Childrens Birthday Party - questions & ideas (merged)

Bettypink123

We had a 1st birthday party for my son last year so mainly adults & some family kids were there, we came up with game to suit all & the adults were pre warned on the invite that they were expected to take part!

Pass the parcel - we had a small circle of kids in the middle with their own parcel and the adults in a cirlcle around them. The adult parcel's had forfeits between each layer & the kids loved watching the adults do animal noises or hop on one leg singing nursery rhymes.

Musical islands - we put double sheets of newspaper on the floor & when the music stops anyone not standing on paper is out. You can tear the paper in half as the game progresses to make it harder.

Prop relay - we had 5 teams of 5 stand in a line & the 1st person from each team had to run forward and put on a scarf, hat & gloves then run back & tag the 2nd person. The 2nd person then had to run forward & apply a lipstick, the 3rd had to blow up a baloon, the 4th drink a cup of water & the 5th person had to eat 5 dry cream crackers. The 1st team to finish & blow their whistle won a lollypop each. You would be suprised how competitive & childish your parents/grandparents become with this game!

Musical chairs - bog standard game but good fun. Watch the adults wrestle with their conscience as they decide whether to win or let the kids win!

All of these games were cheap to do & I asked each of my aunts & our parents to bring some specific food which they were more than happy to do. The whole party for 50 people including hall hire cost £100 & was a fab day with a great video at laugh at for years to come.:rotfl:

Mrs7ones

Hi
I just wanted to share with you what we did for DS's 8th b'day party. Previously, we've done all the play area/bowling/swimming/etc parties, and tbh, DS wasn't bothered about anything like that this year, so we threw him a Wii party.
He had just his 3 best friends round for the afternoon (most Wii games only accommodate 4 players), and DH organised them playing on the Wii. And I mean 'organised'. He decied what games they played, and for how long... they were all short, fast, hyper games (like Wii sports, Ravin Rabbids, Mario Kart, Wii party... all the fun stuff) and he awarded a medal for the winner of each game. (we bought a pack of plastic medals from Toys R Us - 50 medals for about £5)... By the time they went home, the kids were weighted down by all the medals they'd won, and one lad cried when his mum came for him cos he didn't want to leave. They had a party tea and cheap party bag to go home with, and I had reports that the medals were warn for days afterwards!!!!!!!
DS said it was his best party ever and that his dad was 'the best'!!!! And best of all, it didn't cost anywhere near what his previous parties had cost.

pammyj74

hi all, looking for ideas for my 8 yr old dd, her friends have already had the 'makeup' parties etc and we have already done bowling/play area etc. looking for a new idea really
Did think of maybe doing cinema and macd after but just using your brains if there are any new and unusual ideas?
She does like drama and dance but not sure my budget could stretch past about £60 all in. I had told her we werent having a big party this year maybe 3 or 4 friends.
Dont really want to have it at home, cant be doing with the stress!

hollyg_2

I have a soon to be 9 year old daughter who wants a party at the "Build a Bear Workshop". Prices start from £8 a head and for that, each child receives a little bear...and that's about it, food to be provided by parents at a later stage at a different venue.

Has anyone ever had/been to one of these parties and are they good value? We have had used up every novelty party at home for the last eight years and thought we would have a splurge for once.

furryfriendsparties

Has anyone tried Bear making parties at home.
they are great fun, you order which bears you want and they come with everything you need just add food and cake. comes with invitations, stuffing, satin star, birth certificates,carry home bag so no need for a goody bag, full instructions balloon on a stick etc. also have done a party for peter andre which is on tv on thursday 12 november 2009 itv2 9pm , have a look on google bear making parties

savingqueen

hollyg wrote: »

I have a soon to be 9 year old daughter who wants a party at the "Build a Bear Workshop". Prices start from £8 a head and for that, each child receives a little bear...and that's about it, food to be provided by parents at a later stage at a different venue.

Has anyone ever had/been to one of these parties and are they good value? We have had used up every novelty party at home for the last eight years and thought we would have a splurge for once.

I went to a Build a Bear party about a year ago and it was the worst "party" ever. It wasn't a party at all. The "party" was held in the shop itsealf (not a separate room or even separate area of the shop floor) and each party guest had to stand and wait for their turn to choose a bear, then have it stuffed, had a silly heart thing sewn inside (which the kids can't see after) and choose a little Tshirt/top for it. There is absolutely nothing else for the children to do while they are waiting, not even any music so its very boring. They either sit bored, run around the shop while harrassed parents try to calm them down or look at all the very expensive outfits on display which of course don't come free with their party bear. The children don't get to interact with each other, no games, no food or drinks obviously allowed, no party atmosphere are all. TERRIBLE!!!!

The only positive thing is the bear was nice and is actually one of my 5 year old (soft toy mad)'s favourites. But you can just buy the bears yourself in the shop so what is the point of a so-called party? Obviously I told my friend the party was great as I didn't want to upset her, she did look disappointed herself.

babyella

Hi
My daughter will be 5 in July and so far we have always had small birthday tea type parties at home with just family invited, but this year she wants to invite the whole class from school so we are looking at church hall type venues. orginally we thought of getting a clown/magician type entertainer, but after quotes of up to £150 per hour :eek:
we are now rethinking the entertainment!!
i dont think i could cope entertaining 40 kids for 2 hours myself, so i think a bouncy castle might be the back up plan.
i read on here that HSS hires out bouncy castles for £25 per day, does anyone know if this is still the case and if so do you have a link? as i cant find anything when i google it.
many thanks

lindos90

Baby Ella, supervising and entertaining 40 is a big task and responsibility without an entertainer, and things could get out of hand if not really well organised, will you be asking some of the parents to stay and lend a hand?

Bouncy Castles are brill, but could be very unsafe with 40 kids attempting to use it at the same time, you would need other activities going on too, so they could go on in smaller groups.

My son was invited to a party at preschool, where the parents had invited everyone who went to preschool, they did a little disco, (without a DJ though, which kept the price down) they reorded lots of songs (amarillo and the like) and played them on a portable hi fi, also had a bubble machine.

The music was also used for some 'organised' activities like musical statues, pass the parcel and musical chairs.

If its a summer party and there is safe space outdoors, then you could consider doing a disco outdoors, ballons or bunting hung in trees or along fences, party food could be 'picnic'style.

Rather you than me, hope she enjoys her party what ever you decide.

My son has a birthday in August, so he has always enjoys a party in the garden (much to my other two childrens fustration, as they are march and november kids) We usually aim for between 6 and 10 including him, (the older he has got, the smaller the number, so I feel I can supervise them safely)

...last time he had a 'water fun' theme...bring your own water guns, target practice, tag teams, highest water bomb against the wall, fishing in a paddling pool, and one of those flat water slide things. Everyone got very wet, but it was great, could not have coped with 40 though:o

Mummy3Monkeys

I had a superhero birthday party for my 5 year old in November and thought I would share some of the things we did (since we "borrowed" a lot of the ideas from other party sites!)

His invitation was a photograph of him with a superhero cape on, his batman t-shirt hanging off a tree in the local woods. It said "Calling all superheros. Someone has stolen xxxx's birthday cake and we need your help to find it!" - we had the venue details and party times and asked that everyone rsvp's before a certain date so that their superhero kit could be prepared (this was still too much effort for many parents though :rolleyes:)

When they arrived they were each given a superhero cape I had made on the sewing machine & a mask we purchased from Baker Ross for them to decorate themselves while we waited for everyone to arrive.

Once everyone was there we did the following games -

Superman warm up (dancing to superman :rotfl:)

Magnificent minds (guess the amount of sweeties in the jar)

Pin the mask on super xxxx (blown up picture of my son, and a ready decorated mask to pin on)

Muscle Man (split into 4 teams, 1 person has a large t-shirt on the rest has to stuff his t-shirt as full of balloons as possible in a short space of time)

Pass the Kryptonite (pass the parcel)

But by far the most popular game (played 7 times) was Alien Rescue - bucket full of ping-pong balls with faces drawn on them. Throw them in the air and get everyone to "rescue" them - lots and lots of fun :rotfl:

At the very end we had a "parade of superheros" where each child was given a certificate for taking part in the superhero training.

We also had a bouncy castle and a little soft play area included in the hall hire (£54 for 3 hours) and the whole thing worked out cost effective - we didn't have party bags as each child kept their cape, mask and certificate.

Hope this helps someone out - we spent hours researching it all!

Edited to add - the capes in total cost £10 for 32 - I got cheap satin from hobbycraft and lined them all with an old bed sheet.

Mummy3Monkeys

babyella wrote: »

Hi
My daughter will be 5 in July and so far we have always had small birthday tea type parties at home with just family invited, but this year she wants to invite the whole class from school so we are looking at church hall type venues. orginally we thought of getting a clown/magician type entertainer, but after quotes of up to £150 per hour :eek:
we are now rethinking the entertainment!!
i dont think i could cope entertaining 40 kids for 2 hours myself, so i think a bouncy castle might be the back up plan.
i read on here that HSS hires out bouncy castles for £25 per day, does anyone know if this is still the case and if so do you have a link? as i cant find anything when i google it.
many thanks

I would say 40 is too many for a bouncy castle - we had 32 at our sons party and we had to limit the children to 8 at a time. It caused a lot of arguements and we deflated it when there wasn't an adult available to supervise as it did get a bit rough. The castle was included in the hall hire we had, I would have been disappointed if I had hired it as it was more hassle that it was worth.

I personally wouldn't have such a big party again. My son loved it, but he didn't play with half the children there and now couldn't tell you who went to his party aside from his best friend. We have always had small parties in the past, and I'll stick to that for his future parties and his brothers parties.

With the 32 children we had 12 adults helping and it still wasn't enough to be honest - they are quick at hiding from you and are great at tag-teaming mis-behaving!