Kids parties

[Nofaffing]

I am starting to think about arranging my DC's birthday parties, both due in the next few months. They are 4 and 6 a couple of years ago for my DD1 4th birthday she had a birthday at a sports centre but they are no longer offering birthday packages.

Other parties they have been invited to seem to involve hire of a hall with hire of bouncy castles, kids entertainers, disco's or an external company organising an activity for them to do. Sometimes a number of these options. I can't believe how expensive these options are, parents must be spending about £200 per party and this is before food.

Has anyone's DC been to any or anyone hosted a kids party that was successful that didn't cost a fortune? Any great ideas on how to entertain children of this age at a party without breaking the bank?

How many are you planning to invite? If its just a few (fewer than 10) then you could just do it at home. If more than that you probably are looking at hiring a hall, which obviously will cost a fair bit.

Alternatives for a medium sized party would be something like soft play, farm Park, swimming but that will cost quite a lot as well.

TBH for a 4 year old I think a party at home with pass the parcel, musical statues, party dinner and balloons would go down a treat but it may not be the done thing these days.

the local swimming pools don't do swimming parties until the children are 8 and the local soft play only does parties from 17:00 to 18:30.....I think this is quite late in the day.

would probably be looking at inviting around 15ish, but obviously don't know how many will turn up. It think it was about 17 invited to DD's 4th birthday and they all turned up. It tends to be whole class parties at the moment which makes it more expensive.

Yes it is very possible providing you are prepared to do a bit of prep, get creative and it helps if you have a few people that can help you out on the day.

I would say for that age the party doesn’t need to be any longer than. 1.5 hours. That gives you half for eating, cake etc and leaves you an hours worth of activities to plan.

Having a theme can be really handy football, Harry Potter, frozen whatever they are into then go with your traditional party games adapted to have a theme name. If they are creative you could get a. Simple craft kit from Baker Ross, have lots of balloons about to play with and a dancing competition is usually a good filler if you need one. If thing get a bit crazy play a round of sleeping lions. Pinterest is your friend when it comes to games and activities.