Best child friendly wedding ideas

[AndIAskMyself]

DP and I are getting married in 2020 (early I know), and our DS will be almost 4. Most of our friends have kids, so we definitely want kids at the wedding.

We have booked a venue, it's a indoor venue, but has loads of space and a couple of separate rooms.

Last year we took our son to a gorgeous 'woodland' themed wedding, which should in theory have been child friendly. But the ceremony was in the middle of a wood, so when my son inevitably got fidgety there was no where to take him. We were all sat on logs which were incredibly uncomfortable and the bride was almost an hour late because of terrible traffic on the day. Then later the speeches were almost 2 hours long and it was raining by then so we couldn't then leave the venue. They had done so much to think of kids- colouring books, snacks and books, but it made me realise there's so much more to it than that.

What have been the best child friendly weddings you have been to? What made them child friendly?

Missing the point somewhat but surely at a woodland wedding you had the whole of the woods to take your fidgety son?

Haha - yes, you'd think so wouldn't you . Hard to explain, but basically because it was in the centre of these woods and every sound echoed it wasn't like a normal venue where you could just leave the venue and be out of earshot or out of sight. And we were visable to everyone for ages even when we did leave. We did leave the ceremony, but it was mortifying because it felt really disruptive, if that makes sense?

One of the most family friendly weddings I’ve ever been to was in a church. The side chapel had comfy seats and toys and the Bride had left plenty of colouring pencils and crayons with wedding themed print outs and made it clear to everyone that thexchildren were welcome to get up and go there whenever they wanted.

At the wedding breakfast she sat the children in their own tables with a mix of ages. The parents and children all loved it. She also put a lunchbox or bag with each child’s name on their place filled with activities for them. It was such a lovely day for everyone.

I got married in December and had about 14 kids at the wedding. The ceremony was quite short so that was fine.
At the meal I had made them each up an activity bag with different toys in it. My dd was there who has add so I put in a fidget spinner and a stress ball. For the littler ones I put colouring books and pencils, stickers etc

The Works and Poundland is your friend here. I spent about £3 a bag.

It depends on the age of the children. My sister layed our a children’s area in the venue- Soft blanket and toys and a small indoor slide which was appropriate for young children. If your venue has separate spaces and are happy for you to set up a dvd/projector and large floor cushions and blankets for later in the evening I’m sure your guests with children will be happy to take turns supervising. Lego table would keep older children entertained for hours, box of stlvanian families always keeps my children good for ages when we go out for a meal x

Indoor and outdoor space with patio from which you could watch the kids play. Giant chess set was fab. Otherwise a quieter break out room to escape music

Mine hate kids tables, and they are a bit of a nightmare if your kid has SN and needs more help/supervision than others.

Don't be late. If you've worked your day round the kids being on best behaviour for the ceremony And your late because the braidsmaids didn't get their hair done in time it tends to hack you off somewhat.

Just been to a wedding last week, loads of younger children and they all had a ball just entertaining themselves dancing, hiding and generally messing about. Prearranged activities can be counter productive.

The 10-15 year olds found it much harder, long day for them, too old to run around and to young to drink, enjoy adult conversations or too shy for dancing. Wifi wasnt working in the function room.

We went to a lovely reception (the ceremony was immediate family only) in a pub that they hired out. There was a little table with crafts for the DCs and the bride had made these lovely little sticks with ribbons on for them to play with. There was a buffet with finger food and cupcakes that was child friendly but that the adults also enjoyed. They also had a really cute pic n mix sweet shop! When it got later some people left and those that were able to stayed late. I took our DCs home when they got tired and DH stayed on as the groom was one of his close friends.
I have been to loads of weddings and some really lavish one, this relatively low-key one was probably the one I have enjoyed the most.

Expensive option but the best I went to had the speeches as soon as we had sat down, the kids ate during the speeches and then these supernannies came and took the kids to a separate room to do arts and crafts/run round whilst supervised while parents ate-was brilliant!!

Inflatable light sabres, balloons, rhythmic gymnastic ribbons, glow stick wristbands, twister, kids table with cards, dominoes, cut up colouring books, crayons, pencils, duplo, a car road mat with box of toy cars, several boxes of Xmas quality streets, celebrations etc, donuts, pizza. Ceilidh which had the kids up dancing with their parents.

Make sure it's finished by 8 and serve chicken nuggets one presumes. As many people take huge offence and wouldn't go to a child free wedding I wouldn't go to a 'kiddie friendly' one. Sounds dreadful.

To each their own, and all that. But I think the idea of having a wedding that is 'friendly' to children is so they aren't bored and therefore then aren't seen as a nuisance to guests like yourself.

And great suggestions here so far. Thanks so much!

My brother's wife had set up a little tent storybook area.

But all the kids had way more fun screeching about on the gravel out the front. None used the storybook area at all.

I'm not accommodating children at mine. Boring for them and I'm not going to cause myself extra stress and expense by trying to change that.

Didn’t do this for a wedding but my DD’s christening- I bought paper gift bags and filled them with bubbles, toys (nothing expensive- all an eBay job), a book library (all the children were 4 and under though), sweets, snacks, juice, mini colouring book, crayons, animal masks etc. Made 12 of them and cost me £30 in total. Was completely worth it

The best one had child friendly snacks and drinks available at appropriate times, a great choice of food (not nuggets, but things that most children would eat) and a creche for the evening reception. And bubbles for when everyone was stood around for the photos - everyone loves bubbles

The worst was the opposite - service at a silly time and it went on for ever. Canapes in a hot courtyard with nowhere to sit - and lots of things like foie gras (kids don't want to eat that!) and beetroot (the stains on their good clothes!!). Then troop into another over hot room to sit on hard, slippy chairs....And then speeches before food...! We ended up flagging down a waiter to get some bread rolls put out early and some cups of water. We would have loved to have stayed longer, but we had to go as soon as the meal was served to avoid ruining for everyone (there was an exodus of families at that point)

My DC are 8 & 6 and at a recent wedding the bride had organised a bag full of things to do at the wedding - the bit between the ceremony and the meal.
The bag had a selfie stick in it and a list of people to take a photo with - someone with a beard, someone who has been to China, someone with a pink hat etc etc. It also meant the bridge and groom got loads of photos sent through from me as they were all on my phone.

About half an hour before the meal, the children were taken off to the kitchen to make their own pizza which was then cooked and served with the adults meals. DC lived this.