Small birthday parties for 7 year old

[Verytubbycustard]

Hi,

DS has announced he wants a small birthday party when he turns 7 early next year. He wants it at home, so I'm trying to think of ideas for what we could do at home, but also ideas elsewhere, so I don't have to clean up the mess. He wants to invite five friends, so including his siblings, there will be 8 kids max.

So far I've thought about a pizza making party at Pizza Express or a cinema trip. I'm a bit stuck on home ideas though. I remember my parents hiring a magician when I was little, but can't think of anything else. I'm not great at entertaining children, so I'm a bit stuck!

Any ideas? (Not reptiles. That seems to be a thing round here, but I'm not risking having a snake on the loose in my house!)

Thanks!

Themwd treasure hunts/ scavenger hunts with an optical storyline (effectively guided walks with rifles and clues) outside the house can take up a solud hour plus and be a big hit - you can Google for ideas. A quick 2 second Google turned up this like among others, but if you don't want to make your own you can certainly find more ideas and choose something appropriate to your son's peers:

www.mykidsadventures.com/treasure-hunt-kids-guide/

Themed not themwd, optional not optical...

Definitely hire an entertainer. I tried to do it myself once and realised quite quickly that I was out of my depth because, although I'd set up and planned about 7 games, they were over and done in 30 mins and then at the same time I was trying to cater for the adults that stayed. Can you post on a local fb group and get recommendations? Several local parties have been movie themed, lego master builders, science party, etc etc. Maybe just ger someone to do the first hour then after that balloons and music and the party food will fill the other?

We had similar - went to the local inflatable place (room full of bouncy castles). At home I got a pack of plastic trophys and did silly competitions - race round the house, then backwards, musical statues, I hid one and they had to find it...was so simple and took no effort but they really enjoyed it! Oh and we did pin the tail on the donkey to great hilarity - better in a small group too. Then I ordered Dominoes for everyone so they felt like they’d had a real grown up feast (they hardly ate any, it did us for tea the next day too).

Ummm in your home, and not much mess!

Will some of the mum's stay or are they all dump and run for the hills?

What time of year? If summer, you could put up a tent and have them eat outside which would save your house and possibly go to the park or have a BBQ, obv with someone on safety watch.

You could do a treasure hunt with clues - we used to do this and it's great fun and can occupy for half an hour.

Pass the parcel is always a good one as everyone is always so greedy getting a present.

If it's summer and you hire a bouncy castle, need to be meticulous with safety of numbers on the bouncer ... may want to consider insurance.

When my daughter was 4, we hired a custumed person, I think Barnie-type but 7 prob a bit old for this.

There are some people who will come in and do arts and crafts in your house and clear up the mess - suggest googling - but they often charge an arm and a leg.

They may like to watch a film together

Party at home requires an itinerary! So, get everyone in, and start the games. Pass the parcel, musical statues, musical bumps, pin the tail on the donkey. Eat. Sing happy birthday. Have cake. Play more games. Party bags, home. 1 hour 30.

I did a giant joint party for 40 kids in a hall last year. What worked best was having a couple of stations. One for glitter tattoos, one for face painting. They loved chasing balloons around. We played limbo, pass the parcel (with two parcels in opposite directions because there were so many kids) dancing competitions, musical statues and bumps. Completely manic. And brilliant.