The first thing you’ll need is a disposable helium tank ideally, because although you could buy a whole load of helium balloons pre inflated, these are going to take up a massive amount of room and require several car journeys to transport. A disposable helium tank doesn’t cost much, and can be used to inflate around 50 nine inch balloons or 25 eleven inch balloons, which is going to easily be enough for a balloon arch.

Next, choose your balloons. You could have plain, coloured helium balloons, ones with a special message on or even letter balloons so that the arch spells out a greeting or someone’s name.

Next, you’ll need some fishing line and a couple of large balloon weights. Don’t go for the ordinary little ones – you’ll need the bigger variety as there’s going to be a lot of pull on these balloons.

Tie one end of the fishing line to a balloon weight, and then hold up the fishing line roughly in position where the balloon arch will go so that you can see how much you’ll need, but don’t cut it just yet.

If you want your balloon arch to last a good long while without sagging then a good tip is to use some Ultra High Float, which is a liquid you can use to coat the balloons, making them last much, much longer. This is what the professionals use for weddings and public balloon displays.

Now comes the process of inflating each balloon and tying it to the fishing line. You could just tie the balloon straight on to the fishing line or you could tie a small piece of line around the base of the balloon and then tie this to the fishing line. The advantage of this is that it is slightly easy to do, and if a balloon does have an accident it’s easier to replace a balloon quickly this way.

As you start tying more balloons on to the arch it will obviously start to float up, and so it’s a good idea to have something heavy holding the other end of the line down, otherwise you’ll end up doing a lot of stretching!

Once you’ve tied all the balloons on, and attached the weights to both ends you can move these about to get the right angle and position of the arch. If using it as an entranceway another little touch is to tie a length of ribbon to each balloon so that this hangs down, just touching the floor. This creates a coloured curtain underneath the arch which really helps to make the whole thing look very professional.

One tip I would suggest is to make sure you plan plenty of time for this. It can be a bit fiddly, and will probably take twice the amount of time you plan! Have an extra pair of hands if possible, and have a few spare balloons and plenty of fishing line.

Once you’ve got the idea you can be really creative, alternating colours, creating two or more arches, one inside the other (creating a rainbow perhaps) and even alternating letters with plain balloons to create a longer arch which includes a single name. You could have very long, low arches or tall narrow arches which are ideal for doorframes.

As far as weight is concerned, a typical helium balloon will lift about 5 grams, which means that an arch of 20 balloons will need about 50 grams at either end. However, what you will find in some cases is not that the balloons pull up, but that they also pull inwards, so it’s usually best to double this weight.

If you do create a balloon arch, please send us a photo – we’d love to share your party decorations with other readers!

What’s needed apart from a few basic face painting products such as the paints, a few sponges and some brushes is a step by step guide to how to create many of the most popular looks. Fortunately we’re here to help, because as well as selling all of the materials you could possibly need, we are happy to provide a whole collection of face painting guides.

These are written specially for those people who may never have even done face painting before, so there’s really no excuse! What we have done is to find out from children what their favourite faces and looks are. Not surprisingly the girls all tended to go for butterflies, cats, dogs and tigers, whilst just as unsurprisingly the boys went for either skeletons, monsters or super heroes. We’ve then roped in an enthusiastic bunch of children and demonstrated in each of our step by step guides how to create each of the looks by simply adding easy to do layers.

Usually it’s just a case of applying a foundation colour to the whole face and then adding in little details, each of which is so simple to do. The finished look does look amazing, and very complicated, but really the hardest part is knowing how to start. Well, we’ve done that for you. Simply choose the guides you like the look of, print them out and have them next to you as you create each very simple layer one after another until the final look is completed.

If you’re thinking of offering this as a treat at your child’s birthday party, or you would like to offer it at your school’s summer fair, then you might find that you’d like to practice it beforehand. Simply get a willing volunteer (child, husband, dog – only joking!) and follow through one of our guides. In fact why not take a look at one now and see what we mean?

Creating some fabulous looks is easy when you have a step by step guide to face painting in front of you, with clear, full colour photographs of each step. You’ll probably be surprised not only how easy it is when you see the face being painted one layer at a time, but also just how few steps it really takes to create a look that seems quite complicated. After you’ve done a few you’ll start to feel really confident, after which it’s another skill to add to your collection!

As well as selling a whole variety of face paints, sponges, brushes and other accessories, and of course our free face painting guides, we also sell a number of books and kits to help you expand your repertoire. So whether you’re a complete novice to the idea of face painting or you have some experience and are looking to buy supplies and perhaps gain a little inspiration or a few top tips, then why not take a look and see for yourself?

Our guides to painting faces include a princess, a tiger, Spiderman, a witch, a monster, a butterfly, a skeleton, Fifi (from the TV series), a tropical look, under the sea, a dog and a pirate. All of these are child tested and voted for by children themselves. Face painting is not only hugely popular at parties and special events, but if you’re running a summer fair for your school, playgroup, Sunday school or other organisation then it can be a real money maker too.

Another benefit of face painting from a parent’s point of view is of course that there’s no way your child can fob you off about having washed their face before bed!

From princesses to dinosaurs, helium balloons have a magical appeal. But for many people there’s only one problem – how to get them to the party? If you visit your local party shop they’ll be able to inflate as many balloons with helium as you want – but just exactly how are you going to get them home? And if the party isn’t at home, but perhaps at a local village hall, then you have the second challenge of transporting them there too.

If you have a car then you’ll usually find that the interior has been specially designed to be exactly two inches too small for the average helium balloon when fully inflated. The doorways are tantalizingly close to allowing a balloon through, and the boot is just an inch away from closing once you’ve squeezed a couple in there.

Perhaps in desperation you decide to tie them to the roof rack in a huge bundle, possibly with the consideration that it may slightly help your fuel economy. However, the moment you start driving you realise that the balloons are ricocheting all over the place bursting with sporadic enthusiasm and generally becoming terribly distracting, not to mention potentially dangerous.

You may decide that your imaginative displays of colourful balloons may have to be toned down a bit, either to one or two small helium balloons, or ordinary balloons filled with air. It’s not quite the same thing though. But don’t worry, because as ever we’re here with a solution!

If you order one of our great value disposable helium tanks we’ll throw in 50 balloons for you free. We’ll even throw in the ribbon for tying them together too. The disposable helium tank is large enough to inflate 50 of the large 9 inch balloons, or 25 of the extra large 11 inch balloons. It’s so convenient because you can take the whole bundle with you very easily, and inflate the balloons right when you need them, where you need them. Things are looking up already aren’t they?

Of course, by inflating your helium balloons almost at the last minute you’ll be able to enjoy the balloons for longer. Sometimes people have to collect their helium balloons already inflated a day or two before the event. This means that the balloons may not be quite so perky when the big day dawns, and this can be a little disappointing. However, whether you’re looking to give pre-inflated balloons a boost or you want your self inflated helium balloons to last even longer, why not pick up a bottle of our ultra high float? This great stuff is easy to apply to helium balloons, and is completely invisible. It manages to make the skin of the balloon even more resistant to leakage, meaning that your balloons will last even longer and remain much higher.

Don’t forget that if you’re not tying the helium balloons to things such as chairs or railings you’ll need a balloon weight. These are very inexpensive, and we can supply a whole range to choose from. They also make it much easier to create bunches of helium balloons and place them on tables or in corners.

Because whilst you’re setting up an endless train of tables, children are finding themselves with less and less room to play, yet with as much energy as before. You may even find them starting to run a little wild as the adults are probably ‘all hands to the deck’ getting the food ready.

Setting the food out on the table inevitably means steering the hungrier children away until you’re ready, and the result can become little short of chaos.

So here’s an idea:

Why not take a leaf out of those popular fast food places such as MacDonald’s and Burger King? They don’t set the food out for the children – they just throw it all into an exciting looking box with pictures, games and puzzles on the side, and then throw in a toy or other goodie for fun.

You could do the same, just by picking up a pack of food boxes, such as our Dinosaur World food box, Sports food box, Football Party food box or Wild West food box. Just set these up ahead of the party, and when it comes to eating, there’s not even a need to suddenly restrict the amount of space for the children to urn about.

Pop a couple of sandwiches, cake, crisps, fruit and a drink into each box before the party, along with a small toy or good bag, and then write each child’s name on the box. When it comes to food time, all the children can sit where they like, or in a circle, and enjoy eating their boxed food. Afterwards they can keep the food and take it with them, popping in any other prizes they win in games too. This means far less mess for you to have to clean up, and more time enjoying the party!

In fact the concept of plastic pint glasses and even plastic wine glasses was originally introduced into pubs, clubs and bars for health and safety reasons. This was primarily for those pubs which had outdoor seating or outdoor drinking areas, because a dropped glass made from real glass will almost certainly shatter. This in itself is a health hazard but since many pubs with outdoor gardens or seating also allow dogs and children in to those areas, broken shards of glass clearly represent a real hazard.

Plastic glasses, including plastic half pint glasses for squash and juice, mean that the worst that can happen if a drink gets spilled is that someone ends up with a wet foot. And a slightly higher drinks bill too of course.

But why should this idea be limited to pubs and clubs? For many of us the same principle applies to parties and barbecues we have at home. Unless you have a fairly odd arrangement going on, you almost certainly hold your barbecues outside, usually on a patio area. Combine an outdoor party with patio paving, hot food, alcohol, a relaxed atmosphere and precariously balanced wine glasses and drinks glasses on walls, wobbly patio tables and raised borders, and you have the perfect recipe for cut fingers, sliced toes and a general tendency for more tomato ketchup than would normally be seen. Add dogs and children into the equation and it could be pretty unpleasant.

Plastic drinks glasses are therefore an ideal solution to help ensure that the only liquid being spilled onto your patio is drink, rather than blood. Although pubs and bars have been serving drinks in plastic pint glasses for years, very few retailers have offered the same level of convenience and safety for those holding parties at home.

Plastic glasses for drinks have often been limited to those white plastic things which look perfectly innocent, but which have a disastrous design flaw. The walls of these white cups are often so thin and flimsy than as soon as you go to pick the drink up your fingers clasp something less substantial than air, causing the cup to flatten and your drink to spurt up over anything within a two foot radius. It’s fun, but hardly practical.

Fortunately plastic glasses today are rather more practical, and also considerably more diverse than in the past. From plastic pint glasses to plastic half pint glasses, plastic wine glasses and even plastic champagne flutes, not only do these plastic glasses look suspiciously like their glass counterparts, but they are firm and substantial enough to both contain your drink safely, and allow you to pick it up safely too – a combination of features that’s been missing for quite a long time.

Because these plastic drinks glasses are so much more sturdy it’s even possible to wash them up and re-use them, although at the price it hardly seems to matter. Certainly if they get dropped, knocked or kicked over they’re not going to shatter, saving your party from becoming like a scene from Casualty.

Whether you go for the amazingly convincing plastic Martini glass (shaken, not shattered) or a traditional plastic pint glass, you can safely raise your drinks at your next party without ending up playing the time-honoured game of Hunt the Finger in the rhododendrons.

A wild west themed party can be a great idea, but often the only thing people can really think of including is a heap of fancy dress and a few dodgy looking sambucas. But with a little imagination and a few tumbleweeds you can have your party venue decked out to look as though Hopalong Cassidy’ll just amble through that door any moment.

In fact, you could achieve just that, with a Hopalong Cassidy life size cut out, and a wild west door banner that looks just like a set of classic wild west shutters ready to be smashed open by the dark stranger, new in town, and with a look that could make granite crack.

But for just a few pounds and a little preparation time you can turn any room into a really authentic feeling wild west venue that will really help get the show on the road from the very start. First of all, pick up a bar with bottles room roll, or one of the other scene setter rolls. These are massive twelve metre long rolls that you can stick to the walls of your room, creating a really atmospheric and realistic scene really quickly.

An old wagon wheel propped up in the corner, a saloon sign handily positioned so that guests, (sorry, ‘varmint’s') can find their way to the important areas easily, and perhaps even some rusty barbed wire garlands tied up around the place for that cosy look, (don’t worry, they’re only plastic, but you may find your guests giving them a wide berth in any case!)

If you have a few kids’ toy guns, the ones that shoot foam balls, you can have your very own quick draw games, or perhaps simply find out who can down the sambucas without changing that stone cold expression.

Overall, this family interaction is good. However, we know that we must crush them in the birthday party competition. That’s where the go-kart comes in. Nobody has had a go-kart birthday yet. Our son’s birthday is in December, so our plan is to find an indoor go-kart racetrack and host a party there. A quick online search showed that several tracks allow kids as young as three years old to ride along with an adult, so even those families with toddlers will be able to have fun. I am not so sure how the mums will do at the track, but most of the dads will have a blast pretending to be Formula One drivers.

No go-kart themed birthday party would be complete without a Go kart cake. We are planning the party bags too. Please keep in mind that this is our little secret. If you see the Fulchers, the Fosters, or the Lignells, don’t tell them. This round of the birthday party arms race will be won at the race track. Top that, if you can!

The overall health of the old Kids Kingdom was previously enough to drive any parent away and refuse plea upon plea for a return visit. It was simply an unsanitary experience. Today, it is fresh and clean and ready for your kids’ party experience. Everything from the entertainment to the party bags is catered for not to mention the fresh and tasty new menu.

A Kids Kingdom adventure doesn’t have to be a huge event the first time out. Just a few friends and the desire to check out the vast improvements can help you determine that the changes are real and you don’t need to fret and fuss over whether your child plays and has fun the way kids do. Once you see the differences, you’ll be back - the kids will insist upon it. This summer why not pop along to Kids Kingdom Southend to see for yourself and maybe even check out the fantastic party packages available for kids of all ages. Oh and for those of you who were getting a little anxious, you can breathe a sigh of relief as Jelly Mountain is still the jewel in the crown at Kids Kingdom.

For insant fun just turn up to play. For party bookings or enquiries call  Kids Kingdom on 01702 462747

It doesn’t matter if you have three kids or twelve, the party goodies should be all inclusive. Food, some party plates and party cups, and of course, a good selection of DVD’s to get the kids through several hours of movie watching.

Kids love to throw sleepover parties and this party shouldn’t be devoid of any of the usual trimmings. You can make it more than a mere sleepover with party banners, party balloons, or even a special party cake. No matter what movies they are watching your kids will appreciate the easy fun that the company of friends in a party mood can bring.

If you take the time to put together a few little party bags with favours and neat surprises you can make it all that much more of a party. While the kids will still throw the popcorn either way and stay up well into the night, putting together a party that lets them feel special for particular occasion is perfectly brilliant. All of the sleepover party goers will love the party decorations and the extra effort that went into the little details that turned the night from a sleepover into a celebration.

There is nothing quite like being a kid, surrounded by your best friends, celebrating the simple things like the age of sleeping over. It won’t be long before your kids outgrow the prospect of a sleepover and the simple joys of childhood are worth celebrating with every special trimming you can find.