Weighing up party options

Four or five is early enough to start birthday parties — any younger and it’s a party for grown-ups.

ORGANISING your child’s birthday party is rife with decisions: What age should you start giving a party? How many kids do you invite? Where do you have it? What about entertainment? And gifts? Should you give goody bags?

“Birthday parties have become big theatrical events. They put parents under extreme pressure,” says Joanna Fortune, clinical psychotherapist. So when should you start?