Birthday Party

wishingonastar_3

Hi,

Looking for some advice. At the weekend I'm having a birthday party for dd at local community centre, and i'm a bit stuck. i was thinking of feeding them hot dogs in rolls as i'll have access to the kitchen, as kids rarely seem to want sandwiches, but what to do also? just crisps and biscuits seems a bit naff, but i also have to consider transporting food there in one trip along with everything else that is required!!!

Also, although we've covered basic games like pass the parcel, musical chairs, has anyone any other game ideas for 20 rowdy 10 year old girls to keep them entertained.

dd is so excited at the prospect of an old fashioned party as she calls it, compared to the usual round of bowling and pub parties that seem to be the norm, i just want it to go great for her.

the other thing i'm a bit stuck for is how much juice/pop will they drink? only having the one child, pop lasts us ages, so i've no idea how much to have in stock for it.

any other ideas to help make the party go well would be greatly appreciated,

thanks in avance

woas.

JailhouseBabe

Hi woas,
These were popular with my dd:

'Hot potato' game: the girls have to throw a balloon to each other as their dancing - if it's thrown to you you have to catch it or your out - when the music stops whoever's holding the balloon is out. Repeat until you have a winner.

'Just a Minute' - same rules as the radio show. Have a ist of topis beforehand, girls in a circle. Girl starting has a minute to discuss topic without hesitation or repitition (use one adult to count, another to referee). Whoever jumps in to declare hesitation or repitition has to complete the minute, and gains a point. After so many rounds, girl with most points wins.

'Tissue race' - two teams, relay style. Have a start line & finish line, player 1 from each team has to blow a tissue through a straw from start to finish, where player 2 has to blow back to start line, etc.

As for food, hot dogs are quite filling. Maybe just add some fairy cakes to your crisps and biscuits? Pop-wise, 2 or 3 cups of squash each should be enough; as you've access to a kitchen, they can always have water (as long as you have enough paper cups).

1sttimer_2

Hi WOAS, glad that you're doing something like this, I'm sure your dd will be really excited and I hope all goes well.

Why not ask her what she thinks her friends would like? Pizza's always go down well and if you have time you could make it into a game for them to 'make their own'. Cheese/pineapple on sticks always goes down well, and crisps or crudites + dips are always popular and trendy! If you have a freezer available, then why not buy some icecream cones/ice lollies for puds instead of biscuits, especially if it's warm. If it is warm, then overguess on the drinks side. Squash may go further but if fizzy pop is what they want then I would guess a 2lt bottle would do for about 10 drinks. (or you could buy cartons/small bottles)

How about a treasure hunt? You could put them into teams and search round for hidden jigsaw pieces and 1st to finish wins (you have to have small jigsaws or cut up a picture of some popstar and mark the back of each piece a different colour for each team.

Another team game is 'mummy' 1 child is chosen to be wrapped (in the cheapest toilet paper). Team members are at one side of the hall and when they throw a six on a dice they rush down to wrap the mummy whilst the rest keep on throwing. The one wrapping leaves the mummy and swaps places with the new wrapper.

A favourite game is 'chocolate'. Have a bar of chocolate on a plate with a knife and fork ready. A Hat, scarf and gloves are needed. On the throw of a dice (6) the child puts on the hat, scarf and gloves and starts to cut the chocolate up with the knife and fork only. They swap each time a six is thrown.

Still on team games what about Rapidough? This is quite a good one where you have playdough and a list of things to 'make' for the rest of the team to guess. Last team to guess right gets a scoop of dough taken away. You can theme your guess as you want.

I could go on all day but then my children are now 24 + 21 so it was a long time ago that I did all this and they seemed to enjoy them then and I know children today don't always like the same things but then some things never go out of fashion and if you stay calm and look like you're enjoying yourself, I'm sure they will.

mamaoba

Instead of party bags get them to decorate a T shirt.

Tescos do value t shirts at 75p each and thick fabric markers for £1.67 for 4. To fix the design ask their Mums to iron their t shirts when they get home. It will keep them occupied for 1/2 an hour during the party while you clear up the food or just need a bit of quieter time to stop them getting too over excited and rowdy. and they'll get to keep a permanent momento, which they'll all adore. Much more popular with the mums too than cheap tat and sweets.

Kids love this sort of activity at parties - it's how i make my living at the moment :rotfl:

For food it's easier to do jacket spuds (take along in a coolbox with them pre-cooked and wrapped in foil if no cooking facilities) and a bowl of chilli in a slow cooker plugged in at the side of the room, together with salad and crusty french bread than it is to serve up loads of sausage rolls, crisps etc. less mess and less hassle all round as less gets dropped on the floor for you to clean up. Do a very simple pudding like ice cream cones - again to keep it simple. A scoop a box of cones and cheap iceland icecream will be all you need. I've noticed this type of food gets eaten, is cheaper than lots of "bits" and there is far more mess afterwards. It makes me feel very sorry for the Mums who have gone to town on homemade sausage rolls, crsips and nuts of every description etc.

1sttimer_2

Ooh I do agree with you mamaoba - the easier it is for mums the better things are all round.

I forgot about the 'party bags' - your t-shirt thing sounds a great idea. I help at a rainbow guides and junior church and the t-shirts sound just up their street. Thanks for that!

Penny-Pincher!!

DD recently had a party and turned out great..she is 11.

We played a game called "spoons" and basically one person sits on a chair blindfolded and they are given a wodden spoon and they have to use it to work out who the person is.

Dont know how to link up, but i did a thread about it a few weeks back.

HTH

PP
xx

wishingonastar_3

thanks for all the brilliant ideas, i'm feeling a lot less stressed now i've lots of ideas to keep them entertained!!!

aimeelister

1sttimer wrote:

A favourite game is 'chocolate'. Have a bar of chocolate on a plate with a knife and fork ready. A Hat, scarf and gloves are needed. On the throw of a dice (6) the child puts on the hat, scarf and gloves and starts to cut the chocolate up with the knife and fork only. They swap each time a six is thrown.

This is a fab one, I still play it, just make sure its a big bar!!!!

wishingonastar_3

aimeelister wrote:

This is a fab one, I still play it, just make sure its a big bar!!!!

I don't quite understand how you play it? don't you just end up with a big mound of chopped up chocolate?

piglet6

No, we used to play this (and my mum always called it “Tramp’s Tea Party”). The idea is that once you are dressed up in the hat, scarf and gloves, you are allowed to use the knife and fork to eat the chocolate like you were eating a meal (although our rules stated that it has to be chunk by chunk – no stabbing the whole bar and biting chunks off!!:rotfl: ). The game element is that you are basically racing against the clock, because as soon as someone else throws a 6, you have to stop eating (or however far towards the eating stage you have got...:p ) and get undressed so that the new person can start getting dressed.

It also works better if the gloves are large ones (padded ski gloves or that type) as it makes it harder to grip the cutlery.

Hope that helps!

Piglet

P.S. I’ve just read this back and it sounds as clear as mud to me now – hope you understand what I’m trying to say!!:rolleyes:

aimeelister

No! You get to eat some! like 1sttimer says, you each take turns to roll adice, when someone gets a 6 they have to put on a hat, scarf and gloves (we use mittens for extra difficulty!) and get to try and eat as much chocolate as they can using a kinfe and fork meanwhile everyone else keeps rolling the dice trying to get a 6, when they do they have wear the hat scarf and gloves and eat the choccy and it keeps going until all the chocolate has gone.

You are advised to do this on a table, and chocolate can go flying as you stab at the bar trying to break bits off which are easy enough to shovel onto the fork using the knife and are also small enough to fit in your mouth!