Ok, how do I "do" a party for my 4 year old? Virgin party person here.

[Nbg]

I'm just thinking about it atm as her birthday isnt till Oct but baby no.3 is due Nov so want to be organised.

So far I have thought about hiring church hall, getting a bouncy castle, doing own food, party games like pass the parcel, pinata etc.

I've thought about asking parents to inform me of any food allergies. Thats it.

What else do I need to do?
Should I hand out invites when the kids split up from school as it will be a month exactly before her birthday when they go back?
What do you put in party bags?
Will I regret doing this?

[escape]

no do it - it'll be fine!
surely 2 to 3 weeks notice is plenty for invitations
your venue and ents. plan sounds good,
the fact is , some kids won't want to play games, but then they can bounce away
no need to be seargeant major like about this cos' they'll just do what they want.
party bags - set yourself a budget per bag. I would try to avoid little bits of plastic tat that get lost or broken, a small bag of sweets (if you feel like) and maybe get creative with the contents - I've given character faceloths before and toothbrushes or got some good job lots on ebay, so really got something substantial for pennies.
don't worry over it, it can be astress-full or as stress-free as you make it for yourself, and you are gonna be 8mnths pg.
Good luck - I had my 3rd in Nov last year

[Nbg]

I like the face cloths idea. Thats really good and I'll check out ebay.

What about food?
What things should I make?

[SueW]

The Book People do fantastic kids' book collections so that you can give away a lovely book to each child - cover price about a fiver usually but will cost you about 70p-£1. That plus a packet of chocolate buttons and a piece of cake is plenty.

[WaynettaSpice]

Food: Keep it simple, and you'll be fine (and also choose things parents can nibble on too)
Cherry tomatoes
Sticks of carrot / celery / cucumber, either with or without hummous
Cheese and tomato pizza (you can cook these at home and just serve them cold)
Some sandwiches
Some hula hoops or something like that
Apple juice and water to drink.
Beer and/or wine for the adults.

[Nbg]

Right that sounds easy enough.

So invites after school hols, check out ebay and book peeps.

Think I can manage this

Just wondering now whether the church hall will let me use it?????

[Tommy]

just to add.... do 2 hours max and plan the games and what time you want to do them etc. I have found through experience that you can't plan too strictly as if you run out of games or things to do, they'll all run wild.

Also, good idea to plan around a meal time - i.e. 12-2pm or something like that so they will actually be hungry when you want them to eat and not waste all the food (although there will be some waste anyway!)

[Nbg]

I can cope with waste. At 8 months pg I can gobble it all myself

I was thinking about eating and the bouncy castle. Dont want to let them go on it just after they have eaten!

[WaynettaSpice]

An hour of games, 15-20 minutes to eat, then the cake, then running around some more

[Nbg]

Sounds like a plan.
I should wrote this down lol

[donnie]

I would not go for a bouncy castle as they can get too busy and some kids get territorial over them . I would take a CD player with some Cds and do musical stats and bumps instead. Easier to manage.

[glitterati]

or if you've got 80 quid to spare you can book 'barbie' or 'little miss cutie'
who will appear with lots of fun things to do, paint finger nails entertain etc and you can sit back with all the other mums having a natter - ooh that sounds like a bad mum thing 2 say.....