Ideas for 4th birthday party for DS at Hallowe'en?

[ilikeyoursleeves]

DS will be 4 just before Hallowe'en and we are having his first proper party. It will be in the house with 14 kids plus some parents / relatives (eek). I was going to put 'please come dressed up in your favourite costume' on the invites but not specify it as a Hallowe'en party exactly (although I will deck the place out in some Hallowe'en stuff).

Any ideas what we can do at the party? I'm not hiring any entertainer or anything as I figure running about and playing games / eating party food is enough (?). It will be for 2 hours I think, over lunch time. Any ideas most welcome!!!

[sittinginthesun]

Good luck. I did a treasure hunt party at home for my 7 year old. He loved it, I hated it! Got the children to colour in party bags, then they took it in turns to hunt for hidden treasure to fill the bags. Seemed a good idea at the time.

[MogandMe]

Are you me

I am also hoping to throw a 4th birthday party for DC whose birthday is in October.

Again with no entertainer and 10 2-4 year olds plus adults :)

Will stay on thread and hope for some good ideas.

:)

[ilikeyoursleeves]

Mogandme- yes I think I must be you! Things I have thought of are: pass the parcel, musical statues and ummm, that's about it. General dancing about maybe too? Toys lying about for kids to play with (no favourites of my DS's though!).

I plan on going all retro and doing loads of yummy party food unlike some parties ds has been to where cucumber and humous is served.

I though about dunking for apples too since it's hallowe'en?

Do you think 2 hours is long enough? What time will your party be at?

[MogandMe]

I am hoping to use our local hall and have it 1-3 or 2-4 as some people will be driving for about an hour to get to us.

In the hall I thought about doing free play with toys for a while, then a quick snack, after snack at the table I was thinking of doing some halloween crafts, then party games - pass the parcel, musical chairs, maybe a pinata or a treasure/trick or treat hunt.

[Laugs]

I'm hoping to do a Halloween-ish party at home for my 5 yr old DD. I'm planning on calling it something like 'Witches and Wizards' Dizzy Disco', so that the kids come prepared to dance for at least an hour . We live in a flat so I'm hoping I can get away without inviting any parents. Is this mad? I do know all but 2 of the kids really well.

[Laugs]

Oh, also thought of doing a cauldron bran tub for prizes.

[ilikeyoursleeves]

Hi laugs, what is a cauldron bran tub? I sent invites this week & just wrote ' please come dressed up' but they aren't halloween invites as such. I still haven't thought about what to do yet but I have imagined in my mind at least all the furniture pushed back so there is lots of floor space for the kids to run around. Ds wants to dress as a tiger so I better find a costume!

[Laugs]

I just meant I was going to do a bran tub, like they did in the olden days at parties, for kids to reach in and get their prizes, but I would use a big cauldron for my container. (Haven't actually found one yet)

[darksideofthemoonbells]

oooh watching this one... my DS is 4 just before it too! And I have been trying to avoid themed stuff but may have to give in.

[oldgrandmama]

Ha ... as I write this, I am just taking a break from transforming my dining room onto a Horrible Halloween Hell ... got ghoulish wallhangings from some online merchant, will utilise red Christmas lights, made cutouts of moons, witches, cats etc. As for games - may I recommend, highly, 'Make a Mummy'. You need a biggish pack of toilet rolls, and everyone wraps everyone else up in the tissue to make 'Mummies'. Much hilarity (and mess). I've tried this with budget toilet rolls but unfortunately these tend to disintegrate as one rolls up the 'Mummy' - I found Andrex the most fit for purpose!
As the little one and his guests are only four or so, nothing too frightening. My lot play Apple bobbing, Pass the Parcel, Musical Chairs (mind you, during one Musical Chairs my son, 40ish, got concussed), Statues. One game for when the guests are a little older is 'Guess What Horrible Thing This Is ...' Kids one by one are taken into a dark area, blindfolded, and their hands dipped into stuff - and they're asked what it is - then told! 'Eyeballs' (jelly), 'Guts (cold cooked spaghetti or tagliatelli - canneloni is an elegant variation, being 'big guts'), 'Pus (cold custard), 'brains' (cold cooked rice), 'bones' (some of those bone shaped dog biscuits), 'severed finger' (cocktail sausage)

My grandchildren, five of them, ages eight down to eighteen months, absolutely adore this particular Halloween game (OK, the eighteen month old is a wee bit young for it yet) and have for months been begging me to make sure it's included in my Halloween party itinerary.

[Geordieminx]

I got a cardboard skeleton from tesco, we are going to play pin the clothes on the skeleton.

Also, pass the pumpkin, hollow pumpkin out, leave a day to dry, then fill will some sweets and maybe some plastic eyeballs/rats whatever.

Doughnuts on strings.

Dh suggested bobbing for apples but the thought of having 10 soaking 4 year olds is just too much.

If the weather is dry I plan on turfing them out into the garden for a pumpkin hunt for similar with torches (party 4-6)

Dressing up as mummies

Grandmothers steps as suggested on another thread.

We also have fireworks as a back up plan.

[MartyrStewart]

I asked for help for DS's party from MN. One of the best tips I got was to put simple forfeits between the layers of pass the parcel. It took about half an hour to play and all of the party guests loved it

[oldgrandmama]

That's a brilliant idea, MartyrStewart - will try it with my mob.