Plan a Party Online

Raise the roof and lower your stress level by planning your next celebration exclusively online. From electronic invitations (e-vites) to thank you notes, we've done the research to make putting together your next party a piece of cake. My son turned three last month so I used his birthday to test these options.

Choose a Theme

Take your child's interest into consideration and if she is old enough, involve her in the choice. A theme doesn't have to be an action figure or a cartoon character, though it might be. We went to a party last fall for a little girl turning three. Her favorite color is blue; therefore the theme was simply anything blue - which explained the royal blue shark piñata. And when Nate turned two, he wasn't familiar with many of the licensed characters so we went with a colorful, polka dot theme.

E-vites

Electronic invitations are becoming more acceptable; you've most likely already received several yourself. While websites offering these services are plentiful, that doesn't mean they are all easy to navigate. Here are our picks and pans of some of the more popular ones:

Evite.com

Pro: Free. RSVPs can be forwarded to your email and your cell phone, and recipients can send the e-vite to their cell phone. This could be particularly helpful to guests who are on their way to the party but forgot to bring the invitation. After sending, a prompt asks if you want to create thank you notes.

Con: Overall this website was not user-friendly. The edit feature was tucked into a list of other options making it difficult to locate. It was annoying that a country option, "US, Canada, Other" could not be deleted from the address.

Mypunchbowl.com

Pro: Free. Attractive website and services include an option to send a reminder two days before the event.

Con: My e-vite disappeared multiple times during editing and I had to start from the beginning each time. A checklist shows the number of days, hours, and minutes until party time which was unnerving and unnecessary.

Best All Round: Sendomatic.com

Pro: A pleasure to use. The message to recipients could be altered so instead of "Martha Miller has sent you an e-invitation," it read "Nate would love for you to come to his party!" I was able to edit the invitation as much as I wanted without losing my place, and it took just a few minutes to complete. (And this was even before my coffee had kicked in!) This site is sponsored by About.com. No banner ads and no pop up advertising made the screen less cluttered.

Con: Free service for only up to four guests. From 5 to 100 it costs $12.95. There is an option to send more than four invitations yourself from your own e-mail account for free, but then you lose Sendomatic's RSVP tracking feature. I liked the simple design, a lavender background with a green frog gently bouncing across the page. This evite came equipped with a cute rhythmic beat that wasn't loud or annoying, but added to the fun-loving feel I want for his party.

Party Planning Tip: Make it easy for your guests to respond via e-mail or telephone and they won't have any excuses for failing to reply. Be sure to include your name as well as your child's on the invitation.

Decorations

Once you've decided on the party's theme and created the invitation, it's time to think about decorations. Several websites offer all inclusive packages that make this step effortless.

Among the most popular themes at CelebrateExpress.com were John Deere, Thomas the Tank Engine, Hannah Montana and High School Musical. The Deluxe Pack for any design includes 8 dinner plates, cups, forks, spoons, activity placemats, 16 napkins, table cover, centerpiece, mylar balloon, two colors of 24 latex balloons, crepe paper rolls and curling ribbon, confetti, cake candles and thank-you notes priced at 34.99 plus $7.95 for shipping (allow 2 weeks). Leave out placemats, centerpiece, mylar balloon and candles and the price drops to just $19.99. Customer service at Celebrate Express is impressive. They offer live chat seven days a week. I was able to communicate with a rep regarding product questions and then later after placing my order, I phoned to switch out an item. The telephone rep was especially courteous and helpful even though my order was already being processed.

At PartyImagineers.com you really do have to use your imagination as only one thumbnail image of the design is shown. Shrek, Happy Feet, Elmo, and Dora are just a few of the Starter Party kits which contain similar party essentials as Celebrate Express Deluxe Packs but also include invitations. Cost $22.99 plus shipping.

FTD isn't just for flowers anymore. If you're really crunched for time, have a cake delivered to your door by FTD.com's Mrs. Beasley's Birthday Party in a Box. A chocolate fudge cake with walnuts, 6 party hats, 6 blowers, candles and balloons cost $39.99 plus a delivery fee of $12.99. It serves 10 to 12 and the website says it is Kosher.

Games/Activities

Find party games for ages 3 to 13 at http://www.kidspartyfun.com/pages/games.html. Most games described here cost under $2 and none are over $20. Also, includes suggestions for tailoring the games to your party's theme.

At PartyGameCentral.com, narrow the choices by starting at "Build a Custom Game List." Choose the type of party, space requirements, number of people, age range, indoor or outdoor games, and the level of prep desired. Besides classic party games, a few new ones stood out. In Bubble Walk, players walk on a length of bubble wrap while trying not to pop any bubbles.

Thank You Notes

Don't forget to send thank you notes. An e-thank you is still better than nothing, but it is less personal. A handwritten note will be remembered longer, and you can involve your child in this important etiquette lesson at an early age. Ask him to help you by drawing a picture or signing his name on the card. The message doesn't have to be long or fancy. Here's an example:

Thank you for coming to Nate's party. He loved the tractor you gave him. We look forward to getting together to play again soon!

Martha & Nate