When your kids had only three or five candles on their birthday cakes, planning their birthday party was easy right? There was an abundance of choices, everything from magicians, to puppet shows, to Cinderella characters who swept into your living room, waved their magic wands, and transfixed a roomful of birthday party guests.

Now that your little ones have reached, or are heading toward, those pre-teen and adolescent years, birthday party planning takes on a whole different ball game. 8 to 12-year-olds have very definite ideas about how to celebrate their birthdays. Your youngster’s choices will be influenced by several factors ? including what kind of parties their friends are having and their overall developmental level and degree of maturity. (more…)