Its Their Party

Remember when all you needed for a child's birthday party was a pretty paper cloth to put over the small bridge table in the basement, some party hats and balloons, candy cups filled with M & Ms, homemade cupcakes and a Pin the Tail on the Donkey game? It was a simple affair.

Who knew from theme parties? Who understood robots that made popcorn and played games? Who ever rented a carnival for the back yard?

Nowadays, you can hire a party planner to make all the arrangements, or choose from among dozens of performers who come to your home and entertain the kiddies. You can serve hot dogs from a street cart. You can even hand out personalized party favors. You can spend a little or a lot - $1 a child on trinkets, or $500 for practically a circus that comes into your home. On the

average, you can hire entertainment for under $100, and have an entire party planned and operated for under $200.

The options boggle the mind.

"I saw a need for a service to help plan a children's party at home without the hassle," says Susan Lipskin, co-owner of Birthday Blasts, a children's party service. Lipskin, 36, a teacher and the mother of two young children, has been in business for two years with Joanne Colosimo, a pre- school teacher who has an 8-year-old son.

"We give the customer a choice of nine themes," Lipskin explains, ''including 'Under the Big Top,' 'Dinosaur Days,' 'Abracadabra,' 'Super Kids' and 'Delightful Dolls.' " They set up the party, bring all the paper goods and decorations, arrange backdrop helium balloons, provide the entertainment, light a decorated birthday cake - and clean up afterward. Customers can add options to the packages: lunch, for instance, or ice cream sundaes, or a theme pinata filled with $25 worth of prizes.

Who would use Birthday Blasts? Joan Groth, a Bryn Mawr mother of two young children, had just moved into her new home three weeks before her daughter's birthday. "I decided that I just wouldn't have time to make all the arrangements for a birthday," Groth said. "I was just too busy unpacking to buy all the paper goods and worry about the entertainment." Enter Birthday Blasts. "I was a lady at my own party," Groth recalls.