Childens party- please give me your tips! I’m terrified!

[Crayzeefrog]

So DD is going to be 4 soon and I’ve invited 15 kids to our house for a party. Parents will be staying (god knows where we are going to seat all of these people)

Please please please give me your best tips for kids food/adult food/games/party bags/prizes/getting people to leave etc

Last year we were in lockdown so I haven’t thrown her a proper party before and everyone else seems to have gone for soft play parties (for a very good reason it seems!). I feel out of my depth.

Pass the parcel - wrap something tiny into each layer or one sweet, then something good in the middle, nice music mix to pass to. Sure fire winner

Disco time - good for 20 minutes, also the musical bumps game

Don't bother with party bags, go to The Works/£land and buy cheap books, hand then out at the end with cake, children will be happy and parents will love that there is nothing annoying to take home!!!

To comment on food we need to know the time of the party?

How big is your house?! Marquee in the garden would be my suggestion.

Make half as many sandwiches then you think you will need. Only one filling per sandwich (little kids don’t pick out the tomato if they don’t like it, they just reject the sandwich!) remove crusts. Or just don’t serve sandwiches!

We always do party bags - we do some little gifts, some sweet tweets and cake

Treats even

Move anything precious or breakable.

Do you have a big house? Will you be able to seat the kids for food at a table? If not, individual food boxes and picnic blankets will be OK. Don't wait for all the kids to finish eating before you do the cake - kids will get bored and start wandering off.

Plan the games or activities you are going to do. Have some emergency games in case the things youve planned don't take as long as you think.

Sleeping Lions is an excellent game for when you need to calm everyone down.

Have helpers to make cups of tea for the adults if you are occupying the dc.

For 4 year olds I would do: cheese sandwiches, jam sandwiches, cucumber sticks, grapes, crisps, another kind of crisps, (eg hula hoops and Pom bears), chocolate fingers, some kind of little cake, orange squash, black current squash

We often do food boxes - you can order nice themed ones online

I have a different perspective to pp. I do party bags because kids love them. Books (particularly not very good books) are just not the same.

@Stompythedinosaur I agree, sorry pp. iME most kids especially those not even blending yet are a bit meh on books instead of party bags

Good luck 😂😂
Dd (6) had her first birthday party in December and invited the whole class.
Next year she is inviting 1 friend to McDonald's after school. 😂😂
Party bags
Bubbles
Stickers
Yo-Yo
Cake
Hair clips

I gave out books once and all the kids looked disappointed. One even said as they were leaving “excuse me I didn’t get my party bag” 😂 lesson learned.

I used to be a nanny and would host the childrens parties. We used to get them to make their own mini pizzas/decorate cakes or biscuits and make a table mat or hat etc. It passed the time easily.

I’d make a really good plan for what they’ll do when they arrive (ie some kind of craft) until everyone is there. Then structure it in to small sections including a space for anyone who doesn’t want to join in.

Talk to DC a lot about what it will be like - it can be really overwhelming suddenly having that many people in your home when you’re 4/5 and they might struggle to either share or not want to play. One child I knew would go to her bedroom during her party as it was too much for her.

Alcohol for the adults.

An entertainer for the children.

Can't think of anything worse than hosting party games myself for 15 four year olds!

You really don't need a marquee lol. (Unless you have space and really can't cope with people being in the house).

I did loads of kids parties for a similar number in my small 2 bed flat with one small front room and kitchen.

Don't worry about seating, people will stand and move about a lot.

Wine is good (for the adult guests and to help you through it!). Seriously, though it will be fine. Just relax and enjoy.

And move anything breakable beforehand!!😬

And I also would def do party bags. Kids love them!

I hope you have a big house. I done this for my DDs 5th birthday party . House is a medium sized bungalow but big garden. I underestimated how behaved 4/5 year olds would be . They won't stay where you want them to and will want to go in your bedroom and destroy everything . Also try and raid your fridge.
Tried again for a Halloween party and kids were 7/8 years old and they behaved worse. Vowed never again.
Make sure there's plenty of structure . I agree something like a 20 minute disco with musical bumps etc .

DD went to a party last month and they did musical chairs, except they used hula hoops instead of chairs. And the children that were out were given the very important job of seeing who was next out in every round - half the kids wanted to do that rather than jump in the hoops!

Rather than party bags do a cheap book eg the works, pack of haribo and cake.

Musical bumps, musical statues, pass the parcel (put sweets in each layer) perhaps a craft activity, at that age colouring might ge enough.

For the food do basic beige food mostly eg ham sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, mini sausages, crisps, plus cherry tomatoes, cucumber and carrot sticks then cheap cake eg mini rolls. Squash to drink. Birthday cake goes home in bags. Offer tea and coffee for the adults and perhaps some biscuits

Part ybags, definitely. Dd2 (also a 5 year olds party) was given a party bag with some mini harribo bags, a small Cadbury chocolate bar, party rings and a sticker book to take away. That was really nice.

Musical statues is always a winner.

Get a square cake, not a round one. Much easier to slice up and wrap in a napkin.

Oh and cheap cake is fine for the birthday cake - they do 15 portion ones at the supermarket

Argh just wrote a few bits and it disappeared but basically
Order some paper bags and do one per child - otherwise there's a lot of faffing and wastage trying to hand round plates to 4 year olds.
If giving out books, give a few sweets or chocolate with it - avoids moans from kids but still no annoying bits in everyone's houses. Be wary of trying to do craft/making pizza first, do musical statues or similar to burn off some of the excitement. They are still quite little for sitting down activities without loads of supervision. Especially if you have a lot of 'lively' children in the group. No 4 year olds party is complete without some tears so don't feel like you're doing something wrong if there are some tantrums...