Looking for birthday party ideas in Vancouver? Check out our Kids Birthday Parties and Party Ideas section of our Directory listing.

Every year we are all faced with the same question: what to do for our child’s birthday party?  From my personal experience, as children grow older, planning a birthday party gets a lot easier. But I remember those early birthday parties and the dilemma I was faced with (and still am, as my youngest daughter is five years old).  I always want something unique and memorable, but something that doesn’t hurt the bank account too much. With four active kids, I’m looking for flexible hours, so that the birthday party can happen between the soccer game and the hockey practice. I know what the solution is: a home birthday party. I can make it as long as I want, and I can make it fit in our busy schedule.

However, the biggest challenge I have found in hosting a home party is how to keep the kids entertained. Below are some suggestions that have worked really well for my own children over the years, and all of them do not involve much work – there is something for every one!

Go Farther Afield

If your child has a summer birthday, the choices are endless. Both my boys were born in the summer, and all their parties have been outdoors. If you don’t have a backyard or your backyard isn’t big enough to host a group of kids, Vancouver has so many great parks and fields that it’s impossible not to find a great venue to host a birthday party.

Right In Your Own Backyard

Our backyard parties always involve water games: good old-fashioned water fights, water balloon games (and the possibilities here are endless!), a timed obstacle course which includes shooting at “targets” with super soakers,   a slip-and-slide team game…I could go on and on.  Perhaps the best memory I have is the one when my son turned 6. I will never forget sixteen 6-year-olds “shooting” (with super soakers) at the five moving targets : my two older kids and their three friends – it was a great time had by all.

Sports Day

Is your child a sport-lover?  Then you can have a soccer game at one of the many school fields.  Just have the guests come dressed in either a dark or white shirt and you have two instant teams.  The same can be done with baseball or road hockey – all of them will be a sure hit with the sport enthusiast in your family.

Dress It Up

I know that a birthday in the winter can be a little bit trickier.  However,   I have found that dress-up is a very easy to way to host a young child’s party. Young children have an incredible imagination and a natural love for dress- up – why not let them enter a world of pirates, fairies, princesses, kings or wizards and have a birthday party experience to call their own. It’s easy to turn your living room into “fairyland” or a “pirate ship”, and a traditional game of musical chairs can easily be changed to musical lily pads, or musical islands. With dress-up, you don’t need to organize too much – children will use their imagination once they put on those costumes.  If finding costumes for every one, or asking kids to come in their own costumes seems like an unreasonable request, there are companies out there that rent themed birthday party packages, costumes included.

Hire a Professional

Another popular option is to hire a birthday party entertainer. There are many out there, including clowns and companies that provide science experiments right in your home.

Rent a Gym

Again, if your living room is not made to accommodate a group of children (or you simply don’t want to!), there are many gyms available for rent at a very reasonable price. Check your local community centre or church and you’ll find that most rent large rooms or gyms at a very good hourly rate.

Without a doubt in my mind, home birthday parties are what children prefer. Over the years, I have found that the best birthday parties for my children have been the ones that were kept simple, yet they managed to capture their imagination and sense of adventure. A birthday party at home doesn’t have to be a traumatic experience for the adults. I hope the suggestions above will help you in panning your child’s next memorable party!

Silvia Savage is a mom of four and owner of The Party Treasure, which offers complete themed birthday party kits that include everything you need for a fun and memorable party, delivered right to your door. Visit www.thepartytreasure.ca for more info.

Instead, children learn about the art of making bread, including the differences between yeast and quick breads. They learn how to make pesto from fresh basil grown in Hilit’s garden, served with pasta or as a spread on a toasted garlic baguette. The kids make whole-wheat rosemary crackers, different flavoured focaccias, and soups with vegetables that are in season, pasta sauces and delicious desserts. “I wanted to teach them that food does not come from boxes, but rather from the earth.”

In her early thirties, Hilit fell in love with the kitchen. She began making everything from scratch and decided to pursue culinary arts, graduating from culinary school in Isreal and specializing in pastry. In 2005, Hilit, along with her husband and three children, immigrated to Vancouver, where she continued her culinary education, enrolling in The Art Institute of Vancouver’s Dubrulle Culinary Arts pastry program, which included a practicum at the Pan Pacific Hotel.

Once out of school, Hilit wanted to pursue her passion for culinary arts, but also could fit in her life as a busy mom of three children. A friend offered her a position at a community centre teaching children to cook and bake – a great combination of her love of children, cooking and baking, and the early seeds for her idea to start Culinary Kids.

Today, Culinary Kids offers a variety of courses with a different focus. Each course is comprised of four lessons. “We have four lessons on breads (baking from scratch), four lessons on soups and starters, four lessons on main dishes and four lessons on desserts.” Hilit believes that this approach provides children with the opportunity to learn and practice skills. Each lesson is between two to three hours, and at the end, students eat their creations together. The kids also leave with the recipes and newfound skills and confidence in the kitchen. Each course of four lessons costs $180.

Hilit was particularly surprised by the parents’ reactions. “Parents started flocking in, to get a taste of whatever it was we made… and would tell me how their kids had started eating things that they never would have touched before.”

Culinary Kids also offers hands-on birthday party experiences at the child’s own home. Hilit arrives with all the equipment and ingredients, and everyone spends two to three hours cooking and/or baking together. At the end of the party, the kids eat their own creations. The cost can range from $250 to $400.

Hilit’s trick for cooking with kids? Show them the process since kids find the journey from fresh ingredients to a meal fascinating. She’ll bring fresh herbs into the kitchen and encourage the kids to touch them, smell them with their eyes closed and guess what herbs they are, as well as what they remind them of before showing them how to chiffonade. When tasting the herb in the finished product, she’ll ask the kids to compare it to the original scent. Kids always find this process exciting and “They always come back for more.”

Culinary Kids philosophy is simple: By teaching kids that food doesn’t come out of a box with a long list of incomprehensible ingredients a mile long, children will have tools for their whole lives. “When they go to college, they won’t have to live on junk food, but will have the requisite tools to eat healthy food that they can make on their own. It’s really very simple – healthier eating habits should lead to healthier kids and healthier lives for all.”

Image courtesy of www.sweetspot.ca

Culinary Kids

6257 Dunbar Street, Vancouver, BC V6N 1X3
Tel: 778-998-3530 | www.culinarykids.ca