OS Birthday party for 5yr old?

MissOptimistic

Hi there
I am very new to the Old style boards - but loving it here and already making changes to how we live our life for the better.
My DD will be 5 next month and we are throwing her a party - there are 12 on the guest list and she has said she would quite like a party at home - apart from the obvious question of how to entertain 12 5 year old girls for two hours - how can I do this cheaply? - Any ideas for party bags on the cheap, party games and a cake (I on't have a huge storecupboard - can I really make a cake cheaper than the £6 or so I will pay at Mr T's? )
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
P.S - a party at the local soft play place is £8.95 a head, so that is what I need to beat!
Many Thanks

soappie

Jelly, ice cream, a variety of sandwiches, crisps

Party games: Pass the parcel (a chocolate bar in the middle will suffice). Musical statues, Simon Says. (They are too young for the game of "consequences" I fear)

Party bags? I assume you mean the "going home" present. That was NEVER part of a party in my yoof. It's a modern day invention to get parents to spend even more in the shops..... But if you HAVE to comply, why not bake a batch of mini cupcakes and pop two or three in each going-home bag along with a couple of crayons and a small notebook?

ETA As to the cake - they are not gourmands at that age. Bake a couple of simple sponge cakes, stick them together with some strawberry jam and whipped double cream. Spread some cream (or butter icing) on the top, stick in some candles and Bob's your uncle...

MoneyMission

We're just sitting down for a relax after doing my daughters 6th birthday party for 10 girls. We did it quite OS and here's how it went:

1. Girls came in and spent a good 25 minutes making easter baskets like these: http://www.bakerross.co.uk/src/ADWORDS/cat_id/EAS/product-Coloured-Baskets-EA110.htm cost: £3.60 plus delivery = £7.55
2. They wrote their names on the baskets then used pens and stickers to decorate them with. I got a bumper pack of 400 stickers (they were small though) from my local art shop for £3.00.
3. I made a batch of fairy cakes before the girls arrived and then they iced them. Not sure of cost but not much for 12 fairy cakes and some icing and decorations (already had them in the cupboard). They put their cake in their baskets.
4. Tattoos - each girl had one or two (OK, some had four!!) of these done: http://www.bakerross.co.uk/src/ADWORDS/product-Fantasy-Fairy-Temporary-Tattoos-P398.htm cost: £3.96
5. Lunch: sandwiches (marmite, strawberry jam and cream cheese). Used 1 loaf of bread that was on offer at 55p. Cream cheese was 46p and I've still got some left. Marmite I already had and jam I already had. Couple of large bags Mr S's potato rings, a bag of cheese balls, 40 cocktail sausages, a cucumber cut into sticks and a bag of cherry tomatoes.
6. Made a 'Hello Kitty' cake. Not sure how to post a photo! Just a large victoria sandwich cake. Bought a 1kg pack (£2.49) of ready to roll icing. Coloured 80% of it pale pink and covered cake. Cut out a kitty shaped head from the remaining white and then made a bow and a nose in red and yellow with the leftovers. Topped it with black writing icing to edge it like hello kitty.
7. Musical bumps.
8. Pass the parcel (gift £3.00) - wrapping paper from market @ £2.00 for 6 sheets
9. Sleeping lions.
10. Musical statues.
11. Relay race in the garden collecting Mr S's hollow chocolate eggs (£4.00 for 25) as they went.
12. Girls went home with their easter baskets containing, the cake they'd decorated, the chocolate eggs they'd got from the relay race, a pencil, a rubber and a butterfly keyring (all for £9.00 at Mr S's).

Adding all the above up I reckon we spent about £45 for a 2 hours party for 10 girls. About half the price of the organised party at £8.95 per head. Hope this helps. Have fun.

todolistsocd

*Opinion Only*
Hi,

Sponge Cake:
At present, ASDA have some cake mixes on special or just make your own i.e. 2 eggs, 4 oz butter, 4oz Caster sugar, 4oz Self raising flour.
Caster Sugar £1.12, Self raising flour 46p, Silver spoons "White chocolate icing" is on special for 50p.
Girlies love pink, so add some food colouring into icing to make it pink and cover cake.
To finish off, stick some jellytots on top of it and/or sprinkles etc.

Hope this helps!

archiesdad

Here are just some of my suggestions, I would personally do hot food for that many kids very cheap if they all like pizza !! What about a pizza making party and a movie, a friend did this for her daughters 6th birthday.

If you would rather do cold buffet I would ask the parents what sandwich child would like and either put in one of those paper party boxes, or put on a party plate and cling film. You could put a bag of crisps, frube or chocolate bar, bit of fruit if you so wish and maybe some cocktail sausages.

For entertaining the kids either traditional party games, pass the parcel pin the tail on the donkey or maybe a mini pamper party painting the girls nails doing there hair (might be a bit too young for that).

Party bag ideas I hate all the party bag tat for want of a better word, so this year for my son's birthday I gave all the children a book. The book people have some good deals and I managed to get 20 horrid henry books and activity sets for £8. I then managed to pick up some selection boxes his birthday is in January for 39p.

Recently my son has been to parties where instead of a party bag, he has been given a cellephane cone full of sweets and a piece of cake. A friend bought metal character money boxes in pound land, put a lollipop in the top and tied a ballon to it.

With regards to the cake I would say that you could make one for less than £6, depending on your cake making skills. I personally use buttercream as I think it's more forgiving and you could always put chocolate finger biscuits round the outside and put either plastic characters or sweets on top.

I made this cake http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10865/birthday-bug-cake for my daughters 1st birthday it went down a storm. I just made a basic victoria sponge but did do the white choc icing.

I am sure some more experienced old stylers will help, but just a few ideas.

sarluk

Hi...
ive found the "old" party games usually are quite OS...pass the parcel, pin the tale on the donkey,eye spy or apple bobbing ect...:D

For party bags what about piece of cake,a balloon(bag of 50 in pound land)...Mr t has small bags of haribos the 10p bags on offer 11 bags for a pound. Or maybe candy bracelets about 20p each. Poundland have loads of party bag goodies. Or maybe bobbles or hairclips(poundland too):D

For the cake in the past ive bought a couple of packets of value/smartprice sponge mix cant remember price now soz but def less than 40p think you just add egg and water to each pack...then ive just iced them and put nice candles and sprinkles or something similar on top.

Pink.

Hi MissOptimistic,

These earlier threads have lots of ideas that may help:

Party games and food for a 5 year old

childrens birthday party ideas food etc

Food for a 4th birthday party...

Birthday Party

Old style birthday party:)

Pink

purpleheather2810

Hi MissOptimistic! You've had some good feedback already but here are my ideas to throw in the pot:

Party bags/going home pressie - I too hate the bags of cheap plastic tat. I have given "book people" books instead. One year I got paper lunch bags from home bargains and they each decorated their own as a party activity. I then filled them with a bottle of bubbles, birthday cake, glittery pencil, sweets etc. I like the idea of individual cupcakes wrapped in cellophane too. This would be cheap to do.

Birthday cake - I suggest tray bake decorated with smarties, jelly tots etc - cheap and easy and will go a long way.

Activities - I like to have a choice of activities, something physical such as balls in a paddling pool, ride on toys or whatever, plus quieter activities such as crafty things to make and take home, decorating own party bag or party hat, etc. Get hold of a large stereo or ipod speakers and do a little disco for them. Musical statues, bumps, etc will be great fun.

Food - I would do a cold buffet comprising of sandwiches (I normally get the 2 hovis loaves for about €1 from farmfoods for this purpose, because I hate cheapo bread and we eat the leftovers for our tea!!) normally ham, jam or cheese. Sausage/cheese rolls - get a bag of frozen ones and cook yourself - dirt cheap and yummy. Pizza - I do meaty and cheesey options and cut into squares not wedges (it goes further this way). Crisps, breadsticks, slices of tomato/cucumber. Cakes - I tend to do flapjack (cheap filler), some fairy cakes, and biscuits. I try to make a fair bit of this from scratch but obviously it depends how much time you have...

Hope this helps! Have a fab party!

M.E.

We had planned an outdoor party (July) when our daughter was 5 but it rained. The girls quickly found large boxes in the garage, one each and almost spent the whole time playing inside their "own" box... jack-in-the-box, pass the parcel etc. We also played musical chairs... using the boxes rather than chairs!
I also had made each girl an individual biscuit-tin with sandwiches, yoghurt, biscuits, fruit, cake etc. Drinks were plastic cups with lids, each named with a sticky label. You could buy lunch boxes and drinks container so they could take them home as part of their party bag.
All in all it was an excellent party and cost next to nothing.
The cups were more like drinks containers and the girls took them home. Several mums commented how good the drinks containers were and how they were "treasured" by their daughter. I think they were £1 each.
I did make a cake and some chose to take that home in their biscuit tin.

jayward

hi,thinking of a cake buns iced with a letter on each bun ,happy birthday and name of your daughter. some great ideas already .
good luck

MissOptimistic

Wow! -Thank you everyone for your great input - loads of great ideas there. I will re-post after the event to say how it all turned out.