5 fabulous birthday parties for kids

It's not easy being a parent, and when birthday party time rolls around the job just gets tougher. Kids can be a tough crowd and coming up with unique, entertaining and feasible birthday festivities each year is a challenge, plain and simple. So here are five theme party ideas, complete with recommendations for invitations, decorations, activities and food to help make your job a little easier this year.

Birthday party #1
Theme: Backyard birthday carnival

Remember how your heart used to skip a beat whenever the carnival came to town? Why not give your child a taste of that midway magic by helping him host a backyard carnival for his friends in honour of his next birthday?

Location: Outdoors -- backyard

Age: Seven- to eight-year- olds

Invitations: Buy or make brightly coloured invitations that tie into the carnival theme (circus clowns or balloons, for example). And while you're filling out those party invitations, be sure to let the party guests know that they should wear clothes that can withstand a little mustard and face paint. (A backyard birthday carnival is all about having fun -- not about worrying about whether you just got grass stains on your brand new party dress!)

Decorations: Pick up some brightly-coloured disposable tablecloths that can be knotted together and tossed over a backyard patio set or hung over your back fence to create the look of a circus tent. And be sure to load up on brightly coloured balloons, too. (You can hang them from the laundry line with clothes pegs and add a few to the loot bag of each party guest.)

Food: Serve standard carnival fare: hot dogs, corn on the cob, watermelon, and ice cream-waffle sandwiches for dessert. (Hint: Stick birthday candles in each individual ice cream-waffle sandwich if you want to create a "carnivaly" birthday cake.)

Fun and games: Games are the heart of any good carnival. Here are some guaranteed crowd pleasers that you can make quickly and easily, and at very little cost:

• Bean bag toss: Make some hand-sized beanbags on your sewing machine and fill each beanbag with dried beans. Stitch closed. Then cut a series of holes into a large cardboard box. Paint and decorate the cardboard box and -- voila! -- your first carnival game is ready.
• Ring toss: Make some plastic rings by cutting holes in lids from a bunch of large plastic margarine and ice cream containers. The party guests can then take turns trying to toss the rings on wooden dowels that have been hammered into the grass. (Note: Remove the dowels as soon as you're finished with this particular activity to prevent any of the party guests from tripping and hurting themselves.)
• Fish pond: Make homemade fish out of cardboard and homemade fishing rods using sticks and string. Attach a paperclip to the mouth of each fish and a magnet to the end of each piece of string string. Toss your fish in a fish pond (an empty wading pool works perfectly) and see what the party guests manage to catch.

Loot bags: Look for notebooks, pencils, and storybooks that tie into the carnival theme. Toss in a balloon or two and a small serving of candy floss and you will be sending the party guests home with the ultimate carnival loot bag.

Etc.: Think about hiring a high school student or two to pitch in on party day. It's hard to paint faces and manage the ring toss while you're simultaneously cooking hotdogs and making ice cream sandwiches!