Party stress!

Tip-get everything out of the car and into the hall immediately, close the hall door and put a sign on it.

"xxxx's party!" with the start time underneath. You can get the birthday kid to decorate it, aaaw.

Stops invitees entering early and parents pissing off, which I guarantee some will try, although it does also prevent willing parents giving a hand.
Just an idea if it helps you.

I'm thinking you probably don't need an entertainer and a bouncy castle. At this age they tend to just run around and dance and be a bit crazy. Getting them to sit for an entertainer might be stressful

Colouring sheets on a table with some pens can be an easy and cheap idea for those who want some time out from the craziness.

As others have said, keep food simple, they don't actually eat much anyway.
I do cold drinks for the adults after a running child got burnt by a cup of tea at another party. Juices, lemonade, cola

No, I can’t say that I have. How long do they take to defrost?

I would buy fruit shoots/bottles of water rather than have cups
At the first party I gave for DS they spilt all the cups and it was a nightmare to clean all the sticky squash residue up in the limited time I had to clear the hall.

The next party was bottles only and I stuck each child's name on the bottle with a pre written name tag as at another party a few weeks before there was a scuffle over someone drinking from someone else's bottle.....ah 6 year olds.
But yet again, they do sell wine charms for adults.

Longer than you think especially if you don't have a giant table to lay all the slices of bread out side by side to butter them all at once a la 'watch me prep food for my family of 20 kids' tiktok videos 😂

Make cheese sandwiches and freeze them, nothing dodgy about it. Same with ham. Agreed that bought sandwich platters are overkill for a kids party.

@GoBackToBooks @TiptoesJones Don't you ever freeze bread at home? Does It go soggy? Basic cheese or ham sarnies freeze absolutely fine. Sandwiches only goes soggy if you put something wet in, those wouldn't freeze well... definitely don't freeze cucumber 😂

I do the traybake idea for the party bags and frost it with the same colours as the fancy birthday cake.

I get the same level of stress and anxiety as you even though I have done quite a few of these now, I just want everything to go well and can’t stop thinking about it all until it’s done.

Honestly, you’ll be fine. The fact you’re even thinking about it and not just winging it means you’re on it. A bouncy castle and entertainer are ideal for that age.

Great advice from pps on prep, double cake, present table, etc. I would absolutely get a second pair of hands if you can.

My bits to add:

1. Make sure you’ve got some balloons, balls or other games for the first hour if the only thing is the bouncy castle
2. Let people know the schedule in advance, especially food timing and e.g. as pp said if you’re planning to take the bouncy castle down for a bit. Some kids need a bit of managing and it really helps. It doesn’t have to be like a work agenda! But if you’re messaging round a reminder, you can just say ‘please arrive at 11, we’ll have a bouncy castle for an hour with food at 12 and an entertainer”.

Blow balloons up day before and just put in black bin bags.
prep as much food as possible the day before.
is there anyone that can help you load from car to venue? Any other mum if you have no family to help?

Cold food is fine. Sandwiches. Don't bother heating sausage rolls or pizzas.

I've done fairy cakes rather than a cake before. You can arrange them on a plate, stick a candle in the middle one. Then juat give out the cakes for the kids to eat.

Do you have any large plastic storage boxes? We used one to take all the stuff to the hall and it made packing up much easier as well.

Done this a few times- keep it simple.

• get a dominos/Pizza Hut delivery for party tea (after the bouncy castle/entertsiber- they won’t eat it beforehand).
• crisps, veg sticks and party rings/choc fingers in bowls
• jugs of squash and water or fruit shoots/juice cartons
• beer/prosecco/soft drink for parents, didn’t ever bother with tea/coffee
• kids barely notice decorations in a hall/ a few balloons blown up before hang and stuffed into bin bags
• I bought a cake for singing HB but put individual Colin’s or cupcakes in party bags
• if no family ask a mum friend or two to help- they’ll be stuff that comes up at the party that requires two adults (random stuff- someone twisted their ankle on the bouncy castle, spilt drinks, crying kids- whilst parents will be there it’s good to be around a bit to check in as host and your own child might need you for something)
• defo don’t make unappealing food- avoid cold oven pizza cooked previously, sandwich platters with ‘adult’ choices (nothing with salad or mayo), frozen/defrosted sandwiches- they barely eat the appealing stuff! If you do sandwiches stick to white bread with ham, cheese or jam and make fresh. Takeout pizza was always most popular- as long as very simple toppings- mix of cheese and tomato/pepperoni. Get a couple of spare ones and offer to adults.

I did a hall party like this for my DD last year. It went really well.

My top tip is to allow loads of time. Bunting takes a while to thread onto the ribbon- do all that the day before. Pack scissors/masking tape/white tack. I had all the dry party food bagged up the day before, then focused on getting up early to make the sandwiches and prep the salad, fruit etc fresh on the morning. Did mine and my DD’s hair & nails the night before. Like you, I organised everything at the hall, but we asked my mum to wait at our house with our children so DH could help me set up the table and chairs for lunch, reach higher stuff, carry everything in, etc.

Things always come up which take longer than you think. Like in theory the hall should have been swept/hoovered by previous clients, but it wasn’t and we really did need to do that before guests arrived, despite it being a fairly new hall. Tie a few balloons outside.

Other parents were really supportive when I was getting the lunch out once the entertainer had gone, offered to take trays of food for me, pour cups of squash, etc. You could even ask a couple in advance if it’s ok to ask for help with anything specific you may need.

The bonus of this type of party was I felt it was much more personal, all the decs and tableware matched my daughter’s favourite theme, and it did all look really good and the children loved it! It’s well worth the effort, good luck! 🥳

It sounds like a lovely party - you’ll be fine!

My tips:

They definitely don’t eat as much as you think. So go easy on the sandwiches to give yourself a break. Ditch the pizza idea for ease.

Don’t do sausage rolls that need cooking, get pre-cooked cocktail sausages - dump on table, they’ll be gone in seconds.

Likewise with crudetes, they eat them but not in the quantities you think.

Crisps: we got a box/multi-pack of Pom-Bears. They had a packet (or two) each. That was there’s no faffing decanting into and then washing of serving bowls.

And definitely don’t do stupid fruit kebabs like I did for first party. What a bloody mistake that was! Bowls of little apples and tangerines is a good idea.

Did this and survived just over two weeks ago.

Prepped everything in advance, party bags in a crate with pre cut cake, then had same cake for blowing candles out, all games and party entertainment in another box ready, then a crate with decorations, tape, string, scissors etc.

The bouncy castle guy did his thing, really fast only took 5 mins to blow up a huge castle with slide.

Only had 30 mins either side to get everything up and down, lone parent so just me and son setting up. Hats off he helped a lot, having jobs made him feel important.

The biggest take homes where -

It takes a lot longer to set up tables and chairs than you think, ours were in a storage cupboard which felt miles away from the main hall. The hardest part was juggling heavy fire doors rather than trying to carry.

Jugs only had two (always replenished) but felt like i was constantly watching to refill

(Some) other parents are hell..... one family of 6 turned up 45 mins early, they were waiting outside and complained the room wasn't opened, sat around, and asked where they could get a coffee. Single woman frantically heaving furniture around with no offer of help, so directed them to a coffee shop (which they didn't go to)

Pulled the bouncy castle down for food and games, one Dad flicked the switch to put it back up so his son could go on it, another parent complained that her child didn't understand why the castle had come down so she was leaving due to a meltdown.

Sweeping the floors and packing the car up is hard when people won't leave and mill around chatting.

Carrying the gifts to the car took longer than expected, thw sheer quantity was unreal and my child was very lucky and fortunate, but naively i expected small ish gifts, but the gifts were huge!

BUT, you can do it! The sense of relief and pride left me on a high, i was very anxious before especially being a lone parent who is an introvert! I really had to psyche myself up to even book it, but didn't want my child to miss out due to my poor life choices. So go for it, have fun and try to enjoy it :).

agreed! How long does it take to cut up a bit of fruit and prepare some basic sandwiches for kids? Why pay £20 for a sandwich platter with sandwiches most kids won’t like anyway.

An hour is plenty of time to put up a few banners and balloons, and set up table & chairs and get cups etc ready for tea / coffee for parents. You’ll probably get that all done in 20 mins. Just ensure you have everything prepared in advance. Most importantly, don’t panic, as you have plenty of time to set up.

I like the little cup cakes for bags-really easy! You can also get premade platters if you want, but this is more expensive so I would just ask friends and family to help if possible, Grandparents are often the best, as they are more likely to have done parties themselves, in the pre soft play/entertained era (if you were a kid in the 80s or 90s), and they'd often love to be asked to help.

Just had another thought - for presents, it’s a good idea to have a ‘presents table’. Stick a table cloth on it and when the first present arrives, place it there. Then direct any as they arrive to that table. Eventually, people will self-serve and just take them there directly without asking.

Last thing you want when you are rushing around is people handing you gifts and then having them end up all over the place.

Don’t spend time cutting up the cake at the party for the party bags. Have the main cake for singing happy birthday but get another cheap one that goes in the party bags ready wrapped in the morning.

O my feckin god. Are people really suggesting Sainsburys sandwich platters et al. Cut up Melons and Strawberries??

I'm Northern and glad to be hearing this chirade haha.

The child is 5yrs old!!

I did. Love the double cake idea. Not so sure about the defrosted sandwiches, I’ve got a picture of soggy bread in my head. This would need testing!

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRC6Nbmy/
the Motherland clip..

Thank you! But did you see the genius ideas about the double cakes and frozen sandwiches? I missed a trick there!

Watch the Motherland party episode, especially for cake tips 😀