Birthday party question

[CoconutBin]

DD is about to turn 6. She hasn’t had a birthday party yet.

She wants to invite all the girls from her class (8 in total) and have the party at home. She wants a princess theme, so the girls can come in a princess dress if they want to (or borrow one of hers if they don’t have one). The party will be 2 hours in the afternoon.

Now my (possibly stupid) question- when you host birthday parties, do you also play games etc? Or just put on some music and let them play? How would you host 8x 6 year old girls?

I didn’t get invited to parties when I was little, and never had one of my own. DD has been to a few, but they‘ve been big events in the village hall/soft play with 20+ kids, which DD doesn’t want.

I'd definitely have some games as back up - pass the parcel, that sort of things. And a two hour party needs some sort of food. But probably they'll be happy charging around and playing.

Oh forgot to mention food - definitely cake, and planning on have bowls of crisps, mini pizzas and veg sticks (optimistic?) on the table.

Yes id have some organised activities - I’d do pass the parcel, musical bumps (with cushions on the floor), musical statues, sleeping princesses (like dead lions).

Have a playlist of music ready in advance.

if possible have a craft table just set up for colouring - if kids don’t want to join in games they will be happy colouring usually . Or you could theme it - give them all a cardboard crown and some feathers and glue and sparkly bits and let them make a crown.

If you have a spare adult you could do glitter tattoos.

DS went to a summer party recently. All the kids mainly just played in the garden with various garden toys and the swing set, and had a blast.

I would have Disney songs playing in the background. You can find playlists on Spotify, YouTube etc.

Maybe look up some princess craft ideas on pintreat/inatagram and have that set up for them to make something easy to take home.

A game of pass the parcel and musical statues is a good idea with some token gifts as prizes.

You could order some cute transfer tattoos and have a tattoo station set up for them to each have a few put on.

plenty of picky bits of food. Pizza, crisps, sausage rolls, donuts, etc. (make sure you ask about any allergies or intolerances)

Definitely good to have some activities or games i think. My daughter always liked dancing at that age, and they often enjoy musical statues, pass the parcel, a treasure hunt often goes down well, we've done a piñata as well that's a bit of fun. some crafts, making bracelets is nice and easy. I hope she has a fabulous party 😊

For my DD’s 4th and 5th party, we just did a birthday play date with food (nuggets, sausages and chips), instead of a party. For the 5th I did have a magician come for entertainment. They were just happy running around playing.

Next year we are hiring out a softplay though.

I'd break it up like this

45 mins arrival and free play
30 mins food and candles
45 mins games/activities

It would be a pretty boring party if you don't arrange something to do! Speak to your daughter and ask if she wants traditional games (pass the parcel, musical statues etc) or would she prefer something like a princess themed craft table. Crafty activities double as a party favour if they take home what they've made and save you the trouble of doing party bags full of crap.

Definitely arrange games and activities or your house will just get very messy! We did a party like this and got some baker Ross craft sets and colour in bags from the works and that took about 30 minutes (longer than I expected), ten minutes or so on decorating biscuits (keep it simple with digestives, icing and sprinkles) and food and cake kept them busy for at most 20 minutes. Add in a piñata and pass the parcel plus a bit of a disco and the party was pretty much done

You need some structure. Depending on the size of your house (or/and garden), you can do more active ones or keep it simple.

Keep them out of your DD's room, 9 girls is a recipe for disaster. Get at least one other adult to help.
Disney music is good, musical statues is a great one if you have the space.

DD loved a craft activity, Baker Ross has good sets but you need 1-2 adults to help. If they come dressed up then don't do anything which is messy, no paint and control the glue, go for stickers, not glue sticks.
We did crowns, bracelets/necklace, small fabric bags with jewels and I did the name in fabric pen.
Glitter tattoos are also good.

When is the party? If you do 3-5/4-6 I would assume parents think you feed them enough to cover dinner. Hot dogs are easy to feed a group or put margharita pizzas in the oven and cut them up.

So many great ideas, thanks. Party is 2 - 4pm.

I definitely like the idea of some structure and ganes/ activities. Breaking the two hours up into chunks is a really useful idea, thanks.

Our house is a good size for the party, but our garden is tiny, on a split level and not fenced in (open fields on one side, neighbours garden down a slope on the other side) so I‘d rather avoid going out.

I had considered doing the party at the playground (weather permitting) but there’s no toilet nearby.

Yes I’d do Princess themed games

Stick the tiara on the princess
Get some crowns for them to decorate with stuck on jewels and glitter pens
Print out pictures of different princesses, and cut them into 3 (head and shoulders, torso, legs). Give each child a torso, hide the rest, they have to complete their Princess.
Musical “thrones” rather than chairs.
”Frozen” musical statues - use music from frozen and they have to freeze like they’ve been frozen by magic.

You definitely need structure and planned activities. I don't think you need games if you don't want to manage it/your daughter doesn't want it. Instead you could do craft activities or teamwork based activities (e.g. a quiz or a treasure hunt).

Some ideas:

Biscuit decorating: you could get a gingerbread lady and icing tubes and let them make a princess biscuit.

Bracelet/necklace making: you just need elastic and beads and let them go at it.

Decorate a paper bag to take their biscuit and jewellery home in.

Treasure hunt: hide eight plastic (or cardboard) tiaras round the house and they need to find all of them. They only 'win' when everyone has their tiara.

Quiz: Do a quiz of questions about princesses from movies.

Dance party: put some music on and disco lights and let them dance, chuck in some balloons as well.

I'd have the food at a set time, sit down and eat, not buffet, somewhere in the middle of the party.

I did parties at home. I think 90 mins is plenty, better to leave them wanting more than have the last 20mins in chaos and crying.

Agree sit down for food at clear time, not random grazing.
Even if it is a picnic on the floor around a rug.