birthday trends for 2019!
Where to get a birthday cake?
Your child’s birthday is vastly approaching and their cake will most likely be the main centerpiece that they are the most excited about. My children talk about the type of cake that they want for months before their birthday. This is mainly why I feel that it is very important, and a little thought can go a long way. Your options essentially, make the cake or buy one. Whilst making a cake can be quite a simple process, they do not always turn out the best. There are so many factors that make a cake nice, these factors are:
How the cake looks
Your child will most probably want some type of character on it, or perhaps their favourite animal. My daughter in the past has requested a Peppa-pig cake, and a unicorn cake. Whereas my son has requested a dinosaur cake. Making the cake look nice and up to expectation can be very difficult.
It is one of those things that look easy to do but is actually very difficult. Some tricks that you can do is create somewhat of a plain cake. Then add cake toppers to help create the theme. Toy figures make for great cake toppers and there is almost no limitation to doing this. But in regards to colour, icing, theme, and shape it can be a difficult process.
How the cake tastes
Unfortunately, the taste is everything, and when baking something with so much sugar it can be easy to get the flavour wrong. Nothing is worse than a cake that is either too sweet, too sickly, or bitter in taste.
The texture
The ideal perfect cake is soft and bouncy when baking as an amateur from home. It is easy to bake a flat and hard cake or even a cake that is too moist, which could be a result of the wrong cooking time or variable heat.
The main problem is that even if you follow a cake recipe. The result is still not definite due to there being so many variables. Even with regards to how much air is in the batter. Not to put you off making the cake but just that making a cake with only a few days until your child’s birthday for it to go wrong can be frustrating. if however, you are quite good at making cakes, then you should consider doing so.
Why you should make a birthday cake
1. You know what’s in it
Knowing what in a cake is always important, at least you’ll be sure that there are no preservatives or other harmful chemicals in it. Of course, cakes are not meant to be healthy but you can ensure that it is also not overly sweet by using a little less sugar and what is recommended and than what is recommended.
2. Set the expectation
Setting expectation is important because you don’t want your child to expect perfection every time. This will only set them up to become spoilt. By setting expectations you allow room for your child to appreciate the characters and the design and overall it will help make them less high maintenance.3. Tastes better
It is a very true statement that home-made always taste better this could be due to the ingredients that you put into it, the passion that you have whilst baking or because the reward of making it is getting to eat it. You can ask most people and they will agree that home-made tastes better than shop brought.
3. Tastes better
It is a very true statement that homemade always tastes better this could be due to the ingredients that you put into it, the passion that you have whilst baking, or because of the reward of making it is getting to eat it. You can ask most people and they will agree that homemade tastes better than shop bought.
4. Cheaper
Making a cake yourself will result in most cases that it works out cheaper this is because you’re not paying for the labour or the extensive amount of unnecessary ingredients.
Where can I buy a birthday cake?
Whilst a birthday cake from the local supermarket may seem like the best choice due to its very cheap nature, it is probably the worst choice. I know cakes are not exactly meant to be healthy but they do not have to be harmful. Most supermarket-based birthday cakes contain many artificial chemicals, preservatives. They usually contain even more sugar to help stop them from going out of date.
If you would like a luxurious cake with a minimalist design, a better option would be to go to your local café or bakery and tell them the situation. That it is “my child’s birthday on… and would it be possible to get this type of cake made?”. From experience, most cafes will do this for you, and you could expect to pay around £17 for a huge cake that is more freshly made and tastes great. If you don’t know where your local cafe or bakery is, you could simply use a search term on Google for ‘bakery near me.’
Realistically to bake a cake yourself it would likely cost at least £10 in ingredients. If you want to take it a step further and get a cake made specifically for this occasion with a design theme, etc.
You will need to contact a cake maker in your area. However, you should know that these types of cakes are not cheap. They can cost around £75 for one cake or more. The reason that it costs so much is due to the various ingredients used to make, and design the cake as well as the costs for labour. Cake baking on a professional scale can take a long time and can be hard work orientated.
Buying an expensive high-quality cake would realistically be the most beneficial if you are planning on having a special birthday party for your child and lots of people will be attending. If not I would recommend going somewhere in the middle and ask your local cafés or bakery. At least that way you can guarantee a delicious cake that is soft, fluffy, and of course tasty.
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