Childrens' party games...

[notMarlene]

WIBU and generally misguided to even consider doing pass the parcel with 18 five year olds? Would it be madness?

Not even got the stuff yet but I'm getting the wibbles. There's a wild three year old in the mix too. 3 adults

Sounds fine to me ,perhaps have 2 parcels going at a time

It should be fine... unless you do what my DH did and put on extra sellotape "to make it more fun". None of the kids could unwrap the $%&^!* parcel without adult help.

In the end we gave up (along with 24 very bored children) and just gave it to a little girl we liked when nobody else was looking.

Put a sweetie or small token prize in each layer and fiddle the music so everyone gets one before anyone wins the Big Prize in the middle

yes, easily do-able with two parcels going at the same time. wrap a little sweetie in with each layer and make sure that you have enough layers for everyone to get a shot unwrapping with a few spare layers for mis-haps with the pause button! Also - have a big tub of haribo or equivalent (check out Aldi) on hand to cheer up anyone who misses out!

Perfectly easy. I've done it with a group of 18ish 3 and 4 year olds.

There's also musical chairs. (Vicious but fun)
A pinata.
Balloon keepy uppy.
Fish flapping. Light paper fish race using a half folded (and then taped up) newspaper.
Hunt the 'thimble'. Cut out a hundred bats, cakes, stars, eyeballs etc, and hide about the place.

PLAN your games. Have exciting running about ones, but finish on quiet ones, like pass the parcel, to calm them down before you eat.
You could do a simple craft activity if you want. Or have a storytime.

Excellent! Thank you all , feeling much more confident now.

Hmmm. Wasn't really a success at all. Oh well.

Oh no, what happened?!

What went wrong. We need to evaluate the activity so we can learn from it and incorporate the findings into the planning for our next activity.
(Hope I don't sound like a nursery nurse!)

What happened. I;d have thought it would go down well, especially with a small pack of sweets every other wrapper.

Sleeping lions is good for when you want peace