Childrens Birthday Party - questions & ideas (merged)

mummysaver

How about a bouncy castle if you have enough room, or someone into do games/magic - usually about £40 round here, as you only need them for about an hour, otherwise be very organised and have a list of games, music and player at the ready and small prizes like bubbles/little sweets handy.

Games like musical bumps and statues, sleeping lions to calm things down before tea, dancing competitions, pass the balloon between your knees without using your hands, and good old pass the parcel entertain children this age, don't try anything too complicated! For dd3's 4th birthday last year I threw everyone outside (fenced field around hall), I'd put out balls, a foam hopscotch, hoops and a very cheap but very popular bubble machine (I think it was £5.00 in Tesco), they amused themselves basically, and just needed supervising.

Try Poundland or similar for packs of white plates and cups, and put out white paper tableclothes with decorated birthday wrapping paper over the top - sprinkle a few stars and streamers on the table and it'll look great. As for decorating the hall a few banners and lots of balloons - the balloons can also be given away at the end (otherwise you may find that your child wants to take them all home!)

Food needs to be simple, a few sandwiches, some pizza slices (Tesco value pizza is okay and it's only 49p - if they're only having a bite it doesn't matter), perhaps a few chicken nuggets, some crisps (would suggest avoiding Wotsits as these seem to drive most children mad!), some grapes and perhaps some carrot sticks, then later bring out a few fairy cakes, I buy the cheapie ones in Tesco and put pink or chocolate icing on the top and a smartie (your son may enjoy "helping" with these too!). I usually bring out some biscuits too - chocolate fingers are always popular. Then it's time for the cake - so long as there are candles everyone's happy!

It's helpful if you have someone to cut and wrap the cake straight away if you are sending it home in the party bags. Otherwise you could put a slice of a different cake in the bag so that they are ready before you leave home!

Woolworths do little mixed bits for party bags - whistles, tops, etc, and Poundland (again!) have lots of hair bits which can be separated and put in bags for girls. A couple of bits in each bag, plus a pencil, a few sweets and piece of cake and a balloon are more than enough for a party bag.

Remember to have a large bottle of wine waiting at home and lots of rubbish bags to clear up!

minhinij

Bennifred wrote:

How about ten-pin bowling? My boys all love this.

Our son's was 7 right after Xmas so we wanted to do something nice that didn't cost the earth.

We took a couple of his friends bowling (at Megabowl) but did it on a Saturday before 12am - under the 'Family hour*' offer £20 for 6 of us (*one player had to be under 16) - then took them all for a pizza and a run around in the park afterwards cost total of £40

manpower_2

I have yet again looked on my old favourite site [http://www.kidzango.com/pm/138 and they have lots of birthday party ideas as well as a 10% off any "min minors" party http://www.kidzango.com/pm/49/dataID10493 booked before Valentines day (party can be at any time of the year you just need to book by then)

Hope this helps you money savers have a wicked party for the kids, i am trying the Rainforest Cafe one in April for my 11 year old. They get to go on the managers table and get a whole load of goodies too!

jap200

Just thought that I would add a link here to an American website where very dutiful American 'Moms' or Dads write very detailed descriptions of the wonderful parties that they have run for their little darlings.

http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/party_ideas.html

Actually, joking aside, it is an excellent site, catagorised by 'theme' and full of really good ideas.

I used this site last year to gather loads of ideas for my 7 year old's Harry Potter party. It look loads of organising, but was worth every minute. It is still talked about by his friends (and their parents).

I made invitations using the wording of the letter that Harry receives offering him a place at Hogwarts (I aged the paper with cold tea and sealed the envelopes with real sealing wax)

We hired our small village hall (£12/day)
We hung lengths of lining wallpaper over the double doors into the hall. We had previously used a big sponge to print 'bricks' with brown paint.
We had a sign above: 'Platform 9 3/4'

The adults were dressed as characters: Professor McGonnagal, Snape, Hagrid etc. (with some cheap wigs and fake beard for Hagrid) - all the costumes were made of stuff found in charity shops

All the adults were outside before the party started, greeting the children. When they had all arrived, they all ran at the 'wall', bursting through - they loved this bit!

Once inside they had to search for gold galleons (choc. money) in Gringots bank vault (i.e. under they crawled around under tables covered with dark blankets.

They used their coins to 'buy' a cape and wand in 'Diagon Alley'. The capes were large rectangles of black weed-supressing fabric, really cheap and lightweight from gargen centres (and Wilko), which were attached around their shoulders with a safety pin.
The wands were twigs from the garden, sprayed with bronze car spray (very effective!).

They then had to put on the 'sorting hat' (a squashed old witches hat) and close their eyes while they selected a badge with one of the 4 house crests on - this put them into 4 teams.

They had a 'Broomstick flying lesson', in teams (using brooms I made from sticks and twigs - which unfortunately fell apart!) and them played 'Quiditch' in their teams, which involved 'flying' on their broomsticks from one end of the room to the other, with a balloon under their necks and then trying to throw the balloon through a hoop suspended from the ceiling.

The best part of the whole party was the 'Potion lesson' from Professor Snape (my husband!). We had spent a fun few hours beforehand putting strange looking foods into jam jars and labelling them with silly names (blood worms for tinned spagetti etc.) The potion lesson involved mixing stuff together and getting the kids to taste it. He also did a bit of 'Kitchen Chemistry' using lemon juice and vinegar to make a frothing potion ('hair restorer' which he drank (or pretended to). He then 'feinted' under the table and re-appeared wearing a long dark wig!!

Another game 'Defense against the dark arts' involved each team wrapping one team member in toilet roll (can't remember the details of why).

There were other games too, but this post is getting a bit long!

The team element of the games worked a treat as the children co-operated well and we threatened to dock team points for 'improper use of wands' - i.e. fighting with them.

The food was stuff with silly wizard names - like cocktail sausages with a slice of almond stuck in the end was called 'witches fingers'.

Party bags contained a home-made 'graduation certificate' and a few jelly beans in celophane bags with labels on saying 'Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans'

I took a group photo of all the kids (and adults) dressed in their capes and wands outside 'Platform 9 3/4' For thankyou notes we stuck copies of these photos onto card and my son hand-wrote his thankyous on the bottom.

Needless to say, we were exhaused at the end, but it was certainly a party we will never forget. We have even had mini 'parties' of friends just to watch the video of it and laugh all over again!

Back to the MSE point
The party cost about £80 (food, costumes, hall hire, everything) for 12 children. However, it did 'cost' two full days of preparation - time which was hard to find (I have three young children), but, as I have said, it will never be forgotton.

My middle son wants a StarWars party this year. I have already bought lengths of pipe insulation from B & Q for lightsabres.........................

Counting_Pennies_2

Hi all,

I know at this age party games are incredibly limited, but I am looking for something other than pass the parcel.

My friend did a fantastic 2nd birthday party with pass the parcel, and I don't want to be seen to be copying.

Any ideas?

twink

https://www.netmums.com has a lot of info on childrens parties, blowing bubbles is one idea they have that might be fun or make fairy cakes and have a selection of toppings so that they can decorate their own fairy cake

across

i think musical bumps is easier than musical statues as its hard for a two year old to understand and actually keep still!!!!! with bumps they soon pick it up watching the others!
pin the donkeys tail i got a unicorn version for about 99p at toys ru us and used that when my first little girl was two at home party!
i would still do pass the parcel they always love it and no one would think you were copying we always put a mini bar or mini packet of sweets in between every wrapper so they all get a little something!
have a great time!

monaco_2

Children at this age like to do their own thing but also like to repeat things. I would suggest that you do do 'traditional' party games, inlcuding pass the parcel, musical chairs, musical statues etc. I doubt that your friend would see it as copying - its been going on for years! The children who were at that party would enjoy the games, as they are learning and improving on them each time and will feel much more comfirtable.

I would suggest leaving a number of activities out for the children to do as they please and supply food as a buffet (but don't put the cakes out at the beginning or, like my son, they may have cakes only).

I would also recommend feeding the parents - I've spent many a party starving!!!!

Mainly, just chill. If you left the children in an empty room, they'd enjoy themselves!

loopylass

hi

musical statues
pin the tail on the donkey(i used blue tak on the tail its much safer and instead of blindfold just close their eyes and turn them around once
musical chairs if you dont want to use chairs then use cushions
if its nice do running races then the children who win run against each other until you get a winner
or another one if its out side is treasure hunt hide sweets or suitable items in your garden each child has a little bag and let them try to find them or if you want to do it so the children get one item each put little toys sweets in a bag or pillowcase suitable for boys and girls and hide pingpong balls in your garden and say once they have found one bring it to you then they get to have a lucky dip you could also wrap up each item so its more exciting for them because they wont know what they have got until they open it
thats all i can think of at the moment
hope this helps

and children love balloons so even if they were in the garden playing with them
or put one in a party bag(if your doing them )

bobsa1

DD will be nine in March. She wants an at home party as she thinks this will be "cooler"

We will be having approx 12 nine year olds to the house :eek:

The current plan is to have music on when they arrive and a bit of girly get together, followed by Pizza making and DVD watching.

Please could anyone tell me the best place to get pizza bases and topping, what other food I should serve and if you think this will be okay as a party.

It is DD's idea but I really want it to be nice for her.

I plan to put up banners and balloons in one room and serve ice cream with lots of topping for dessert (bit like pizza hut)

I thought party should last approx 2.5hrs, what does everyone think!!

I'm getting in a real tiz about this.