15 Birthday Party Hacks From TikTok

Buying presents for kids we don’t know all that well can be a challenge. But TikToker Kc Davis has a solution. In a video, she explained that she does an online search at the beginning of the school year for gift guides for however old her child is. “I find the best $15 gender-neutral toy on that list and I buy 10 of them,” she said.

Then, throughout the year, she can just pop one in a gift bag and take it to whatever party they’re invited to. She allows her kids to attend one birthday party per month so they can still have family time.

For parents who don’t want to commit to giving the same gift all year, there’s also the birthday bin hack. TikToker @whimsicallywonderful has a small bin that she fills with clearance items as she sees them throughout the year. Then when it’s time for a party, she has a bunch of items to choose from.

Balloons are a big part of most birthday decor, but getting them to actually stay on the wall can be a struggle. Chelsea Dyan posted a hack on TikTok to help solve this problem. Watch the full video for the tutorial, but basically tape a rubber band to the wall and then secure the band over one of the balloons to keep a cluster stable.

More from CafeMom: 15 Hacks To Make Mealtime With Kids Less Stressful

For anyone who struggles tying knots in balloons, there’s a hack for that, too. As @thebastfamily showed in a video on TikTok, we can use a clothes hanger to stretch and hold the end of a balloon, making it that much simpler to create the knot.

TikTok parenting influencer and mom of four @sheisapaigeturner broke down the best times to have a birthday party based on how old the child is. For kids 3 and younger, she recommended a late morning party. That way the kids are totally ready to nap by the time the party is over.  For older kids, she recommended a party between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. because they usually have activities such as sports to do in the morning on weekends.

TikToker @vidalia318 stopped telling her son when his birthday party would be to prevent him from excitedly waking up way too early and asking every 10 minutes when it would start. This works for parties kids are invited to as well. Maybe save the info until in the car on the way over. It’ll be a fun surprise.

To keep everything organized for her child’s birthday party, TikToker @biancadottin gets one of those clear storage tubs and adds supplies as she gets them. It keeps everything from decor to plates to favors in one place. She also prints out a list of everything she needs and attaches it to the lid to check off as she buys items. So smart.

The day of the actual party can be a little chaotic, so Jess DesFosses posted in a TikTok video that she takes care of what she can the night before. That includes pre-scooping ice cream. She portions the scoops into lined muffin tins and puts them back into the freezer. She keeps them in the paper to serve them. Saves time (and mess) during the big day.

Ordering a custom cake can be costly, so what TikToker Katy Johnson does is buy a plain grocery store cake. She then decorates it with customized cake toppers. We can make those toppers at home if we have a Cricut or buy inexpensive ones on Amazon. Either way it ends up cheaper than a custom cake but it still looks personalized.

Let the party attendees decorate their own cupcakes for dessert instead of serving one giant cake. It gives the kids something to do and it’s budget-friendly. TikToker @spectacular.caro buys grocery store cupcakes and some assorted toppings and sprinkles and lets the children have fun.

Especially for parties of children’s classmates, it’s hard to know what to get the birthday kid if we don’t know them very well. TikToker Kelli Hines helped fellow parents out by including a list of things her daughter liked on the back of the party invitation. She included current interests, favorite colors, favorite animals, etc.

It can be frustrating when people don’t RSVP for a party because it’s hard to plan how much food to have, etc. Fortunately, Jane Dee posted a TikTok hack to solve this. She writes “RSVP for address” on the party invitations. That way people can’t just show up without letting the host know first.

Ellie Pernell decided that for her daughter’s first birthday party, they’d wait to open gifts until after the party was over. In a TikTok video she said she did this in part because she didn’t feel like her daughter would really understand. But it also made things more laid-back. She said she made the announcement at the party and didn’t regret the unconventional choice at all.

For parents who choose to give the attendees party favors, maybe reconsider the bags of candy or small toys. TikToker @genevievecrebbin went to a party where the host handed out $5 gift cards to the local ice cream shop. That meant the families who came got to later take their kids on a paid-for activity, and it supported a local business. Creating a family moment with a party favor is pretty cool.

It feels like there’s a lot of pressure put on kids’ parties. Social media has made it seem like everybody is throwing extravagant themed events with giant balloon arches. But the birthday parties of the ’90s were just as fun even if they weren’t as Pinterest-worthy.

As TikToker @maryalexdavis said, she’s more than happy to host an event with budget-friendly decorations, store-bought cupcakes, and pizza and chips for the meal. “Most importantly my child will be celebrated and there will be no stress,” she said.