Child friendly wedding ideas

[bunjies]

Hello

My dp and I have finally decided to get hitched next summer after what will be 10 years and 3 children! As most of the people we know have young children (7 and under) we want to be able to ensure the children (including ours) are entertained so that the parents can be relaxed (including us). My idea is to have a civil ceremony around 1pm and then have an informal buffet do with stuff for the kids, i.e. bouncy slide/castle/entertainer etc and music for grown ups til about 7/8pm. Then in the evening dp and I retire to a swanky hotel for the night for some post wedding recuperation before having to go back to the reality of looking after 3 kids. The trouble is I don't know how to go about organising such a thing - what sort of venue would accept bouncy castles and the like? We don't have a huge budget for the whole wedding (probably about £5,000 for everything) as we will be paying for everything ourselves but we're hoping to economise by getting friends/relatives to do things like make cake, dress, take photos etc. Has anyone else had a wedding where a large proportion of the 'guests' were young 'uns? Would be very interested in your experiences.

[SPARKLER1]

My BF is getting married next week and she has made party bags for the kids. They will be given out to them just before the speeches so they will have something to keep them occupied and keep them quiet. Fingers crossed. She has filled them up with mini drawing pads, pencils, sweets etc.

[leahbump]

the other thing that works well is to make small party bags for the kids...crayons and books, small toys, hats etc etc these can be really helpful during speeches. I would maybe go to somewhere like wilkinsons for all this as it's super cheap there...or maybe on online company. You can also do a baloon release....as long as it's not too many which can be symbolic for everyone...very happy thing to do.

We did our wedding for about what you want to spend. We found a local college with a large hall and booked it- booked a caterer and friends decorated the hall with balloons, fabric paintings on ikea curtains (we have an art graduate as a mate!) and floristry ribbon curled and bowed (anygood florist will sell you this by the roll and order it in whatever colours you want!).

I also think the bouncy castle is a great idea. We were lucky that there was a croquet lawn at our venue and the entertained older kids and adults!!

we also put things like loveheart sweets all over the tables and the kids collected them up in bags and the we played musical sweethearts.....whenever the music stopped they had to find someone (adult) without a sweetheart and give them one...

errmm possibly more ideas but ds is crying!!

[Mum2girls]

Congtrats!

Went to a fab wedding last Xmas (so it was a winter wedding)- there were loads of kids.

For the kids they had:-
a bubble machine blowing bubbles onto the dancefloor
a separate buffet table for the kids at their height
these light things - like a tube thing about 6 inches long that you snapped and they illuminated
ballons
a fab cake that looked like snowballs piled up, which after dinner the kids just helped themselves to!

The kids danced, played and generally had a ball - I don't know that you need to put on too much for them as they largely entertained themselves at this wedding anyway.

[koalabear]

we contacted a local couple who were childminders and hired them for the day - they turned up with loads of toys (we gave them the ages of the children), and helped with everything from eating, bottles, playing etc - people told us afterwards it was a huge help as they could relax and enjoy themselves without having to keep a constant eye on the little ones

oh, and they came 30 minutes BEFORE the civil ceremony so that the kids actually could attend if they wanted, but most chose to play in the "creche" outside because it was nice and sunny

it cost £80 for the day, but it was absolutely money well spent

[helsy]

A friend hired two of her usual babysitters for the day and booked an extra room in the hotel they were getting married in (with video, toys and games) and the babysitters looked after any children who wanted to play and watch videos. I wasn't keen but some people liked it.

We just had party bags, bubbles and so on at ours.

[spidermama]

My friend hired 2 or 3 child carers/entertainers and had a creche with games, clouring, books. You could ask your guests to bring/lend some books/felt pens or games to contribute. She also had a supervised dormitory organised with telly and beds where the kids could crash. That said, mine didn't crash so I still didn't get to do the 'let your hair down' part of the wedding.

[bunjies]

Oooh like these ideas...keep 'em coming, especially the party bags and bubble machine. I just need to find a nice informal venue in or around Brighton that would allow such things!!!

[koalabear]

a word of warning (from personal experience ) - don't put plastic swords in the kiddies bags - only leads to tears!

[mrspink27]

dont know if this is a bit too much beyond budget but looks a great location.

to Pelham House

[giraffeski]

Message withdrawn

[PeachyClair]

I put joke books on the older kids tables- annoyed parents to bits but cheered me up watching them!!

Give them disposable cameras too if you want a giggle; whereas adults spend an awful lot of time taking inane photos of bored looking guests you don't even recognise, the kids are likely to get you some great shots of Granny's dress tucked in her skirt, and cousin Irma's moustache!!!!

[PeachyClair]

Oh and most venues would allow it: we married in a water mill in Somerset (hornsbury mill- it was FAB) ad they had no prob whatsoever with bubbles, gifts, balloons etc.

And they had a museum on site for when the older ones got bored!

[bunjies]

Thanks for the link to Pelham House mrsspink. Not sure if we can stretch to this although we won't be catering for that many people so may be worth a chat with them. I'm going to try another post to see if anyone else knows of any good venues.