Ideas for 3yr olds very small party?

[LMonkey]

My DS is turning 3 next week. He doesn't have that many friends as doesn't go to nursery (starting preschool in Jan so I'm hoping his next birthday might be busier!). I have invited a couple of his friends over and his cousins might possibly come so at a maximum including siblings there could be 7 there, 2 of those being babies though. I'm not really calling it a party, more of a play session, but any ideas what we could do/play/eat etc? I could put out a bit of party food, but for actual stuff to do I just don't know......I guess I'm not the most exciting mummy. We went to a party the other day with proper party games like pass the parcel and he didn't really seem to 'get' it iyswim. Also what to give as a little gift at the end to say thanks for coming? Ideas welcome! Thanks

[Pancakeflipper]

Take it the party is at your home?
Ensure toys that they are playing with aren't ones your son adores in case they get broken.
If not into the traditional party games there's other easy stuff to do.
Bubble blowing - they love chasing them
Balloons are good (unless children scared) for games.
Create car racing games with toy cars.
Ping pong balls and aim to throw them into a wastepaper basket. Etc
Though the fav game for most 3 yr olds is bouncing on the sofa.

Books / sticker books are often a nice take home gift - Book People and Red House have good sets you can purchase.

And a bottle of wine in fridge for yourself later and headache tablets.

[calzone]

My friend just had a gingerbread man party for her 3 y old.

Decorated gingerbread men with icing and sweets.

Got a huge cardboard box and turned it into a gingerbread house.....

She had precut gingerbread men cards and crayons for them to colour.

Was awesome!

[LMonkey]

Thanks for your suggestions!

[Mrscog]

I did something similar for DS' 3rd birthday. I did a chocolate coin hunt too - that went down really well.