THE cake / cakes

Now, I don't know how you feel about cakes... personally if I have the time I prefer to make my own but sometimes it's just that one thing too many to do and I end up buying one. In recent years I have preferred to go the cup cake route and got the children at the party to decorate their own.
If you have a themed party the easiest way of doing your own is to order a ready printed icing or rice paper sheet to decorate your cake with.
I will try and post a few cake recipies soon.

Be Prepared...for anything

Now I know you can't be prepared for every and anything - but it does help to try and think through all the possible problems you may encounter at your party, such as:
spilt drinks, uninvited extra guests, grazed knees, if you having an outdoor party having a back up wet weather venue etc. Just so that you are one step ahead hopefully and don't end up in a blind panic.
Also have as much (if not all) done and prepared before your guests arrive so you can enjoy it with them. If this isn't possible try and get help from other friends and delegate responsibilities.

Messy but Tasty

As an activity as well as contributing toward the party food - how about decorating some biscuits/cookies or fairy cakes. You can do this as part of any theme you have for your party or as just a general activity.
Depending on your time and/or cooking skills you can either home bake the cakes or biscuits or buy some. Then all you need is some coloured icing and sprinkles or jelly sweets to decorate. Children will enjoy being able to decorate their own cakes/biscuits although it will create quite a mess, so be prepared!
Make sure you have the table covered with a disposable cloth and that you have kitchen paper or damp cloths on hand for wiping up any emergency mess.

List's, list's, list's!!

Another important rule to having a good party is to organised - and this means making lists.
Write down everything - you're much less likely to forget anything. It's also handy just for collecting ideas to sort through later. I tend to start with a basic list which then has sub lists coming off it, for example:

1) Food
- savoury
=chicken nuggets, bread sticks and dips [homous, guacamole], mini pizza's
- sweet
= fruit, fairy cakes, jelly
-drinks
= fruit juice [apple, orange]
2) Games
3)Party Bags

... So the list gets more precise as it develops into it's sub headings.

Bubbles and Balloons

I think two of the most important ingredients to a fun and simple party are bubbles and balloons*. They are a fail safe that fairly much every child loves and can enjoy without much organisation.
Balloons are good for decoration, but be sure either to have extra for the children to play with or expect the decorations to come down!!

Balloon game ideas:
1) Keep it up in the air - don't let the ballons touch the ground. Children can play this for hours!
2) 'Parachute' style game - get a large bed sheet and get the children to hold the edges, but the balloon(s) in the centre and get them to bounce the balloon(s) without them falling off.
3) Relay race - children stand in a line and need to pass the balloon down the line over their heads / between their legs / throwing to each other etc.
4) Ballon Stomp - this is probably not the best game for very young children but the older ones will love it. Attach a string to a balloon and then tie is loosly around the childs ankle, the string should be just long enough for the ballon to be able to touch the ground - about 20cm long, do this for each of the children. The children then need to try and stomp on each others balloons whilst trying to protect their own. The winner is the last person to still have an inflated balloon .

*Allergy aware - latex. (Although I have only ever come across one child who was allergic to latex and couldn't play with balloons)

All shapes and sizes

IF I provide sandwiches at a party, I always try and make them a bit more interesting then your plain square or triangle shape. I do this in 2 ways:

1) use cookie cutters to cut them into different shapes
2) make a 'Swiss roll' - this is done by cutting off the crusts, rolling the bread flat with a rolling pin, putting a thin layer of filling then rolling it up (you can moisten the end edge with a little water to help it stay in shape) then cut into 4 or 5 pieces.

It can be a bit time consuming but generally means they get eaten rather than left to be thrown away at the end.
I will try and add another post soon on interesting fillings.

Ants on a log

This is a 'healthy food' snack that I picked up from an American neighbour. It's very simple but a fun idea. My kids love it!

Ingredients: celery sticks, raisins, peanut butter*
Basically cut the celery sticks into finger length portions and fill with peanut butter. Then top with raisins - like ants walking along a log!

*Allergy aware - Nuts. Quite a few children/people have nut allergies