Kids Christmas Party? Ideas/advice needed PLEASE

Motherof1

:rolleyes:

Hi All,

I know this is a bit premature to be asking you this but I have been thinking about Christmas for a little while. Last year I spent almost £100.00 on my daughters 7 friends for Christmas presents. As I'm a soon to be single mom I cannot afford this. In a little way I felt that I had to buy gifts for them as they bought for her...

So this year I thought instead of buying them all a present that I would have a kids Christmas party at my house instead. I have a tree, decorations and I have asked one of the dads to be Santa....and he's agreed. I have the Tweenies Chirstmas Album as party music as well.

So what I am asking is this...do you think it will be okay to ask each parent to bring one present which is suitable for a boy or girl....and Santa will of course hand them out or do you think that would be rude?....this way I only have to buy 1 but each child get's one to take home from Santa himself....

I was also planning on having an activity for all the kids (3yrs) to do....do you have any festive ideas for things they could make or do? I am also planning on making some food....but I'm not sure what.....(I'm not a very good cook).

This is the first time I am doing a Christmas party but I have calculated that it wont even cost half of what buying 7 presents would. Also, where can I find Christmas party invitations...(I wanted to make my own but my printer is on the blink!)......

If you think it's a good idea to ask the parents to bring just one present should I set a value or not? what would you say is reasonable?

I know this is early but I will be alone soon. I think it will also be a shock for my little girl and I just wanted to have something that would be fun as it will probably just be the two of us this Chrismas......

Thanks for reading and sorry for such a long post.....:A

I forgot to mention that I was also going to ask the parents if they wouldn't mind mind bringing a plate of party food.....

jellycat40

You spent £100 on your baby's friends last christmas!!! They would have been 2 years old.

I suggest that you do neither of these things. Have a budget of a couple of pounds per child and give token gifts. This will be easier now they have turned 3. Talk to the other Mums I bet they will be pleased not to have to shell out either. Or you could do a secret santa where you all buy a present for the name you draw from a hat. Then put a £5-£10 limit on the cost.

If you have a party then get all the parents to contribute to the food and bring a gift along the lines of secret santa. I can't believe that the other parents won't be so glad someone took a stand.

Louise

ailuro2

I agree- Ask other parents about secret Santa and arrange to give each child just one small token gift at the party. Poundland will have something suitable:D

100 pounds is too much and way too young to start getting so committed to that kind of expenditure.

Counting_Pennies_2

To make the gifts more personal, why not write all the names of the children and get the mums to pick them out of a hat, then they know who to buy for, they then wrap it up and put it in a box on arrival for the party, so no one knows who bought it! Then as you say get the dad to give out as pressies.

Three year olds are still very limited in their attention span for activity, I would suggest baking some biscuits, and icing them, giving the kids the coloured icing pens to make their own designs, then they can eat them afterwards. I did this for 2 1/2 year olds last week and they loved it, just let them eat them towards the end of the party as the e numbers do send them a little crazy!

Just blow up a few balloons and put up the decorations you would normally put up anyway. Do normal party food, but only small amounts, you don't need to provide a main meal, just advertise it as nibbles.

Sarahjovi

I organise a christmas party every year for local children aged 2-10.

I managed to source christma stocking similar to this for around 50p each...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Blank-Christmas-Stockings-to-Decorate-only-1-28-each_W0QQitemZ290034328548QQihZ019QQcategoryZ10939QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I then bought suitable pressies for approx £1 each from pound shops etc., and added a small cadburys selection pack and all the children go home happy!

If you shop around its quite easy to find decent toys and gifts quite cheaply. Last year I found Alphabet bead sets for the older girls at 50p each and added 50p make up brushes/sets from tesco's (reduced).

The boys got spinning tops which i found for about 75p each!

I'm sure the other parents won't object to the secret santa idea, as they won't feel pressure to spend a fortune on each child, but set a price limit! so everyone spends the same!

Sarah

Nicki

I did the decorating biscuits thing for my son's birthday age 4 and it was a huge hit. I didn't bake my own I'm afraid but bought a large pack of digestive biscuits, some icing pens, M and Ms, jelly tots and some cake decorations. They easily spent half an hour on the activity and would have spent longer. They took them home in their party bags. Even now aged 7 the kids at that party still remember the activity and ask if we'll be doing it again!

I've also done things like making party hats, glove puppets and decorating balloons with funny faces as ice breakers at parties for young children and all of these have worked well. Another good one if you don't mind a bit of mess is putting a large piece of paper on the floor (lining paper or the back of old wallpaper, taped together to make a square is ideal) and getting the children to collaborate on making a huge picture with paints, felt tips, collage materials, etc.

Secret Santa is a great idea, and tell parents not to spend more than a set amount on the present, so all the gifts are roughly equivalent. Most parents wouldn't mind also being asked to bring one item of food.

You could still make your own invitations even if printer is on the blink as you only have 7 or so to do. Woolies is good at that time of year for kits with card, glitter and Christmas stickers, and you could probably knock up all the invites in half an hour from one kit and a pritt stick.

Hope you have a great party. Make sure you ask enough parents to stay behind to help on the day, as you always need more pairs of hands than you think you need!

Motherof1

:rolleyes: Hi,

Where did you get your Christmas Stockings from.....the one in you link looks very nice but it's quite pricey......thanks!

Sarahjovi wrote:

I organise a christmas party every year for local children aged 2-10.

I managed to source christma stocking similar to this for around 50p each...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Blank-Christmas-Stockings-to-Decorate-only-1-28-each_W0QQitemZ290034328548QQihZ019QQcategoryZ10939QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I then bought suitable pressies for approx £1 each from pound shops etc., and added a small cadburys selection pack and all the children go home happy!

If you shop around its quite easy to find decent toys and gifts quite cheaply. Last year I found Alphabet bead sets for the older girls at 50p each and added 50p make up brushes/sets from tesco's (reduced).

The boys got spinning tops which i found for about 75p each!

I'm sure the other parents won't object to the secret santa idea, as they won't feel pressure to spend a fortune on each child, but set a price limit! so everyone spends the same!

Sarah

Sarahjovi

Motherof1 wrote:

:rolleyes: Hi,

Where did you get your Christmas Stockings from.....the one in you link looks very nice but it's quite pricey......thanks!

I got them from Ebay, they were a job lot on the Wholesale and Job lot section last year, however I did buy 48, so the price was probably cheaper for buying more!

It would be worth keeping an eye on ebay, I sure more will be posted towards christmas.

Sarah:D

MortgageMamma

Go to your local poundshop you will find quite a lot of things, pens, art sets, videos, dollies, character books, plastacine

Honestly, its easy to get too carried away with expensive present but kids at this age like the simple things, anything they can get messy with - even just planting bulbs and painting on old wallpaper

I speak as a mother of three, an auntie of 3 and an ex-childminder

kay74

what about one of those decorate yourself gingerbread xmas houses in Ikea. We do them at my special school and it doesn't matter if the chidlren make a mess - they still eat the icing and gingerbread. think only £1.50 for big house - saves you having to make anything!

Motherof1

kay74 wrote:

what about one of those decorate yourself gingerbread xmas houses in Ikea. We do them at my special school and it doesn't matter if the chidlren make a mess - they still eat the icing and gingerbread. think only £1.50 for big house - saves you having to make anything!

Hi, thanks for the idea...I will have a look at Ikea....I didn't realise that they sold such things...........