5th birthday party ideas - help please!

[babysnowman]

Have hired a hall for my daughter's 5th birthday, it's the only place in our village plus a really reasonable price.

It's on the small side so no space for a bouncy castle or anything like that. I've got a lady coming to do coloured box braids in all the girls hair (prob about 15) and I think they'll love that.

I need some activities to fill the rest of the time though. Entertainers are around £300 which is a bit out of budget on top of everything else.

With the braids and lunch, would doing the old school games (musical statues, pin the tail etc) be enough to keep them occupied for 2 hours? Any other suggestions much appreciated!

yes, you'll be able to cover two hours.

Suggested games;

• musical chairs
• musical bumps
• musical statues
• pin the tail on the donkey (or equivalent if you're having a theme, pin the tail on the mermaid, pin the nose on the clown etc - maybe pin the braids on 'daughter's name')
• dance competition
• duck duck goose
• hot potato (bring a soft ball)
• corners
• also recommend just letting them run round without any instructions for a while - lots of kids don't get much chance to do this anymore.
• keepy uppy competition with balloons

You can always have some free dance time, plus a break for a meal, and another for cake later.

That's great, thanks!

If there's any outside space, giant bubbles are generally a hit. I can look out my go-to giant bubble mix recipe if you need it...

Actually, if you just blow up some balloons and let them run around, they'll probably be delighted with themselves. At five, they really can find great fun in just playing with their friends. So a couple of party games, the box braids, a bit of running around time, a bit of a disco and party food time and they'll have a ball.

You might struggle to organise that many children for games, I would just plan a couple but not worry if they don't get done. Blow up some balloons, have some music on and maybe set up some arts and crafts?