Advice On The Ultimate OS Party For DD!!

Penny-Pincher!!

annie-c....thanks thats a great suggestion and will do that. What dip would you recomend? I do have a couple of salad dressings in the fridge and have only really made Humous before or the normal olive oil and lemon dressing. Also will do the fruit salad and can always offer tiptop or ice cream with it, if they dont want to be too health conscious..LOL.

PP
xx

annie-c

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

annie-c....thanks thats a great suggestion and will do that. What dip would you recomend? I do have a couple of salad dressings in the fridge and have only really made Humous before or the normal olive oil and lemon dressing. Also will do the fruit salad and can always offer tiptop or ice cream with it, if they dont want to be too health conscious..LOL.

PP
xx

Easy cheese and chive dip

You could add a bit of plain yoghurt to make it go further. And maybe leave out the garlic as it is for little ones?

Or a tomato salsa is nice, using blended tomatoes, onion, red pepper and herbs (a tiny bit of sugar helps the taste too). No cooking needed and both will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

Hope this helps!


Annie

annie-c

Though, thinking about it, kids will probably just like the veggie sticks plain - see what your daughter thinks, maybe before spending any more money.....

Sweet_Pea_2

PP it sounds great, Im sure your dd will enjoy it. Old fashioned at home parties seem to be few and far between now with is a shame because most kids seem to enjoy them, I think the parents find it easier to just pay the money and not have the hassle or the mess.
My youngest wanted her party at home when she was 5, a big difference to your daughters age I know, but I had a similar list of games, inc pin the tail on eyore, and pass the parcel. None of the girls liked the idea of their eyes being covered for pin the tail, which I was surprised at, but I suppose this is a game thats not played very often nowadays so they are not as used to it. I didnt push it, so that game didnt go too well! (You probably wont have that problem as your party guests are older)
Every game I suggested they didnt want to play, (strange lot) when I went to a party at their age we were told "right we are playing this" and we played it - never entered our minds to argue - lol, kids nowadays are too assertive if you ask me! Or maybe Im just not assertive enough, but at least they thought up games they did want to play which went OK.
I did what I remembered from my own childhood. I counted roughly how many games we were playing and had the same amount of "prizes" wrapped up in a bag. The winner of each game picked a prize from the bag and I put it in a party bag (gift bag sized, already labelled with their names on and a few sweets, pencils etc in) for them to take home. All the children ended up with a prize in their party bag, for them to unwrap when they got home (cheap but nice videos, books from the works etc, didnt cost much but not tat, hopefully useful)
I would advise - have a plan but dont be surprised if they all decide they fancy doing something else. As long as they are enjoying themselves and occupied thats the main thing.
Dont let them all disappear off upstairs as soon as they arrive in case they dont want to come back down again, and you end up with your dd's room looking like a bombsite.
(Most of the "at home" parties my DD's have been to they were only allowed upstairs to go to the loo)
Take lots of photos! What seems to be popular at DD's school are "thank you's" from the birthday girl with a nice photo of all her mates on, its a nice keepsake. In fact my DD1 has a similar thank you from a party she recently attended stuck to her bedroom door at the mo.
I hope it all goes well, and you dont wear yourself out!

Penny-Pincher!!

Ahh..thats great..thanks Sweatpea!!

Do you think the chicken and bits will be OK if I cook on the friday, obviously if I leave in the fridge? Should be!

Thanks again

PP
xx

mummysaver

Sounds as though the food will be great, just what children like at parties!

Have just thought of another game we used to play when we were little - hunt the thimble, shouting warmer and colder to each other, will be trying it out on my children later today! Also how about consequences, where you write one boy's name and one girl's name, then where they met, he said, she said, they were wearing, etc and the final on is the consequence - only takes pencils and paper, and always creates great amusement as children tend to pick out boys and girls from their class!

Edit: meant to say, I love the pin the handbag on the Bratz, will try this for dd3's party!

annie-c

Cooking on Friday and saving in the fridge til Saturday will be absolutely fine, PP.

Wow, your daughter will be the envy of her friends - you are such a good mum!

annie-c

PP, in case I don't make it onto the Boards over the weekend, just wanted to pop in and say 'Good Luck!' for the party tomorrow.

Take it easy if you can once the cooking is done today, so you can really enjoy yourself tomorrow.... and please come back and let us know how it went!

Annie xx

researcher

When I was young(er) I was a party entertainer - the one rule of thumb I'd suggest that works with all age groups is activities and games for the first half of the party, then food (this usually takes no more than half an hour whatever the age of the guests) - followed by something more relaxing (dvd, make-up, singing, sit down games etc).

A very useful start to a party is this: as they arrive, hand them a piece of a card (any old Xmas/birthday etc), with the other pieces scattered around the area where the party is held (jigsaw type game). Have a place where they form their 'picture gallery'. You can cut the cards as simple or complicated as you like, and into as many pieces ie 4 pieces for 5 year old, and 12 for older children. When they've found the pieces give them another - they'll be keen to do as many as possible I promise. Mark an x on the back of one piece - so if all the card are collected - you get a child to collect them all - take out the x's and scatter the pieces around the floor /tables again (picture side up). This keeps them occupied until everyone has arrived and never failed!

Another sitdown but popular game is to get a pillowcase - place inside everyday objects and get them to guess what you have in your hand - this game depends more on having an adult interact with them, but means they are sitting down and concentrating on you.

Last tip - enlist the 'gobby' one(s) as your 'helper' - you'd be amazed the difference it makes when they're working for you, not against. It's all physiology.

Penny-Pincher!!

Afternoon

We've cut the party to 2hrs:D

These are the games DD wants and wondered if anyone could help organise which would be best first etc. Need time to eat a small buffet in there too. The games are:

Pass the parcel (have 3 parcels each 5 wrappings)
Doughnut game (eat them without licking lips)
Wooden Spoons (blindfold person and give them a spoon to feel the outline and guess the person)
Musical Statues and dancing
Charades (going to put a few names in a hat and they pick one?)
Pin the bag on the Bratz (DD devised this and drew it etc)

Do you think these and the food will last 2 hrs. DD will have a basket of make up out incase they want to tart each other up and mess around. There all dressing as Bratz....dont ask...in other words there all gonna look like young hookers:eek: DD has also bought some red spray to put in her hair:eek: will be taking some pictures, so if theres any good ones I'll post tomorrow.

DD is going to love it as all the mums have been asking what dolls she likes etc, so she may well end up with a few.

Thanks so much guys.
PP
xx