Organising a child's party in a park - help please!

[sonichedgehog82]

My DD will be 4 in August and we are just looking into organising a party - the first one she'll have had. She's excited as she's been to a number of 4th birthday parties so far this year from kids at nursery.

I'm clueless as she's our eldest and wanted to ask if anyone can help with a few possibly obvious / silly questions!

As it will be summer we want to hold it in the park (as opposed to a soft play). We are fortunate enough to live by one of the royal parks in London where you can hold a gathering so long as it's no more than 30 people.

My questions are:

• it's only me, DH and DC with no grandparents or family to help set up the area with balloons, party food etc or run party games. Am I taking too much on? I'm struggling to work out the logistics of getting it all set up, carrying everything there and clearing away whilst looking after DC.
• I was wondering whether any companies this service?
• alternatively we have 2 lovely babysitters are are early years carers from the nursery - do you think we could offer them the opportunity to help us run the party for a decent fee or is that insulting?
• what other things and ideas should we factor in to arranging a kids party in a park? (Other than weather contingency plan of course).

Thank you!

I would suggest you keep it simple. No need for lots of decorations. Just picnic blankets, lunchboxes and a few extra snack for grown ups as well as drinks. Get a cart on wheels to transport it all to the park. And it will even be fine to ask other parents to bring picnic blankets with them so you don’t have to buy a load for one day. Keep the food in the cart until you want it to be eaten. Have a few games in mind that don’t need props. Keep party bags simple and small.

I know someone who did this. They took a marquee, picnic blankets and folding chairs. An ice box with drinks, sandwiches, fruit plus crisps and cake. Plates napkins etc

Kids played on park, parents stayed . They took a speaker and did a few party games - pass parcel, musical statues, musical bumps. Ended with food and cake.

Think they did two hours although people could obviously stay longer.

Every party my grand daughter( coming up 6 ) has had or been to have been accompanied by a parent. So I wouldn’t expect parents to drop and go.

My DD has an August birthday and it always rained so definitely have a plan b.

If there’s a café in the park think about hiring out a table/catering there. Our local one has a function room and will do sandwich/fruit/cake type catering quite reasonably.

I would ask one of your babysitters to come and look after your DD before the party while you set up, during the party keep a general eye on her to check she doesn’t wander off or need a wee/drink/suncream etc as you’ll be busy hosting, and after while you clear up.

do as much as you can at home

arrive at the park 45 mins early to set up
husband can occupy children
you don’t need to go overboard with things and take loads

could you pre order some pizzas from so where and just get them delivered straight to the park

if the park has a shop nearby
maybe you can run there to pick things up instead having to transport everything from home

if it is greenwich park
the maritime museum has lockers so you could go along first thing in the morning store some things in the locker so you don’t have to carry in one go

If done well in lovely weather it could be so great but it could be seen as you trying to do a cheap party.

Other children you don’t know could join in
It seems casual so people might be more inclined to not turn up rather than something you’ve booked

Echo the poster who said this is totally normal for summer kids’ parties in London - have been to countless park parties! If you don’t have a wagon you could try borrowing one for the day from The Library Of Things (they have several locations and it’s v affordable.) If there is a supermarket nearby you could send one of the adults on an ice lolly run.

Just ensure they don’t all run off! This happened to my friend have never seen anyone so stressed! They were older though and being naughty. About 6 of them just ran off and scattered throughout the park!

Sounds like you have a younger dc. You need man on man marking for this toddler and ideally your 4yo. Minding them is what makes this harder than having a party just for adults. Hire a babysitter to make sure they are safe throughout setup and take down. The rest you can manage I think.

DS had a park party when he was 4.
It was an Olympic year and we dis lots of different races - egg and spoon; sack etc and everyone won a plastic medal. We took the equipment needed, and a little cd player. We did little party teas in individual bags in a cool box.
I was watching the weather all week though. Back up was a local scout hut.
It was a great party!

When my goddaughter had a party in the park, the biggest thing was demarking the party area from the general park. I don't know what you'll be allowed to do, but they had canes 4ft tall with balloons on top, then ribbons/streamers wound around to make a 'fence'. Obviously leaving a gap for the 'entrance'. It was sizeable enough to give the kids room to sit down and also move about a bit, but still left loads of park space for everyone else. If you can't stick canes in the ground (which will be invisible once removed anyway), you could get rounders bases that are weighted at the bottom and have the sticks coming up. Blow up the balloons in advance and use sellotape to attach the bottom bit to the top of the sticks. Brand name sellotape, and/or brand name scotch tape, are both easy to tear so you won't need scissors, and if you wear clothing with pockets it's easy to put it away so it doesn't get lost.

Or keep it simple and buy helium balloons with weights and long strings, should still do the job without weaving a ribbon to make a fence. But make sure you have enough balloons for every child to take one home if you do that.