NEWS – App Takes the Stress Out of Children’s Birthday Parties

NEWS – App Takes the Stress Out of Children’s Birthday Parties | AD

A stressed out mum and dad have invented an app to take the pain out of planning a child’s birthday party. Gracie Xie and John Watts came up with the idea for their Kids Birthday Party Planner app after getting into a muddle while planning a celebration for son Oliver’s fifth birthday.

Dad John said after pulling his hair out in frustration over who they had forgotten to invite, who had accepted, and who hadn’t yet confirmed, he decided to search the app store for help. But after finding nothing that quite matched the task, wife Gracie suggested they design their own app to help out other parents in the same predicament.

The couple from Derby, who also have a two year old called James, came up with a tool which helps parents plan every stage of a celebration from booking the venue to remembering to send out thank you notes afterwards.

Their app, simply called Kids Birthday Party Planner, is now live on iTunes and an android version is already being planned.

John, 36, said: “I got very stressed when organising Oliver’s party. I couldn’t remember who we’d invited and who had responded — people were texting, emailing and ringing. There is so much to remember and you end up going back through your text messages over and over again. It just gets manic. I thought to myself, there must be something out there that can help me. To my surprise though, there wasn’t – not for my specific needs. There’s normally an app for everything. But while there were things that were similar there was nothing specifically for kids’ parties. Gracie then suggested that we make one ourselves.”

Gracie, who works in customer service for Rolls Royce Aerospace added: “Oliver has had a couple of big parties in the past and it has always been quite stressful. Trying to remember who we’ve invited, how many are coming and what everyone gave as presents is always a headache. I end up with scraps of paper everywhere and going through endless text messages on my phone. The app is a very simple idea but we just wanted to make something that would make ours, and hopefully other people’s lives, that little bit easier.”

Once users download the app, there is no sign-up necessary — they just start by inputting the child’s name and date of their birthday party. This then takes them to a series of sections, including planning and guest list.

John said: “You start by putting in your child’s name and the date of their birthday party. You then enter all of the names that are invited, and log as you go along who is coming, who isn’t and who hasn’t replied. It then puts them into alphabetical order for you and makes a list before the day.”

“There’s also a planning section, where you can keep notes and get organised about things that you need to remember, like the cake or decorations. The app also helps you after the party too. Because you already have the guest list, you can then enter which gifts they brought. It reminds you whether you sent a thank you card or not.”

John, who works as a TV commercial director, hopes that the app will take the strain off for parents organising birthday parties for their children by keeping a log of details and setting reminders both before and after the big day.

The app has already been well received by parents across the UK. It also comes in a variety of languages including Chinese, German and French. John and Gracie have since used the app to plan their son James’s second birthday party and said that it took away all of the usual stresses.

Collaboration.