Help! Birthday Party for a 4 year old....

Treacle_2-2

Well, my little madam will be hitting the big no 4 next month and it seems she is now old enough to demand a party!!! This is a big first for me and the thought of it sends me into a hot sweat - sorry to say I have never been a very 'kidsy' person and the thought of a whole pack of them running riot in my home gives me palpitations!! So far, the plan is 1. to be in the garden if it's good weather, and 2. lock our very exciteable dog in a room away from it all! 3. ..... erm....... No 3 seems to hit me with a black haze and I get no further forward?!! If anyone can give me any kind of advice it would be greatly received. Should I go for a theme, any particular party games, goody bag ideas, food ideas even comments on what time would be good to arrange it will all help me no end!!

Many thanks in advance!

CH27

For lack of hassle have you thought about hiring a Wacky Warehouse type place?

**curlywurly**

^^
I agree. I have had two parties at home - age 4 and age 6. Both a nightmare (and i even hired an entertainer for one!) You would not BELIEVE how badly behaved other people's children can be!

The best party my daughter had was at a soft play. They had an hour on the equipment, then went to the party room for food and cake. It was £7 a head. Worked out far cheaper, and FAR less hassle than arranging it at home.

I have a dim view of party bags, I'm afraid. The contents usually end up in the bin. I usually buy a book for each guest, but of course it depends on budget. I look on bookpeople, you can often buy a set of books on there for little more than £1 per book. Book + cake slice gets my vote.

ovoreo

I remember my childhood birthday parties in my parents garden so fondly. Apple bobbing and pass the parcel on a glorious July afternoon. Such happy memories. I remember once going to a friends 'mcdonalds' birthday party and don't remember enjoying myself, infact I think I fell off the train and hurt myself. Well somebody did! haha! Either way you are creating wonderful memories which I am sure your kids will appreciate in the long run however much mess the kids create in an afternoon! Good luck!

jackieblack

Another vote for some kind of playcentre party.

We did all sorts when DD was younger, parties at home, parties at a local hall with an entertainer, softplaycentre parties and when she was a bit older, ten-pin bowling/cinema and pottery painting parties.

With 4 year olds I would definitely consider a local playcentre, although they might seem a bit pricey initially by the time you've bought/prepared the food, bought decorations and stuff to keep them busy plus factored in the extra cleaning/tidying of your home plus jangled nerves it is usually quite good value - at the end of the party you drive home to your clean tidy home and leave all the mess behind!

fosters123

Yep kiddies play centre all the way, did this for my DD's last birthday, took all the hassle out of everything, all we provided was the children and a cake!!

ellay864

Playbarn party is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. You let somewhere else get trashed by other people's little darlings, you let somebody else cook and serve drinks, you let somebody else clear up afterwards. Nothing worse than starting the birthday stuck in a kitchen making sarnies or cooking tons of chicken nuggets, only to end the day picking the remnants out of your carpet/curtains/cat and collapsing in a heap muttering 'never again'

Janepig

We've done the softplay parties too. And also hired a room in a football club and had an entertainer to keep the kids amused. I wouldn't even consider a party at home - I certainly wouldn't let most of the boys in DS's class over the threshold!!

If your DD is in school/nursery, OP, are there any other children with a birthday near to hers who she can share with. Nearly all the parties we've held and been to are shared events which are much easier as you can share the cost (and the stress). Also, with 30 in DD's class and 34 in DS's class, you can imagine how many parties there are in the 6 months that their birthdays cover, so joint parties are a good idea as they impose less on everyone else's free time too!!

JXX

**curlywurly**

ellay864 wrote: »

Nothing worse than starting the birthday stuck in a kitchen making sarnies or cooking tons of chicken nuggets, only to end the day picking the remnants out of your carpet/curtains/cat and collapsing in a heap muttering 'never again'

:rotfl:My thoughts entirely. I, like a poster above, thought it would be lovely to have an old fashioned party at home, alas it rained (mid June), the kids were jumping all over the furniture, were not entertained by pin the tail, sleeping lions, musical chairs, etc, etc. Even pass the parcel turned into an argument of "it's not fair" and one child sat out completely (his mother later told me he has a fear of not winning???????). My arm chair was ruined by a child (normally as nice as pie) jumping all over it and refusing to be told "no". The food (standard party fare) was criticised, several of them ended up going out in the wet garden and refused to come back inside, the prizes I had for the games were not good enough, and one child just kept winning everything!

But perhaps you have to experience it just once ...

go_cat

My Ds was 4 last week and we went to a soft play area - the thought of 10 -15 children plus parents ( as they are too young to be left ) in my house :eek:

I had no hassle, no clearing up, no food prep and the kids absoultely loved it. They did food for them as well

i did do my own party bags tho as the ones they did were a bit rubbish and i did them cheaper with better stuff than they did

rachbc

well we had an old fashioned tea party for dd - just small 6 kids, magical garden themed - with a giant strawberry cake, toadstool cookies and ladybird cupcakes, lasanga for main (dd's fav). They made pine cone bird feeders, played a couple of games and went home with a goodie bag with flowery hair slides and a lush 'glitter bug' ladybird.

For decorations I made some paper garlands and did bunches of red and white balloons - simple!