To do 90 minute party instead of the usual 2 hours?

[applejack18]

I am planning dd birthday party. She is turning 7 but most friends attending will be 6. Most parties since they've been 4 have been 2 hours long. (Entertainer, soft play)
I'm planning to hire hall (due to our house being tiny) and run traditional games, eg knife and fork game, pin tail, pass parcel with forfeits etc. I'm confident about running the activities - but you never know how long something will last and how their attention spans will be. I'm a bit apprehensive about filling the time if it is 2 hours including pause for food and cake. 90 mins is easier to fill. it would be a drop and run party. Aibu to do 90 mins or shall I do the done thing of 2 hours? Don't want to short change my daughter or her guests!

Guests will be approx 15 girls

Balloons for after food and let them run around. (Am guessing there's no way you can have hide and seek as a fall-back activity.)
FWIW we found colouring in really holds a group of girls attention.

Went to a 90 minute party last weekend. Works perfectly well.

I have done 90 mins party before, for the same reasons as you. If it overuns when the parents are there it doesn't matter. I think most 2 hr ones are with an entertainer. If you did decide to do the full 2 hours, you could always do either colouring competitions, at the start when the children are arriving, which they might do for a while, or just do a dancing competition at the end to fill the time, who can be the best ballet dancer, who can be the best silly dancer, best ice skater dancer etc and give out sweets for prizes, but with that age they would probably do that till you sent them away!

Thanks so far. I'm thinking 90 mins is enough and quit while you're ahead! OTOH a fair amount of planning will go into this so don't want regrets we could have done more fun for longer (Overthinking I know)

It's your choice but I reckon an hour of games plus food and then balloons will take you up to 2 hours quite easily.

It depends on where the guests are coming from, I think.

If you're all local, no problem.

My childrens' school has an intake radius of about an hour so some parents could be travelling 90 minutes just to get to the party. Therefore ours are always 2 hours or more.

I did this once, it felt very rushed and I wouldn't again.

YANBU. I did a 2 hr party at the weekend for 6 year old (mainly) boys. Each minute felt like it lasted ten. They mostly just ran around, with a few games thrown in (pass the parcel, musical statues, pinats

posted too soon. .. piñata. I probably should have paid for an entertainer but we were broke when I was planning it!

no opinion on 90mins vs 2 hours - whatever works best for you. But either way to de-stress yourself, I suggest you think of LOADS of games (so you KNOW you're not going to run out of activities) and have a massive bowl of sweets for prizes, and just keep playing games until the parents turn up to collect and you can collapse in a frazzled heap.

I don't know the knife and fork game, unless that is what we call the chocolate game? but in addition to the rest of your list I'd also add:
musical statues, duck duck goose, musical chairs, what's the time Mr Wolf?, the ladder game, Grandmother's footsteps, musical bumps, sleeping lions etc

Some of those are quite similar (bumps/statues, Mr Wolf/Grandmother's) but put them a way apart and the kids won't notice.

The more parties I throw, the less concerned I get about filling time.

The last party I had, I didn't get to play all the games I'd planned. The kids just ran around making their own fun.

Thanks for replies.

What's the ladder game Fatmomma99?