Craft ideas for kids' party?

[ILikePaperHats]

We're holding a birthday party at home for DS6. There are 10 kids coming, mix of boys and girls. We thought we'd do some craft for a small part of the party. Does anyone have any ideas as I'm not much of an arty crafty person. My partner suggests making paper crowns but I thought they might find that boring. Also have you any interesting and low-effort games ideas that aren't your standard musical statues, pass the parcel? Thanks

Decoupatch - cardboard or wooden shapes you cover with scraps of paper

At that age, we put out pizza bases, tomato sauce, grated cheese and a range of toppings for people to make their own pizzas (and cooked some oven chips and chicken nuggets as well, just in case). Big hit!

Do you have a theme to link the craft to?

I mean :
If you have a theme of princesses and pirates, girls could make crowns and boys make pirate hats (or vice versa as they please! )
Games could include musical chairs called “drop in the ocean” - whoever has no chair falls “overboard” into the “ocean”
“Pin the tail on the donkey” becomes “pun the tentacle on the octopus” or the “patch on the pirate/parrot” - just draw the right type of picture to pin onto. And what you pin onto it, you could get the DCs to decorate before playing. (Use blu tac to “pin” not actual thumb tacks).

Food could have “golden treasure nuggets” (chicken nuggets), “parrot’s snacks” (chunks of fruit on skewers? ), ....

Party bags could include chocolate coins (“pirate treasure”)

That kind of “link it all together with a theme”

Sorry it’s not terribly thought through, am sitting on the train home mostly brain dead...

And I’ve done almost nothing princess-y either in it, sorry

I buy lots of craft activities from Baker Ross website, you will find lots of sets on there suitable for parties. I have done slime making at playdates which is fun for that age group. You buy white PVA glue, contact lens solution and shaving foam and can colour and scent it with food colour and flavourings. I get them to work together in groups of 2/3. Really simple and lots of fun!

Simon says

Do you have space outdoors?
So running games like:
Ship sea shore
Snatch the bacon
Soccer

Pinterest has loads of great craft ideas. I did loads of different things with a pack of paper plates in the Summer! Also, potion making is fun and less messy than it sounds if you set it up properly - bicarb, washing up liquid, food colouring, glitter in a bowl then add vinegar and watch the magic! Kids love stirring it all up. Put the bowl in something though as it fizzes up and over.

Look at baker ross for ideas or crafty crocodiles

Cake decorating. My daughter has basically had the same party for the last 3 years. Decorate a paper party bag. Decratae a few fairly cakes. I give each child a small bowl of water icing and let the loose with sweets and sprinkles. Pass the parcel and musical statues. Food then some dancing. Her friends look forward to her party because I waste time at the end playing the key game. Someone steals a nosiy set of keys from under a chair. The person sat on the chair has to guess who.

@butterry
@profpoopsnagle
Thank you so much for link to
Baker Ross. It looks ideal. But there are so many craft kits, I'm not sure which one to choose! Are there are any specific ones that you think would be good for a mixed gender group of 5-6 year olds?

My DD went to a party where the mum had bought plain white tee shirts, from Primark, and some fabric paints and they designed their own tee shirts. Tee shirt was also their party bag! Ditto with bracelets and necklaces made at a jewellery party.

T-shirts are a great idea.
Necklaces with sweets etc threaded onto strawberry laces.
Do the kids like Harry Potter? Lots of crafts etc you could do connected to that, potions, creating patronuses and so on.

Placemats! Print pictures to do with theme, or any child friendly pics if there isn't one. Get them to colour them, then laminate them and send them home as part of their party bag!

If you wanted to keep the mess and prep to a minimum, I would buy 2 packs of their special pens and choose 2-3 items. If one is quite intensive and might require adult help, make sure the other items are easy to do by themselves-decorating a door hanger for example, or a blank party bag in which they can take their items home in. At that age they are likely to find skills like threading or sewing hard, possibly even cutting out. Stickers may save on having glue around, but PVA glue is better than pritt sticks unless it's paper and card. If you buy a kit of something, buy 1 extra and have a practice run before, and then you can also say 'Here's one I made earlier...@

Good ideas could be masks (maybe an animal theme), suncatchers, photo frames etc. Also check out poundland and wilcos if you have a store near.

Have a space with some newspaper down for children to place their items when finished and some labels so they can 'dry'.

When we've done craft parties, we always do that bit first for 45 mins-1 hour and then the children do some games whilst we clear up the table and get the food out. I usually just add a few sweets to their items to take away in a party bag,

If he likes Toy Story, do make your own Forkys. All you need is plastic forks, pipe cleaners, play doh and sticky eyes. We did it for my son’s party and it was a huge hit!

T shirt decorating

How long have you got them? Shit load of recyclable boxes, bottles etc. Make rockets and space ships. Follow with hm pizzas in shape of rockets/decorate rocket biscuits. Nothing at that age takes nearly as long as you hope it will, so mentally split the party into 15 min blocks and plan accordingly. Running around being weird can easily fill 2 blocks!