4 year old girl at home Birthday party ideas

lush_walrus

Our youngest daughter is about to turn 4 and as we are having her party the Sunday before Christmas for the first time ever we are thinking of having a child's birthday party at home. So we are looking for any inspiration... we have a very big garden so if the weather is ok we can use that for games. We have a big bouncy castle so if it's dry and the kids are brace they can play on that. We have arranged for Father Christmas to drop in too...

It sounds silly but as we have always hired places and people for birthdays as have friends we have no idea what to do with them at home! We are open to any ideas..

FBaby

How many are you planning on having? How many adults to help? Any with childcare/teaching experience?

My advice would be to plan every minute of it as it can get quite messy. If you are considering using the garden, make sure you still have a very clear plan if it isn't.

I would suggest a 2 hours party. Expect that all will arrive within 15 minutes of each other, so make sure you have an adult to arrange getting them in and already involved in some entertainment whilst another adults deals with the parents, taking phone numbers, agreeing times for pick up ect... it can get quite mad from the start, so make sure you have an activity arrange that they can all join in as they come in. Put the presents aside. You child won't appreciate them if they rush to open them as they get all excited to see their friends. It will also be difficult to keep track of who has offered what. You can either open presents after the children are gone, or do it towards the end as part of the activities, but if you do be prepared that whereas some kids love to see others open their presents, some don't at all.

When they are all in, take your big voice to get them to listen and explain what activity you are going to do. Pass the parcel is always popular, so I would do quite a few rounds of it (making sure each of them have a chance to get a present). If you have enough adults, you can divide yourself and offer two activities depending on the number of children. Then warn them when food is going to be ready. I would make sure they are all seating down, no getting up (unless toilets etc...) and the adults distribute. Make this time last, kids love eating, especially when it is all their favourites. Then do the singing, cutting the cakes etc...

Lastly, have them have more free play time (and be prepared for more chaos at this point. Have all your party bags ready at the door, and again, have one adult to arrange the pick-ups whilst the others continue with activities/manage behaviours.

When they are gone, tell yourself you will never ever do it again, until your darling says thank you with a big twinkle in their eyes and you feel you are the best mum on the planet!

Spendless

I'd get your invites out and chase up replies asap. My friend, both her boys have December birthdays, one early December, where they wasn't too much of a problem, the other is a few days before Christmas and the later the date she held his party and the later in the day it was, the more she had people messing her about, no-shows and no replies. I know this is an occupational hazard with birthdays, I've had it with my March born kids, but my friend used to get an even worse scenario for her son.

bellaboo86

How about games such as pass the parcel, musical chairs and pin the carrot on the snow man? Children still enjoy these. A personal fave is dead fishes where they have to lie quietly and not move, if they move they're out.

LannieDuck

If it's a 4 yo's party, the parents will almost certainly stay. Offers of teas/coffee will be gratefully received!

Also, we've just received an invite for a 4yo's party on xmas eve. Sensible to get them out early at the time of year because many people will be making arrangements for the festive period atm.

Knightsuntold

If you do go for a bouncy castle, get some insurance, just in case the unthinkable happens, and someone gets hurt. For us, it wasn't the children, it was an adult who was playing on it when the kids had gone home! I'd even go as far to deflate it, as you're serving the food - you don't want trifle all over, or an over-excited, overfull child bouncing on it, with potentially scary consequences. The other problem that you may have at this time of year, is people dumping their kids and doing a bit of last minute shopping, especially if they see a lot of adults there - we call them the 'you don't mind, do you's'. Get a whistle to call attention, as it can be really noisy, and have a breakout space - somewhere quiet where someone can go if it all gets too much, or if they feel poorly.

Put a time limit on it - for little ones of that age, I'd suggest around two hours, and if any adults do escape, make sure you have a contact number for them. The last one I helped at, a couple left their daughter for five hours, while they did some shopping, and went for a meal.

Jamiesmum

First half hour disco lights/dancing and music for as the kids and parents arrive, or if you're outside bubble machines! Dunelm currently have these great disco lights for £4 just replace your living room bulbs with them. They're really bright.
Then how about hiring a magician for an half hour show? Then after that whilst their all sitting you can quickly swap to pass the parcel or musical chairs. Soon after that I guess it's time for food and cake. Then the party is over.

2 hours flys by you can fill it easily with enough 3 activities and eating.

A visit from santa is a great idea but is santa going to bringing all the kids a gift? Or whats the plan for when he arrives? Will they all get an individual chat with him?

tyllwyd

A lot of 4 year olds love art activities - you would need someone supervising, but if you put out pencils, some pictures to colour in and maybe a glue stick and shapes to stick on, at least some of your guests will be quietly occupied.


I've always been surprised at kids parties how long food can take and they do like to play a little bit afterwards - don't serve it too late. And have a plan for the cake that makes sure you keep candles/matches/knife well out of the way of small children, it's so easy to get distracted!


Oh, and have a think about the food - my dd loved sausages so I had sausages, sausage rolls, ham sandwiches, but one mum dropped her child off and as she left said 'by the way, she mustn't have pork' - I was then in a panic hovering over the little girl trying to keep her away from the sausage rolls. It was stupid of me not to have asked beforehand, so definitely include something on the invitation just in case!

Cash-Cows

My advice. Just don't.

When_the_going_gets_tough

1. Dont have too many children
2. Prepare lots of party games - dead lions, musical statues whats the time mr wolf, pass the parcel - with forfeits and sweet in each layer.
3. Finger Food on party plates ready set up.
4. Dont let parents stay
5. 2 hours and make sure parents know to collect at the end.
6. Little party bags with the minimum you can get away with.
it can be great funa nd you dont need lots of professional entertainers etc. Just amuse them with games and dancing. Its all thats needed.!
My children are grown up now but this was the norm when they were little.

rach_k

I would skip the Father Christmas visit. I've known quite a few people with birthdays close to Christmas and every one of them has disliked how they don't get a 'proper' birthday like everybody else because everybody lumps it together with Christmas. Of course, your family may do it differently but I think most families try to keep them completely separate. Just make it a normal birthday party.