Help me plan 6 year old party

[JonSnowsThrone]

DD turns 6 at the end of this month. We can't afford a big class party with entertainers. She will be handing out invites tomorrow to a few friends for a small party at home.

I am incredibly nervous about holding a party for a bunch of 6 year olds (and possibly their parents).

I am stuck for ideas of what to do and how long things will take. I was imagining a craft activity, party games and then some party food. DD doesn't have any particular interests, she likes most things particularly animals, barbies, and craft. Party is likely to have both girls and boys.

Please give me some ideas or tips from your children's parties.

We did similar for our DS's 5th party. We set up a crown/tiara making station on the dining table which made a great ice breaker for everyone who was arriving. We had planned loads of traditional party games but tbh they all just wanted to run around and play with each other. The pinata went down well and we did sandwhiches, crisps, crudites then little bowls of jelly and ice cream. I think at this age it's good to keep it simple.

I've just this weekend had a party for my DS now 6!

Things I've learned:

• having a piñata was a great idea. Was fun for them, and expended some energy with very little effort on my part


• dont worry about making too much food. Most of mine got binned. You will very likely over cater


• a pin the tail on the dinosaur game went down very well


• Have a small cupcake / donut for the candle blowing cake and then the big birthday cake separately so you don't blow all over the one that will be shared out!


• balloons - they were like kiddie crack. Balloons went down really well!


• bubbles, which I thought would be really popular were roundly ignored


• I had craft activity tables but it didn't really work well - would have only really worked if we'd all sat down and concentrated on the craft which I didn't really want to enforce!


• 2 hours is the perfect time frame for a party - you definitely don't want to go longer!


• create a Spotify playlist if you can and just have it playing in the background


• we planned on putting some YouTube "Just Dance" videos on for the kids to dance along to if things started to wane but didn't get around to needing to


• having party bags is a good idea - because handing them out is a good prompt that the party is finished!


• my best mum friend called her kids quite loudly at 5 minutes before the end "OK Henry, the party's over soon. We leave in 5 minutes!" and then bang on finish time she loudly said "Ok Henry, say goodbye, we're going now" and left! She knew I have quite bad social anxiety and so led by example and everyone else followed quickly. I love her!


• a pay game I planned but again didn't get round to was to tie a length of wool to ring donuts and then hang them so they dangle from above- kids have to stand and eat them with their hands behind their back. Did it with just my son the next day and he loved it. Think it would have gone down well!

Pinatas are fab, but be warned that at least one child will get wacked with the stick (they'll prob be fine though so fire ahead 😃)

Also if you have a garden & it isn't raining kids that age will knock hours out of bubble machines

My dd was 6 last year and we had a small party at home. We did decorating buns first (write their names on paper plates with the buns on), then they played with bubbles in the garden. I bought a glitter tattoo kit very cheaply so they had a couple of them each. I got some suncatchers from Hobbycraft for them to do. Buffet, followed by one of the buns they decorated (other in the party bag) then home. All of the parents left which actually made it easier!

Easy games to do at home are musical statues and pass the parcel. Prob allow 20 - 30 mins max for food and cake. If nice weather, let them in the garden. Just remember sun cream if needed. We did make own pizzas last time- got pre made bases, and kids added own toppings. Occupied them for 10 mins! At 6 they are still quite boisterous- so make sure breakables are moved out of the vicinity! A friend did a pirate treasure hunt around the house at that age. Can get kits from anazon etc that include clues. Mainly, have fun and don't get too stressed.

If you want a bit of quiet, get a roll of bubble wrap. Lay it across the floor and the aim is for them to take turns to walk along it without popping any bubbles. If they succeed they get a small prize.
All the others will stand and watch silently, listening for popped bubbles.
An alternative to pass the parcel if you have lots of dressing up bits and pieces. A large sack filled with dressing up bits is passed around instead of a parcel and whoever is holding the sack when the music stops pulls out an item and has to put it on. It's best if they can all put on a few bits and I think we then did a prize for the funniest outfit at the end.

An hour and half is perfect. Best for them to leave wanting more.

I would really simple craft while waiting for them to arrive eg decorate party bag, scratch art (10 mins), then main craft activity (15 - 20 mins)

Traditional party games. (30 mins) - have cheap party bag fillers for prizes (wilko do a big bag and few bags of haribo)
pass the parcel, put chocolate in every layer, wrap each layer in alternating paper
musical statues
pin the horn on the unicorn - you can buy kits for a couple of £s
simon says
the floor is lava
who can put the most rubbish in the bin bag after pass the parcel

Lunch either make up plates or sandwhich box (sandwiches, crisps, cake bar), fruit shoot or water, platters of fruit to choose from. 20/30 mins

Disco dancing with balloons /quite party games (15 mins)

home time

They really dont need entertainment.

A group of 6 yr old basically run around like wild things entertaining each other. They have 30 second attention spans and arrive excited and in the mood to play.

We missed the 6 yr old party due to Covid but did a 5yr old and 7yr old with the 8yr old party planned for a couple of weeks from now.

What we find works well is:

Stick to 2 hours and if you can make it 11am to 1pm that way you have a natural lunch time.

Keep the food simple and vegetarian that way you don't have to worry about segregating food or making sure that the right plates are directed at the right children. I do jam sandwiches and cheese sandwiches, crisps, berry platter, veg stick platter, fun biscuits like jammy dodgers and party rings.

Stick age appropriate music on

Pick one activity for them, DD likes a bouncy castle which we did when she was 5 and we're doing for her 8th birthday too at her request.

Last year we had a garden party and it was all a bit last minute as had to wait on what restrictions would be in place so we blew up a billion balloons, got big boxes of garden chalks, bubbles and those tubes you swing round and they make an annoying siren like noise and just let them loose in the garden.

1hr playing, then call them all for food. 30 minutes for food and cake then let them loose for the last 30 minutes while you sort out clearing the table and getting the party bags ready. Parents will start arriving 5 minutes before the end.

One thing that was very well received last year but very messy was an ice cream sundae bar, we got a tub of neopolitan, one scoop per kid then they could help themselves to toppings which is where the mess came in. Bowls full of whipped cream, 3 types of sprinkles, 4 flavours of sauce, malteasers, m&ms, gummy worms..... it was a bit much and we were over compensating for Covid lack of socialisation and missed events.

Do you have room for, and can you stretch to, a bouncy castle? We've always found them great hassle-free entertainment for home parties. Better still, it has always been dropped off first thing, so my DCs get a quiet bounce whilst we run around getting the party set up without interruptions.

A cocktail bar is always a huge hit. Buy a selection of juices, some grenadine (and non-alcoholic blue curaçao if you can budget for it), plus paper umbrellas and various slices of fruit to decorate the glasses. DCs can mix and decorate their own concoctions (with a bit of guidance so they don't end up with a whole glass of grenadine!).

My DDs 6th birthday was in Sept 2020 when we were restricted to numbers & outside only - so had a small party in the garden.
DD was(still is) Dino-mad, & wanted a dinosaur cake so I themed the party for dinosaurs & crafts.
I bought cheap small canvases from Home Bargains, paint & glitter, & cut out the initial of each child, stick it to the canvas & they painted that (remove the initial after it's dried).
They did a dinosaur fossil dig - bought some cheap ones from Trago - basically plastic dinosaurs in plaster.
DD & I made a dinosaur egg piñata & the kids loved that (DH may have got hit a few times in the process )
Then had food - had done individual lunch bags with sandwiches, fruit, dinosaur sugar cookies DD & I made & dinosaur cupcakes.
Then did the cake & let them play with a bubble machine/wands whilst we got the party bags sorted. They took home their canvases & dinosaurs they'd dug up, plus a Dino sticker book & slice of cake.

Having a theme made it easier for me as it gives you some focus. For example choose an animal grouo, say jungle animals, and then you can get/make jungle themed decorations, pin the tail on the tiger, the kids can make animal masks or some sort of craft (baker ross are good for kits which don't require glue, paint etc)

Food wise, we did pizza as all kids like it and its really easy. We gave each kid 2 slices of pizza and then had a small buffet of other things they could help themselves to. A lot of it didn't get eaten, so choose stuff which you would eat cold the next day! Alternatively make up little lunchboxes for each kid which they can box up and take home any leftovers.

My 5 year old liked the standard party games - pass the parcel, musical statues, hook a duck etc.

Oh make sure to ask about dietary restrictions/requirements & try to cater for them.
Word of warning on pizza - not every kids likes it, mine don't; & at my nieces party recently only half out of the kids choose pizza, the rest chose hot dogs. And over half didn't eat the ice cream either!

Balloons! Lots of them!
If the weather is nice, I would go for garden. They love running around. Bubbles and soft balls, even the baloons outside. Playing tag. Hide and seek (this depending on space, number of adults, it can be great or not... ) If you have a trampoline, they will be in there too.
If the weather is not so nice, pin the tail, pass the parcel, musical chairs. If you have any board game, depending on how many in total, that could work. Twister, Simon says...

My advice would be to try and encourage parents not to stay, it is so much more stressful having to keep all the parents happy whilst managing a load of kids and under scrutiny. Eugh! I did a party at home and did the donuts on a string but with party rings instead and it went down really well. Music and a disco ball/lights were good too and balloons! Loads of balloons! They generally amused themselves though so apart from a few of the classic party games I just largely left them to it.

Agree with getting parents to drop and go. I don't know how big your house is, but mine isn't big enough for 8 kids plus 8 parents to be comfortably accommodated.

There are so many good ideas on here, thank you.
What would be best the best way to encourage parents to drop off? Could I write it in the invite?

Yeah, I think it would be a really good idea to write it on the invite so parents know what the plan is (it would never have occurred to me to drop and go at 6!)

How many children would you usually invite to a house party? I had been thinking 8 but I am now imagining 8 excited children, some parents and my house is seeming very small.

Thanks again everyone I am loving these ideas

For a home party I'd only invite a few, dd had 5 this year for her 9th birthday and with those plus dd and my other dd the noise and excitement were off the scale!

I wouldn't worry about set games as it puts too much stress on you, they'll have a great time just dancing around to music and playing with each other, with dd's friends I didn't send invites just asked if they'd like to come and play on dd's birthday.

I didn't prepare food either because of how much waste there has been at other parties, I ordered Domino's pizzas for them.

Regarding parents staying it's unlikely they will expect to as it's your house but just in case when they arrive just say hi to the child, tell them your dd is in the living room and say to the parent to come and pick them up at x o'clock.

If you're happier without the other parents there, it's definitely worth making that clear.

I've noticed at DD's friends' parties that there are three kids in her class who always turn up with younger siblings in toe. By not having the parents there you'll limit the risk of loads of extra children too.

We've actively invited siblings and parents to DD's party as she's stuck to inviting particular friends rather than a big group and she knows the siblings and parents well. Our party is outside though (crossing fingers for weather!) which makes a difference.