Kids party without an entertainer/disco. Can it be done?

[Caky30]

Book the village hall for daughters birthday later in the summer so 3 months away yet. Have had no luck finding a disco or entertainer of any kind, keep getting told it's peak season.

Can it be done without? I mean when I was a kid we never had entertainers, probably hard work for our parents but we just had party games or the local kids play centre (that was pants comapred to today's standards).

Anyway, ever party my dc have been to has had a wow factor thing - disco, entertainer, face painter, bouncy castles (bouncy castle is a no due to Dd having a mild physical disability and she hates them!)

Can it be done with a speaker, Bluetooth and Apple Music? Party games? I have a microphone and a disco light too!

Any advice? Don't want to stress myself out.

Glitter tattoo kits are cheap and they're really easy to apply (much easier than face painting). I sat for the duration of my friend's little girls party putting them on the kids and they went down very well. Decorating a bun and a biscuit (put onto named paper plates!). Decorating a mini tote bag or pencil case which then doubles as a party bag with the throwing in of a pack not haribo. If you have access to outside they could decorate a plant pot and plant a sunflower??

Pack of haribo that should read

My dd went to a party when she was 7 with all traditional party games- it was fantastic! Kids all loved the different games like pass the parcel, musical chairs etc. The parents split the class into groups of 8 with 2 adults per group - more manageable and the games went smoother. So 3 pass the parcels going on at the same time, kids weren't waiting ages for a turn and didn't get bored.
Parents were shattered afterwards but everyone had so much fun.
Good luck!

Yes, party games, both noisy and quieter, a craft activity (baker Ross is a good source) disco

Mummy making with toilet rolls always reduces them to hysterics IME. It produces a lot of mess but the children enjoy that and it's very easy to clear up.

And the chocolate game of course

Disco ball and Black Lace on the Alexa speaker 🔊 - sorted😂

I did a party for my 4 year old as a pirate (dressed up and everything), and led them on a treasure hunt at the hall, and in the end we had a treasure chest full of sweets / coins etc that they all had. Got a kit with clues from amazon. Did musical statues as a challenge. Could do similar but more age appropriate? Also went a party for 7 year olds once where the parents roped a couple of friends in and they did obstacle courses in teams - under a cargo net, throw some bean bags/ balls in a bucket and other challenges and hit the boxes / balloons at the end (these were the baddies). After a couple of goes each, the kids were sweaty! But had fun.

Of course. Someone in sons class had a bouncy castle and old fashioned kids games

No one does kids parties with entertainers round my way, its all just playing at home or at a play centre (before it closed down). For my daughter's 7th birthday party the children played outside most of the time - we did backyard hockey, cooked sausages on sticks over a fire, and played in the snow (February birthday). Other years we've done party games inside like pass the parcel, musical chairs, wink murder, pin the tail on the donkey. Treasure hunt always goes down well. And just having a load of balloons to bat around seems to entertain children for ages. I keep the party to a two hour limit so there's no time for anyone to get bored. And eating takes up time too.

If you've got money to throw at an entertainer but can't get one then maybe get some pretty good prizes for the games.
Mega bubbles are also good if there's an outside area - you could allocate a volunteer family member to be the Bubble King/Queen (they'd need to practice in advance)
www.amazon.co.uk/How-Make-Monstrous-Unbelievably-Bubbles/dp/1570542570/ref=nodl_?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Get some sport spots off Amazon and play musical spots (essentially musical chairs without the faff of chairs). Have a box of small sweets, every child out gets one, and a little prize for the winner (we did party ‘medals’). Musical statues, sleeping lions, all on the same premise.

Pass the parcel - alternate sticker sheets and sweets with a bigger prize in the middle.

@Caky30

Does a summer games party sound lame? As above I have a brand new ring toss, tin can alley, maybe buy a few cheap skipping ropes, hula hoops, the range is cheap right? Obviously I don't want to buy too much because it isn't good for the environment but staff my own dc could use after?!

Doesn't sound lame at all! If my children had summer birthdays I'd definitely do that kind of thing (actually trying to persuade my neighbourhood organisey type people to do some kind of summer games event in the summer for all the neighbourhood children - kids generally do enjoy that kind of thing)

When I've done this for a similar age I enlisted the help of a junior football coach friend who was armed with a whistle. That whistle was the best thing ever.

All of ours had that sort of party at one point or another.

Helps that both dh and I have plenty of games ideas up our sleeves from our volunteering.
Kids that age are more than happy to play games.....just wonder into any Rainbows / Brownies / GB / BB / Beavers / Scouts meeting any night of the week.

Thanks all. Can't help feel anxious about it all!

Covid is on my mind. I have anxiety and I keep thinking what if she gets covid and it gets cancelled, what if her classmates can't come due to covid! Even though we are meant to be living with it now I still get stressed booking and paying for things in advance 😅

Have a look at Party Chest. They have kits to hire for parties such as Funfair, Lego, Nerf, and the kits all come with game ideas. They get delivered Thursday and collected Monday via DPD. I've used them twice now.

We did summer games once and played hook a duck. Cheap paddling pool, load of ducks and net from Home Bargains, kids loved it. You could either number the ducks and give a prize out depending on total score of 3 ducks or let them exchange a duck for their party bag at the end

Top tip would be to keep it to a reasonable time.
Don't be trying to entertain them for 3 hours or anything daft.

Get other people to help you - if you are running games, you can't be clearing up after food.
Make sure one person is entertaining them whilst another is getting contact numbers off the parents dropping their dc off.
Have someone clearing up as someone else is handing out party bags / checking no child escapes without their parent there.
In the unlikely event you need someone to administer a plaster / wet paper towel, someone else still needs to be keeping the dc entertained.
Things are most likely to go wrong if the dc haven't got enough to do - that is when accidents happen and they start getting silly.

Yes - completely agree re:timing. 2 hours is definitely enough time!
Love the sound of the sports spots for musical chairs.
Some great ideas on this thread. Agree kids love games at that age - and a party bag to proudly walk home with!

Face painting
Nails
Dress up
An activity like making bath bombs?

Having done this (more times than I care to count) though not for the whole class, I really recommend Baker Ross craft kits (pick the ones that don't need glue!). DD and her friends really loved them, and they are a relatively quiet activity which helped her cope alongside the more boisterous party games.

Thanks all. Definitely going for 2 hours, hopefully eating will take up a chunk of that too 😅

Look at what other things bouncy castle companies have - ones near to us have things like inflatable ball pools and diddy car race tracks. Would they be ok for your DD?

Also, stomp rockets go down a treat of the hall has a high ceiling - just make sure they aren’t aimed at any light fittings. The shame of the hall committee needing to set their scaffolding up to retrieve one of our rockets from the grill over the light

The kids loved them though!