Party ideas for 3/4/5year olds...or is getting an entertainer copping out?

[TooTickyTheAppleMuncher]

Can't have the party here - house too small, too cluttered... out somewhere? Don't know whether to trust late Oct weather.... village hall? Entertainer? Endless balloons? I'm not good at organising games. Help!

[WigWamBam]

We hired a hall and booked a magician for dd's 5th birthday party, he dealt with everything apart from the food. He did all the entertainment, games, made them all hats while they sat and ate, provided the music - all I had to do was decorate the hall and bring out the food. Well worth the money, imo.

[Anchovy]

I asked about an entertainer on a thread yesterday and got a bit of a kicking! Anchovy's party thread

There are some good resource ideas here if you fancy the idea of an entertainer. I think one of the huge advantages is that they keep all the children in one place.

[WigWamBam]

Bloody hell, anchovy ... some real sense of humour failures on that one! What on earth did you do to deserve that?

(They're not all twats, btw ... )

The one we had was brilliant - kept the kids amused, they were hanging on to every word and sat entranced by him. If you can get one who really understands and enjoys entertaining kids, they can save your samity!

[WigWamBam]

Or even your sanity ...

[Anchovy]

Yes, it was all a bit odd!

[southeastastralplain]

your op was funny anchovy, but i suppose the part that annoyed me was the term 'twat' which really got to me. apologies for my sense of humour failure

[happybiggirl]

Message withdrawn

[Anchovy]

SE Astra, funnily I dithered momentarily after typing it as it seemed a bit blunt in type. Apologies if it offended anyone - its not really a very nice word!

[Frieda]

Yes, I'd highly recommend copping out with an entertainer if you've got the money, having just tried to do a party without - it was one of the most stressful days of my life!

[southeastastralplain]

hope your party goes well anchovy!

tooticky you could try an arts and crafts party (lots of organisation on your part but worth it) especially as you could base it around halloween? (if you celebrate it that is!)

[pooka]

I hired a PartyBus - bus arrived, parked at DH's work on a Sunday, with 2 entertainers. Job done - just had nibbles for adults and food bags for the children. Worth every penny (shared with dd's friend who was 3 the week after).

[TooTickyTheAppleMuncher]

Thanks all.
Arty parties are a good idea SEAstra, but ds2 doesn't "do" arty.

[EnidVorhees]

dd2s 4th is on Saturday in a village hall. I was all set to hire an entertainer as I have seen a particularly good one but tbh he was about £100 and so I spent the money on a bouncy castle and some fabbo party bags instead.

we are doing castle/colouring in (for bouncy castle averse kids)
dh is making balloon animals
pass the parcel
tea and cake

another fabbo tip from mumsnet is to sit them down while dd2 opens her presents just before they go home

[LadyPenelope]

Depends on budget.
Sounds like you need a hall, or do a kids gym or something.
If you go entertainer route, get a recommendation - we used one when dd was 4 and it was a godsend.
At dd's 3 we did it ourselves... what we did ...
Made party hats/crowns - cut up strips of coloured card, provided pens, stickers , glitter glue, feathers etc, and they all made hats. (dh or me, or one of other parents helped out)
Bouncy castle - big hit
tattoos - done by teenager
That was it - can't remember how long . (90 mins - 2 hours max)
Party food - we did cold cocktail sausages, mini sandwiches, cut up fruit, mini oreos, cream cheese cube things. it was a bit of a stress serving up (rented little chairs and tables which helped) and friends helped me serve up around the table giving the kids a bit of each. My friend just did a party and gave out little boxes with a bit of everything in it .. like a little lunchbox ... it was great because she did it all at home before the party and there was no hassle.
Don't need to do party games at this age - but if you want to and kids are mostly 4, you could do some very simple games ... pass the parcel always popular (put a small packet of sweets or small present in each wrapping and make sure you have enough wrappings for each of the kids. Also get a couple of friends to help you make sure every child gets a turn ... oh the stress!), perhaps Simon Says but without anyone being out? (Switch off the bouncy castle before you do games, have tea etc, or you can't hear yourself think.
Do a few extra party bags for unexpected guests/those that didn't rsvp.
Good luck - have fun!

[TooTickyTheAppleMuncher]

It's just so stressful!!! What happened to the days when children were happy with a slap up tea and a piece of cake?!
And making sure everybody wins... I'm too scared to do games in case a child feels hard done by and their parents sue for emotional damage!

[TooTickyTheAppleMuncher]

LadyPenelope, you sound very enterprising.
I just thought I'd bump in case the evening crowd have more ideas...

[nearlythree]

Having seen too many tantrums (particularly by the birthday boy/girl) over party games, we didn't have them at dd1's 4th birthday. Instead we did decorating biscuits - set up a table with cheap shop-bought biscuits and a selection of icing pens and cake decorations, and let them take their creations home (if they last that long) - even the boys went for this big time. Also had colouring-in on hand. Food-wise we did sandwiches, pizza (cold), platters of fruit and veg, and fairy cakes, with a choice of water or juice to drink. No balloons blown up on the day - seen them cause massive fights and tinies get scared of the popping - we put balloons in the party boxes - no presents, just balloons, cake and whatever the children had made.

Maybe for boys you could hire the village hall and set up the stuff for them to make a 'camp' of some kind? Hotdogs around a 'camp fire'?

[nearlythree]

BTW for serving the food, we put a huge blanket on the floor and did it like a pic-nic. Worked really well for us.

[mysonsmummy]

enid - i could'nt think of anything worse than sitting everyone down to open ds's pressies - they wouldnt sit there for minute and it would turn into chaos. oh no that treat is for just me and him at home later.

[arfur]

I just wanted to say that I dont think getting an entertainer is copping out at all. They are great if you can afford it. We are having a party on Sat for DD and DS joint birthday and halloween party all in one. We are having 50 kids and we did the same last year the entertainer was ace and kept all 50 of them absorbed for the whole 2 hours so they had a great time. The kids talked about it for weeks - even dd's teacher commented on how much they all enjoyed it. Dont beat yourself up about it as long as the kids have a good time and you dont have a nightmare dont see the problem. Parenting guilt knows no bounds does it?