• Your timeline for your party should start six weeks before. Discuss with your child what kind of theme he wants.
  
• Before you choose the date, make sure your child's best friend is available. He or she will be the most important guest of the day.
  
• Four weeks before the date, send out the invitations.
  
• Two weeks before the party, get your party favors, make balloon orders and order your birthday cake--unless you're making it at home.
  
• A week before the party, double check with the guests who are coming and make a list of their phone numbers in case you need to contact their parents during the party.
  
• The day before, set up your party table, reconfirm all your deliveries and set out your child's party clothes.
  
• To avoid potential disasters, do a sweep of your home to make sure it's safety-proofed.
  
• Be extra mindful of party props. For kids four year olds and younger, the top safety concern is choking. If you have balloons and a balloon breaks, pieces of balloon can cause serious damage, so hang them and other decorations out of reach or avoid them altogether.
  
• If you have a pool or live near a pond or lake, have more adult helpers than you might otherwise so that someone can keep an eye on each kid all the time.
  
• How many kids to invite? Look at the age of your child at the time of the party and add one. So, for a three year old, that would be four guests. Then consider narrowing the list to come from just one of your child's activity or friend groups--like members of the gymnastics class.
  
• Besides name and date, also include the party's theme and what food will be served on the invitation, and request RSVPs for a week before the Big Day.
  
• If you want to make it clear that the party's for kids only, say so in the invitation. If you say the starting time of the party is 4 o' clock and then you have the words "pick up at 6 o'clock," that clearly tells the parents that this is a drop-off party.
  
• The invite is the first thing to get your guests excited about the party. So be creative! For a plane or train party, send tickets or boarding passes. For a music party, send an audio invitation on a CD that you make on your home computer. Include theme music for the party.
  
• When they're ready to go out, mail invites to your guests' homes instead of having your child hand them out at school, which can create rifts.
  
• Choose the theme carefully because it will determine most other elements of the party, from the invitations to the shape of the cake. What are your child's hobbies or interests? Does he or she have a favorite book or television show? And consider the old standby . . . your child's favorite color.
  
• Save money by picking up party supplies at discount chains instead of more expensive party stores or save time by going online.

Birthdaybakers Partymakers
Linda Kaye, Owner
195 East 76th Street
New York, NY 10021-2843
888-321-PARTY (72789)
www.partymakers.com

Cindy Post Senning
Director, Emily Post Institute
Co-Author,The Gift of Good Manners: A Parent's Guide to Raising Respectful, Kind, Considerate Children
The Emily Post Institute
444 South Union Street
Burlington, VT 05401
802-860-1814
www.emilypost.com