planning joint 4th birthday party for dd and friend. Help!

[Monroe]

Dd turns 4 in April. It's her friends birthday a few days later. Friends DM and I are looking into having a joint party in the local hall, that way we are able to invite the whole class and their parties won't clash as they would have been held on the same day otherwise.

But I have so many questions so need some advice from some seasoned party planners!

Invites. I'm guessing just one invite with both girls names on, that way it's clear it's a joint party?

What to do for food? I was thinking a cold finger buffet but someone suggested ordering a pizza delivery or having party food boxes. I'm guessing like a happy meal box with a packed lunch inside. Maybe quicker and easier for dishing out and clearing up? Anyone know where we could get the boxes from?

Entertainment wise other dm has suggested booking an entertainer for the party. I've had a few quotes which are around £200 for 2 hours. But considering there will be around 30 children does this sound reasonable?

We haven't talked budget yet only that we will split everything 50/50. I'm a bit worried they are a biy more flush than we are so want to agree a budget up front! We are meeting for a coffee next week to get the ball rolling so want to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. So if I have can you remind me

Sounds good. The food boxes are great and you can theme them to your party. You can get them on Amazon, eBay or any party website.
Don't forget cake (most joint parties I have been to the kids have one each) and party bags.
Have fun.

Yes to joint invite.

Food - personally I'd do sandwiches, sausage rolls, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, biscuits, crisps etc. I haven't used the party boxes myself but I know some people like them. I like www.monsterparties.co.uk - look under accessories for the party boxes. You can get party bags and fillers from there too.

Yes £200 sounds reasonable for the entertainer.

Budget - if it's just hall hire, entertainer, food, balloons and party bags I don't think there's much room for variation - unless she wants to go mad decorating the hall or something. I'd keep the party bags v cheap! The only other thing is food / drinks for any parents who stay. At age 4 I'd expect many parents to stay and some to leave. You can just offer tea and coffee but some people provide nibbles and wine as well.

Personally I'd do everything joint except for the birthday cake - it's nice for each DD to have her own.

Enjoy!

The Middleton's company 'party pieces' does really nice food boxes
www.partypieces.co.uk/party-boxes-food-trays.html I love the car ones if you scroll down!
You may find cheaper on amazon. We used to use these when DC were young, they make the clear up much easier, no faffing while the children select their food from a buffet, just put a variety of food bits in each box and the kids will eat what they like.

Party Pieces are good for the boxes and for party bag things but it can be cheaper to head to a pound shop/Wilkinsons to get those sorts of things and for stuff like themed party tablecovers/decorations etc if you are planning to have those.

How long is the party going to be? Most for that age are around 2 hours in total. If so, you probably only need an entertainer for an hour or so I would have thought, as a fair bit of time will be taken up with people gradually arriving and later on eating and dealing with the cake. So you could book them to start 15 mins after the party starts, say, leaving 3/4 hour at the end for food and cake etc.

Other things we have had which have been really popular are bouncy castles (if you have a really good-sized hall or outside space) and face-painting/glitter tattoos (good ones to do alongside party games or a castle). If you have an entertainer, stop everything else during their session or you will lose children to the other activities .

And if parents are going to be staying, consider at least providing tea/coffee or soft drinks with enough cups for them too. I went to a party a while back where there were only enough cups for the children and I was gasping. Ended up sharing DD's squash. Snacks for adults are always appreciated but not essential so it depends how flush you feel.

I also agree with a cake each but you may want to make sure both cakes are of similar size and quality just so that both girls are equally happy with theirs.

Oooh, thank you so much! Lots I hadn't thought about.

Invites we will put from both of them. I was thinking of printing something off with their pictures on but will run that by other DM first.

I hadn't even thought of decorating the room or the dreaded party bags.

I'll also speak to her about party food / boxes. I'm leaning towards the boxes personally - easier to clean up, no need for extra plates, serving platters etc. but will obviously decide together. Also if we go for the boxes we could maybe just do a couple of platters of extra sandwiches for the adults. There is a small kitchen area with tea and coffee making facilities so we can make sure we bring some along for any remaining adults who I also didn't think of

The room itself is the old scout hut. Not much to look at but cheap as chips and lots of room for rampaging 4 year olds. So decorations wise I personally wouldn't bother with much apart from maybe some party tablecloths.

I was thinking the party would last 2 hours. The couple of entertainers I have spoken to have given prices for both 1.5 hours and 2 hours but tbh there wasn't much difference in price.

Yes to cake! I had also thought seperate but will ask other DM what she has in mind. Don't want to proudly present DD with my lovingly bought made Peppa Pig effort while other DM wheels in some 5 tiered sculpted Great British Bake Off creation putting mine to shame.

Party bags. Choc full of crap or something equally cheap but more parent pleasing?

Thanks again - off to make a list

Sounds good. I have switched to the party boxes for food and find I don't waste as much food so save money. Pound shops great for crisps, pom bears, sweets etc

For party bags, definitely include sweet treats of some sort (by 4, packets of raisins really won't cut it) as that is what the children will look for straight away. Something cheap but vaguely useful/worthy is popular with adults - pens/pencils/notebooks, for example.

The pound shop is good for multi-packs of party bag stuff - things like little boxes of Fairy Snap cards, and they sometimes do 6 or 8 packs of mini colouring pencils/notebooks/colouring books for a pound. Hair grips and bands can be a good idea too as can a couple of temporary tattoos.

Some people just put in one good thing - like a book, say - you could buy multi-packs from The Book People or similar and divide them up but I imagine this goes down better with the parents than the children.

Oh and you could decorate the place with balloons and then send each child home with one of them on a piece of ribbon. Saves having to burst them all at the end.

As to types of sweets for party bags, DD (4) always likes little packets of Haribo or chocolate buttons, or mini-smarties, and you can buy all of them in big bags in the supermarket. Freddo frogs are also good.

Brilliant. I am writing all this down in my list book (yes I am that sad)

Lots of ideas for when I meet other mum. I don't want to bulldoze her with all my thoughts though so will keep the lists out of sight and at least see what ideas she has first. Hopefully we won't be too different in what we want

Not sad at all - love a good list

Bubbles are always popular in party bags.

Have you thought about music and pass the parcel? Tips on ptp are these: gender neutral present in centre wrapped in distinctive paper so you will know you're at the last layer. Enough layers that each child gets a chance to unwrap. Under each layer a mini treat so a wrapped chocolate or similar so everyone gets something. I would also alternate newspaper with wrap so it's clear you've got a layer off (otherwise over enthusiastic participants rip off several layers).

Just been to a party in a hall with an indoor bouncy castle. Fun but chaos. You'll need someone to police it to prevent accidents. It definitely seemed to hold their attention for ever a long time. There was facepainting too but the queue was long and dd had to wait ages, so I think glitter tattoos are more practical because they're faster.

Watching with interest too, currently planning dd and ds joint party. Ds will be 4, so first proper party. I found tesco have a party website with loads of ideas as well.

I'm glad I read this thread as there are some great ideas for DD's 5th birthday. I hadn't even thought of party food boxes but I'm definitely going with that idea.

But how much would you put in the box??? These are 5 and 6 year olds...

Oooh - stepped away from my PC before posting so missed some other good suggestions!!

An alternative idea on pass the parcel!! The children's entertainer that we had last year for DD's 4th birthday had a big (but not too big - the children need to be able to pass it around!) Tupperware box full of small toys/sweets and the children had to pass it around and when it stopped, they could choose something out of the box. So in that way there was no 'winner' at the end but meant that everyone got a nice treat. Also no money wasted on wrapping paper!! If you've got lots of children, the layers can get expensive...

The Curious Caterpillar is a lovely website to get loads of cheap party gear from.

Party bags are easy. Traditional stripey sweet bags or plain bags they can decorate themselves like these from Amazon. Then you can decorate them with crayons or stickers like this from Yellow Moon. They sell crepe paper ribbons and balloons and bunting and everything. Paper plates and cups etc. Don't go mad buying loads of gorgeous stuff because it will all go in the bin, but they're not too badly priced here anyway.

Do a supermarket shop together the day before. You just want breadsticks, fruit, cucumber & tomato etc, crisps, biscuits, all the colourful crap kids want at parties. You can buy cocktail sausages and frozen pizzas and cook them at the hall if they've got a kitchen.

Cakes are individual. We did cupcakes one year, all decorated with pretty things and arranged on a cake stand, looked excellent. Don't forget the candles! Don't bother with mini indoor sparklers, they take bloody ages to light!

Can you tell I love doing my dc's parties?

www.yellowmoon.org.uk/party-bag-fillers
They also do lunch boxes aswell as party bag fillers

www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=85207&filters=&storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100
You could get a few multiple sets of books & split them between all the kids. Better than lots of plastic tat in the gift bag.

warehouses.costco.co.uk/membership/
Join the wholesaler & buy multiple packs of drinks/crisps & snacks as it will be cheaper than going to the supermarket.

I have gone in the other direction for tableware. I have a few sets of these cups and plates and have friends I can borrow more from. With 3dc they have more than paid for themselves and look really colourful on a table. I serve mini versions of everything - mini sausages, tomatoes, breadsticks, biscuits etc. I have little cutters which I use to cut the bread I find I get much less wastage as they grab 3 whatever the size. One loaf would serve 20-30 with different varieties of sandwich.

For cakes I have one smallish 'show' cake - or two for joint parties, then have another cake with basic decoration - icing but nothing fancy. I slice and wrap the spare cake before the party and it is all ready in the party bags. I found it took 30 sec at least to cut and wrap a slice. For 30 guests that is 15 minutes. The show cake I eat can be sliced and frozen for lunches.

I don't do tea and coffee as it is another time waster (I do my own entertainment) and I find that hot drinks and children charging around don't mix. I put out soft drinks and wine and nibbles for adults.

Be aware too of the sibling issue. At that age many parents aren't able or willing to drop them but also may be single parents or one of them may work. I find younger siblings aren't a problem. Older siblings can dominate a party and win all the games. If you don't want this then tell the entertainer to prioritise the invited guests - you could put name labels on the invited ones. Or you could just be relaxed and accept allcomers I can't do that think too whether you are doing extra party bags for siblings, some people will warn you they are bringing siblings, others won't.

Have a designated person to take photos and make sure they know who both birthday girls are and the key moments you want recorded.

Make sure you bring matches.

More great ideas, thank you. I like the idea of the show cake / pre prepared cake in the party bags, especially if trying to stretch one between 30 at the end of the party!

Again, I hadn't even thought of siblings. Name tags/labels are a good idea. DD's older brother will be there and other DD has an older brother too, age 7 & 6 so there will be a least a few older ones.

Photo's, yes, I'll have to remember that too. And matches!

I'll check out those websites, thank you. Anything I can get pre prepared is a bonus

Instead of party bags, I've always gone down the book from book people route with 1 small bag of sweets (the 10p haribos or similar) seems to work well. I also wrap the books up and keep extra sweets to give to any siblings as they leave.

If it's close to Easter you could do choc eggs instead of party bags. I had a joint party for DD1 and that came to about £330 in total for food, party gifts, paper plates etc., entertainer, cake, room hire

Love both those ideas of the books / easter eggs instead of the usual party bag tat.

Numberfaker, that figure is approx what I was thinking ours might come to. Half of that I can handle so will be happy if we can do it all for that amount.

Thanks again everyone

I really don't like the books in party bag idea. I get it and we love books so we read them etc, but it takes away from giving a book as a gift to the birthday child and really kids want the tat. I don't like the tat but can put up with it until they lose it etc.

Great thread... have been taking notes and will be using the lunch box idea.