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

MERFE

I must be mad lol I'm really excited and looking forward to my DS number 5 birthday in half term. I know alot of the children who are coming already - next door, friends kids, older DD friends who are often round, then there are about 6 friends from school 1-2 of which are deffinately energetic boys. We have new sofas being delivered on thursday as well. I'm doing a dinosaur theme, I've booked a dinosaur bouncy castle £50 for 9-6pm, party is 12-2 so hopefully this will keep my 2 out my way whilst I make the sarnies etc. So there is bouncing about - food and I'll do one pass the parcel game and then it'll be time to sing happy birthday, get their party bags and go home. Fingers crossed for nice weather so everything can be outside - the bouncy castle should be fine as it has a cover but I'm hoping to put a table with the food outside too so its far far away from my new sofas lol

I did my DD a painting party at home and she had 4 friends round and they painted some fairy statues then had some food, danced around and then a game of pass the parcel and hometime. They were all really well behaved but their girls. DD has also had and been to many soft play parties and the kids love them but I'm bored of them now.

SparklyClean

We had my DD s 4th birthday party at home and it was great, luckily we have a conservatry (sp?) so put them in there, i think she had about 5 little girls round, I did chicken nuggets and smilies and biscuits and cakes, and did pass the parcel, musical statues etc, but to be honest they were most happy with the bubble machine on and party music, I think I did pencils, notebooks and the like in the party bags.

THis year was a playbarn and it was awful, think the kids enjoyed it, but badly behaved children (not in our party) kept me on edge the whole time! It was Wacky Wharehouse and the staff were brilliant.
I think it just depends on the children that will be attending the party, and if you don't mind clearing up the mess at home,
Hope you have a lovely party whatever you decide!

WestonDave

We did 4 year old parties for both our boys - the formula we decided on for the first (and then blatantly copied for the second) was to start with a craft type activity. Eldest had a space themed party so we had them all making rockets out of toilet roll tubes - its amazing what a bit of shiny plastic film and a load of stickers can do. Youngest was mad on Octonauts (off the telly) so we collected a load of Ferrero Rocher boxes (clear plastic - yes someone had to eat the chocolates but its fair game after a kids party!) and got a load of sea themed stickers, made some sea weed out of green tissue paper and left them to stick the stickers over it to make fish tanks. Again it takes a surprising length of time for them to get it just right - how they want it!

After that we had a few token games which generally involve everyone winning something. Tesco's do packs of winners medals for pretty cheap so you can do musical bumps/chairs/statues a few times so people win, then have a silly dance competition to music. Pass the parcel is tricky but if you put something token in each layer they tend to participate fairly well until the end - do not put sweets in as they lose interest to struggle to open them. (We found some little squirty goldfish for the last one we did - which coincidentally we just the right size for their fish tanks!).

By this point we were around ten minutes from food time so we sat them all in a circle and read a couple of stories from new books (which the birthday boy got to keep as extra presents). Most kids will sit and listen to a story or two and it helps calm them down before food time.

By the time they've finished their food and done the cake etc parents are starting to arrive to take them home.

Certainly with the most recent one there were some kids that would be described as a bit challenging (not in a nasty way but just unsettled in a strange house) but they all were OK within reason - not as well behaved as maybe we'd like but not swinging off the curtains either.

A couple of other tips.

1. Keep it short - we aimed for an hour and a half including food. That is plenty for kids of that age.
2. Make it clear that parents are welcome to stay with their kids - many will want to if their kids aren't used to be in "strangers" homes, and it gives you extra helpers.

Obviously there are the soft play type things but whilst they are easy sometimes the kids all go off on their own and its not really a party as such. It all depends on the time and energy (and money) you are able to put in. I wouldn't say do or don't do your own party, just hoping to give some pointers to how they can work.

shy-but-need-help

I've just done a "pirate party" for my one year old (well the theme was more for our older kids and the fact they call her Violet the Pirate or just Pirate - worryingly she does respond to Pirate) and I have to agree moving it to a location other than your house is alot less stress, we have five kids, I tend to do first birthday at home and then when they get friends to invite we have outside the home parties.

I've actually found the cost is about the same- by the time I've bought food, paper plates, decorated, drinks and so forth it usually has cost me what it would paying X per child at an indoor playcentre or cinema.

Anyway for things like time I say aim for around meal times- there's nothing worse than a party between meal times because parents don't know whether to feed their child before it and have them not wanting to eat or hold off feeding their kids and you've got a room full of kids who want to do nothing until they've eaten. At age 4 I'd say 1.5 to 2 hours is probably long enough.

Have spare clothes ready for when someone wees themselves (every age 4 party I've hosted it's happened) so it's not a big hoo-haa trying to find them something to wear.

Make party bags up in advance so you're not missing out on everything whilst trying to fill them

If you do decide to have a party away from home don't make it too far from the locality of the school/nursery they know their friends from as some parents will rely on buses and walking and may not have access to a car. If it's too rural then you may end up with a low turn out if people can't get there easily.

Stick balloons up- don't leave them around the floor as at least one of the 4 year olds will go absolutely hysterical if/when they get burst on the ground.

Hit the 99p shop and buy cheap sports bottles, write names on them in sharpie and serve drinks in those or you'll be mopping up pop every 2 minutes.

Draft in every bit of family/friends you can to help out!

Ask in advance for any food allergies/dietary choices- we had one lad dropped at oldest daughters party and his mom announced "ohh, by the way he's severely allergic to nuts but he has his epi-pen, bye!" and was gone before we could get a word out... thankfully he did know what he could/couldn't eat (he was seven) but advance warning would have been nice! (also had one vegan guest at ds1's 6th birthday who kept loading her plate with sausage rolls and chicken everytime she was left unassisted)

Dazi

if you do pass the parcel, make sure there is a little something under each layer (bite size sweet etc) make sure each child gets one!

dead fishes or sleeping lions - very good game for calming them down.

All kids whatever age like dancing around, make cd/mp3 up with party dances and teach them the moves. Can also re-do it later to see who has remembered the moves. Can give out prizes during both runs.

Party bags....hmmm was never a great fan but they have always been expected..l I mean when your child comes home with plastic whistles, nasty plastic bracelets what do you do? hm yes bin them, I agree they are expected but given the time again I would not do them and s0d the mums who want to look in the plastic bag and see how much you spent! rather spend it on the party.

Not saying its best to have one at home, but it can be done, I used to hire a hall and have an at home party in the hall, lots of room for them to run riot but not as expensive as having it at a kiddie venue.

Grab grannies, aunts and uncles to help, my BIL who didn't have children at the time turned into the best party entertainer ever!

Have a great time whatever you decide xx

balletshoes

I did a party at home when my DD was older (I think it was her 7th birthday). Only 6 girls, it was fine, but even at that age, 2 hours of party time was more than enough!

Age 5 she invited around 10 friends to a soft playcentre and it was great - it was such a big place that the kids ran about daft and didn't get in anyone else's way etc so the parents could relax too. The food and drinks provided there was typical party food, and they got a pretty good party bag provided too (different ones for boys and girls). With kids age 4 or 5 I preferred the softplay option over a party at home .

emsywoo123

Dazi wrote: »

if you do pass the parcel, make sure there is a little something under each layer (bite size sweet etc) make sure each child gets one!

One of the most stressful 3 minutes of my life :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Have a friend/relative with you to keep track of who has had a turn or not, as pressing play/pause, remembering names, how many layers you have....sounds so simple reading on a screen, trust me, you're frazzled, gone slightly deaf, thinking about the next game :eek: :eek: :eek: Lord Above.

Becles

I did DIY parties but hired the local community room rather than have it in the house.

Mine were a bit older but silly games go down best, especially if adults join in as they find it hilarious.

I put a forfeit on each layer of pass the parcel with an action, impression, sing a nursery rhyme etc.

Mummy game - each team has to wrap one of their team up in cheap toilet paper.

Split into teams and pass a tennis ball between each person without using your hands.

Tie a pencil on a string round their waist and the have to squat down and get the pencil in a bottle just behind them. Lots of giggles with that one.

Bake loads of tiny food, like small fairy cakes, mini muffins, tiny quiches in a bun tin and so on. That goes down better than big quiches, cakes etc.

They go to so many manufactured parties these days, I think it's a novelty when they get invited to a home made party.

Alikay

We also did the soft-play party for our littlies. At 4 their mums or dads may decide to stay too, so we opened a "tab" at the cafe area so we could get them a coffee while they waited. Main advantage was that it saved us having that churning stomach "other people's kids are such a responsibility" feeling and we were all done and dusted in 2 hours. The kids had a great time, the food was surprisingly good and plentiful, and we thought it was reasonable value at £8 or £9 a head.

Parties at home are great when they're about 7 and can understand and join in party games but most 4 year olds just want to run around squealing like mad things!

zoesmummy_2006

i did a party for my daughter last month when she turned 5, and after her 4th and my sons 2nd at home last year i swore never again!!!!!!!!! i was up preparing food etc from 6 am, then had to sort the kids and get myself dressed, entertain everyone and keep an eye on them but they were upstairs in kids rooms and outside too-it was rediculous. plus then when everyone had fone i had to tidy up-it was gone 4pm both times by time id sorted.

last month i hired a hall in town, it cost me £20 for 2 hours including use of the kitchen, i spent about £40 on food (sandwiches crisps jellies buns strawberries grapes etc etc!!) and i bought a laser disco light from ebay, borrowed my cousins ipod dock to play music, chucked a load of balloons down on the floor and let them go!!! there were about 25 kids total, some from school and my friends kids and they had a ball. I bought notebooks and pencils, pack of 25 catchable bubbles and some lovehearts to go in the partybags. the kids had a ball, it took next to no tidying up cos it was all confined to one space and my house was standing and tidy when we got back-wont hesitate to do it again lol!!!!!!