HELP! 15 kids will come to DS Party and it will rain

[Frozendinonuggets]

I want to hide in the bathroom and cry.

How do i entertain 15 kids aged 5 to 7 in my living room? Any idea or positive feedback (like "you can do it!) is welcomed.

I know it sounds stupid but I am really afraid it will be a f* disaster.

Long story short. My son will turn 6 and he will have an afternoon Birthday Party in few days.
We said max 8 kids. He wanted to invite more, but we said to him that he could invite more kids only in case someone cannot come.
Well, we sent the invite few weeks ago and many said they cannot make it and few did not reply. So he invited few more as agreed. In the last couple of days ALL the people that said could not come changed their mind. And a couple are bringing sibling.

And it will rain.

HELP! 😅

Also, my husband totally blames me and keeps saying it will be a total mess and it will be horrible for DS, so I basically wake up at night worrying about it.

When is it...are you sure it will rain? Forecasts can change

It'll be fine.

My birthday is in August so my mum had this often.

Clear the living room if you can.

Prepare some games - pass the parcel, duck duck goose, look them up.

Do a party tea but sell it as an indoor picnic. Put down blankets etc.

Hire a bouncy castle in the garden. One with a cover. Kids won’t care. We did this for dds birthday one year. It rained. They still had a great time

Get a bouncy castle with a roof cover

Saturday afternoon, I do not live in UK and in our area it looks really grim atm

I always think its cheeky bringing along siblings and expecting them to join the party

Surely at 5/6 it's drop and run so the sibling doesn't need to stay as the parent isn't staying? Can you blow up a load of balloons and have a dance party?

How big is your garden? Do you have room for a gazebo or a cover in some way?

We have a small garden and during Covid when you could meet in small groups of 6 outside it rained when our child had friends over and we put a cover up we got from Amazon (tied to window sills and screwed into next door's wall).

If you could do that I'd put some food or an activity outside. If you have a trampoline or garden toys many would be happy out in the rain.

Can you hire or buy a gazebo for the day?

This is really nasty of your husband by the way. It’ll be fine. Are parents staying? It’ll be much easier if they don’t and then you don’t have the sibling problem. If they stay then they’ll sit around watching (judging) the party, need cups of tea etc and generally be a nuisance. If any of the parents are friends/nice you could let them stay and help you out. A bunch of kids that age will just be happy with a bunch of balloons and music on while you get on with making food. Do a couple of games (pass the parcel, musical statues) have food, job done. You’ll be fine. Your husband should be helping you out not adding to your anxiety.

Remove as much furniture as possible/ move against wall in largest room

Plan a range of traditional party games

We always did a simple craft of some sort. Good for when waiting for everyone to arrive. But depends on if you have space. Decorate a photo frame with stickers etc and put a polaroid photo it in? Decorate a note book?

if weather good enough at any point move outside for part of party to play some running around games

Make sure some of games are quieter ones if possible

Indoor picnic tea

Is it possible to say no to siblings?

Tell the siblings families they can't stay as you don't have room.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions and positive vibes!
Gazebo and castles are great idea but unfortunately out of budget.

We have a smallish garden, but big enough to play few games outside (which was my plan, like a treasure hunt) but really difficult to cover

Text all the parents "Sorry change of plan die to the weather. We will now be indoors with more limited space. Please could you drop and leave the children, and unfortunately no space for siblings to attend now".

Do Pass the Parcel, Pin the Tail, Pinata, Get 2 hula hoops and have some team races...all step through the hoop while holding hands, whilst keeping a balloon off the floor not using your hands to touch the balloon etc. Balloon volleyball. Musical statues. Paper plane competition. Put some just dance clips on the TV and have a dance off. Get loads of prizes. Maybe do some fancy dress and have a selfie station too. Then fill them with sugar. After that just blast some music and let them dance it off.

Can you put two gazeebos in the garden

Have you acknowledged the ones who changed their minds? If you haven't, perhaps you could reply saying "oh no, we changed our plans when you said you couldn't make it and can no longer accommodate you".

Whether you go.out in the rain or stay inside, this will be doable! Ignore your husband's comments and give him a specific job to do on the day so he can't mill about being negative.

Clear lounge ....huge blankets maccies style boxes from Amazon... Fill with burger chips and toy and a film instant movie party. Chuck couple party games. Or a pop quiz

You could finish on the treasure hunt outside so they get their shoes on and then stay out until collected. That way you don't get 15 pairs of muddy shoes traipsed back in to your house!

This is the type of thing we put up which cost about £20

This…

Agree with @WonderingWanda - text all and explain the change in circumstances and to drop off children but now no space for siblings. I always think it’s cheeky bringing siblings and would probably have said no from the outset.
Anyway, games, dancing, craft, is it 2 hours? Load of pizzas cut up or a picnic tea type thing on blankets on the floor or even a sandwich and whatever else in one of those picnic boxes would keep things a bit more contained.
Good luck!

Book the local soft play for friends and tell parents they can bring siblings if they pay.

Getting some plain biscuits, paper plates and decorating stuff (tubes of edible coloured icing and sprinkles) occupies them for quite a while (they decorate and then eat their own biscuit). We used to play musical mats at parties (like musical chairs, but round ikea place mats, lay them out in a line, play music, while they all walk round the line of place mats, then stop the music and they have to run and sit on a placemat) - obviously each time you remove one place may so someone is left out. Also a treasure hunt around the house (in different rooms (of the weather is bad). A hula hoop can be a good leaving gift, that they can play with at the party. And lots of balloons for throwing, hitting etc. Or a movie party, with lots of treats and snacks. I second the party lunch boxes - buy one for each child and fill it with the ‘extras’ - eg napkin, carton of juice, piece of fruit, crisps, cake bar, raisins, cheese, etc, then do a big tray of sandwiches (cheese / jam / ham, is a UK thing!), and maybe some savoury extras like mini sausages. So each kid has a lunch box then chooses a couple of sandwiches. If all the extras in the box are long life then that is even easier, prepare them the night before, and just bring them out on the day. Good luck - parties are quite stressful anyway. And to be honest, so long as there are lots of party food and a bit of high-spirited fun, it will all be fine!

Divide and conquer…

Find someone reliable to help you. Then split the children into 4 groups and rotate each group through a separate, calmer activity in the kitchen for 4x15 minutes (e.g. decorate biscuits) whilst you play games with the rest in the living room.

Or change the invites so half come for the first hour and half for the second hour (with a gap in-between to reset everything). Then you'll have 8 (including DS twice) in each group. Do a craft, a few games and the cake candles, but don’t feed them.