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

Counting_Pennies_2

I have done two parties at home, and from then on I have been doing them at play centres, definitely my preferred option!

It costs about £100 and you just take some food along and then you walk away after a quick sweep up.

If you do want to do it at home, I would say stay away from structured activities. You cannot (unless you are a preschool teacher in my opinion) command the attention of so many in one go.

I favour the different stations of activities to do.

Lucky dip (you can give them three 'coins' to use throughout the party to be exchanged for a lucky dip) get them to pop their loot in a bag to become their party bag.

Face painting (ask some mums or relatives if they would be happy to do it)

Pin the tail on a donkey. You can buy kits in supermarkets. Then write the name of each child on the tails, and when they are ready they can have a go.

Nail painting, if mainly girls, a relative, or young neighbour might be willing to come round and help.

Then do a party tea towards the end. Put in some healthy food, but don't expect much of it to go. Cream Cheese, or Jam Sandwiches seem to be the way to go here, some crisps, crudites and then some fairy cakes etc.

Just writing this makes me thankful I have booked a play centre for my DD.

Good luck

Lunar_Eclipse

I think parties at home are perfect for that age group. She will LOVE it.

I think the key is to keep guest numbers appropriate (6 max), keep the party simple but well organised, being led by what your daughter likes doing (musical statues, pass the parcel, crown decorating, bubbles, jelly & ice cream, assault course in the garden, water balloons) and to make sure you are relaxed and enjoy it too.

For my daughter's 4th birthday party at home we arranged for an ice cream van to visit, for pudding. The bubble machine in the garden for dancing at the end was also a huge hit! It's the simple things in life that are best and parties are no exception, particularly for young children.

Avoid the urge to turn it in to a drama!

ETA: keep it short. 1.5 hours if you can, 2 hours max.

Just remembered, for DD1's 4th birthday, also at home, we had a princess ball theme. Activities included getting ready for the ball (nail painting, tiaras, feather boas) and then princessy ball games (spot of dancing). Invites were scrolls and it was a huge hit. It was about 8 years ago shortly after Dsiney released her beloved Cinderella movie! Oh those were the days ...

smithyjules

Our DD turned 4 on xmas eve last year. up until then we always had a tea party/teddy bears picnic. for her 4th we hired the local teaching pool. We had 10 kids £7.95 a head including food. We didn't pay for any adults or any babies who weren't eating the meal. We had a maximum of 25 in the pool so DD had her friends and a few aunts/uncles/one nanny/one great nanny and of course me and dad.

someone else cooked the food we had music on and just us in the pool. Was so much fun and everyone was so relaxed and every single child was reported as sleeping very well that night!

I'm generally a cheapskate but that was the best lumpsum I've ever spent on something for our daughter that was non-essential!

Claire_Bear

Counting_pennies' post reminds me of a conversation I had with my mam recently, we were looking through old photos and came across one of my brother's birthday party when we were little (must have been 6 or 7). She said he invited about 6 of his mates around, they kicked a football around in the street for an hour or so, then had a few snacks, then played on the computer until they were picked up. It was pretty much the same thing they did every day but they said it was the best party ever :rotfl: So you don't have to go crazy organising structured activities and games, just have plenty of stuff to do IYSWIM?

I think that getting little plastic/paper cups is easier than party bags, they're smaller to fill and if you wrap in clingfilm/cellophane they look just as good. A party bag doesn't have to be full of tat, a slice of the birthday cake, a lollipop and one of the little bags of Haribo, a balloon and a pencil would probably do. If you do have games, give the winners a 'token' which they can exchange at the end for a cup/bag - prizes and party favours in one go, just make sure that everyone ends up with something

smithyjules

Oh I can't believe i forgot to mention Hawkins Bizarre for party bag bits! They had so many little bits in there I was in my element! Little rubbery dome popper things that you turn inside out and the pop high up in the air, spinners, bangles for girls, bouncy balls i could go on! And we brought those neon glow stick bracelet thingies from poundland, they all liked those!

somethingsgottogive

I just wanted to mention that if you can't have a party at yours, and you can't afford to spent upwards of £70 for a group of children to run around for half an hour and then be fed cheap, crappy food - you can, in fact, say no to a party

For my daughter's 5th birthday last year we took her and her best friend bowling, and then onto a pirate themed soft play area. She loved it, we didn't spend a fortune on a forgettable event and she's still talking about it now!

barbiedoll

I always dreaded the thought of kiddie parties when my son was small, especially as his birthday is in January and just before payday!
But they always turned out to be great fun, if a little exhausting and looking back at the videos, it's clear that the kids had a whale of a time, despite everything being done "on the cheap".

I only ever had 5 or 6 kids at a time and I always gave the parents a definite finishing time so that I wouldn't be lumbered with the little darlings for too long afterwards. I hate the usual party bag tat but I had a result one year when Woolworths were selling off a load of Hulk and Action Man toys for around £2 each. Everyone got one of those as a prize for one of the games and so the party bags only contained a few sweets and a slice of cake. My husband blew up a load of balloons and the boys had to see who could burst the most, with a prize for the winner. We also had a dancing contest and a singing contest, a joke-telling contest and a pass the parcel round and we made sure that everyone won something. I put a big plastic sheet on the floor so that they could have an indoor picnic and just served sarnies, sausage rolls and the usual party stuff. I don't think that I spent more than £30 and although it was noisy and messy, the memories are priceless!

Primark are good for party bag bits, bracelets, hair scrunchies, pretty socks etc etc are very cheap in there. Discount bookstores are good for cheap books and pens, pencils etc. You don't need to spend a fortune on birthday banners, get a roll of lining paper and get the guests to draw a picture of themselves in their party finery, the results will be hilarious and a great keepsake for your daugter for later on. Same for birthday plates, cups etc, buy cheap plain ones and let the guests decorate them before they eat.

Four year olds don't need entertainers, magicians or whatever, just stick on a Beyonce or Lady GaGa cd and they'll be singing and dancing away and having a great time. And make sure that you have a *drink* yourself, you'll need it! :rotfl::rotfl:

MadDogWoman_2

Hi,

I did a party for my DD 4th birthday in April.

I hired a local church hall, DD decided the theme for the plates etc (Hello Kitty). I invited about 30 children and about 25 arrived.

Food wise:
Ham Sandwiches
Cheese Spread Sandwiches
Jam Sandwiches
Mini Sausages
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Olives
Party Ring Biscuits
Bite size cakes from the supermarket
Hello Kitty Cupcakes
Fruit Shoot H2O to drink.

Parents stayed who were told they could help themselves to the leftovers, they also drank tea or coffee.

I did pass the parcel, with a sweet in each layer, the prize came from the local pound shop as did all the sweets.

Games: Musical bumps, musical statues, running round the room playing with balloons.

Party bags: sweets, pencil, Hello Kitty bobble, a balloon and cake. The boys got stretchy reptiles.

Tebheag

Hi
Would highly recommend using a church hall etc can usally hire them for about £20. And so easy to clean after. Just do simple food crisps sandwiches bit of fruit and salad (carrott and cucumber sticks) and a lovely themed cake that your wee one would love put on music and supply lots of balloons and good dance music as kids all ages love them. The last party i did I used helium filled balloons for decorations cost a £1 each from the shop and just gave each kid one to take home I have told people that i do not do party bags as they are just a waste most of the stuff is just cheap plastic that is thrown in the bin!
It can be hard to gaurantee the weather!! Good Luck

TVA

If you are having a lot of friends I reccommend talking to your local leisure centre. Most of them hire out their gym complete with play equipment and bouncy castle. You get the benefits of no mess at home, instant entertainment etc but you can keep the costs down over wacky warehouse as you can do your own catering. You usually get an hour in the gym then a 'party room' for an hour for the food. You'll need to organise a few games as it won't take them an hour to eat - pass the parcel, musical statues (not chairs at that age - u would have an accident), the mummy game mentioned above. Another good one for home or out is the chocolate game. Big family bar of chocolate and the kids have a minute each to try and eat it with a knife and fork - no fingers. They are a bit young at four but by next year they will love it.

If money isn't an issue there's always a bowling party........