To ask for recommendations for children's party?

[RubyGoat]

I've never done a proper proper birthday party before - DD will be 5 this spring. We've booked a local church hall so far, just a few minutes walk from the town centre. DD's year at school has 2 classes so there will be a minimum of 25, maximum of around 50 kids (please God no more...!) It's an afternoon party, 1-3pm on a Saturday. Please could you help me with...

What kids food generally goes down well. So far I've thought: sandwiches - cheese, ham, egg mayo, jam. Veg sticks & hummus dip. Mini sausages. Cheese, variety of crisps. Bread & butter. Fresh fruit cut up, jelly in little pots, cake (obviously). Water, fruit juice to drink.

• What other dips do kids like? Do most 5YOs like fizzy drinks?

I'm planning to do nibbles for the parents too - what would go down well? Crisps, LDC (obvs ). I might make one of these as well if I have time. Hot drinks & coke, lemonade etc. Somethings else savoury - sandwiches? Would most parents have eaten before or not had time?

Prizes for games - any suggestions? I've got 3 each of these, these, & 4 mini packs of plasticine. Also may get some of these. We're planning pass the parcel, musical statues, & flappy fish, which will all need proper prizes. Also many sweets etc...

Sorry for so many obvious questions! DD is really excited & I don't want to want to get anything wrong. DH has exams the week before & after so I am on my own to get it sorted... hence the advance planning.

Hire an entertainer if you can afford it. 2 hours is a long time to fill with 25 kids (no way 50) especially if you don't have any experience of dealing with large groups of children.

Party games, then food, then more party games to give you time to clear up the food.

No to egg sandwiches, no to fizzy drinks. Red and orange squash will be fine. No houmous (mess!). Last party I went to, breadsticks (full size) were really popular. Biscuits and fairy cakes because they don't actually eat the birthday cake at the party - that gets cut up in a mad rush after the candles have been blown out and shoved into party bags (remember napkins!).

1-3 pm does not span an meal times, I'd cut right back on the food.

You could do activity 'stations' for part of the party. Kids will know the idea of groups/stations from school and will comply. Divide in to groups of 6ish and spend 10-15 mins at each station - manned by a grandparent, friend etc - decorate a (bought) fairy cake, make a crown, facepaint/tattoo, make a spinner etc. Music in between to announce time to dance to next station...

Add some non-prize games - duck duck goose, jungle on fire, corners, in & out the dusky bluebells, I sent a letter, etc. Pick something some of them know from school /brownies etc?

Also parachute games are great at that age - borrow or buy a parachute?

Have you already invited them? 50 is a huge number of kids, and unless the church hall is enormous there simply won't be enough room for them all. A bouncy castle won't help as you can only have about 10 on at once and it will take up so much space.
From my experience of parties (3 DC) I have a plan with all the timings on, an activity for them to do as soon as they arrive (craft), a quiet area with colouring/cars/Lego for those who need space, a named water bottle for each child (packs of 12 from Asda about £3). I don't lay out food, I put a line of boxes with wrapped sandwiches, fruit, frubes, crisps, and biscuits (e.g. kitkats). The kids get given a brown lunch bag, they go along the line and take one thing from each box to put in their bags. Sit and eat, anything uneaten goes home, along with water bottles - minimal clear up!

Definitely echo everyone else and say invite the class of 25, not 50! Ideally 10-15 will come, which is a great number.

Squash and water is fine.

Keep the food simple. I'd scrap jelly, personally- too much mess potential. Stick to jam / chocolate spread / possibly cheese sandwiches on white bread, with crusts cut off, crisps, mini sausages, biscuits of the Jammy Dodger / Party Rings variety, and possibly something healthy. You then just need birthday cake to either eat there or take home.

For the parents, you could have a tea/coffee station, with perhaps a box of biscuits.

We've found that a piñata works better than pass-the-parcel - fewer tears and they all share the prizes.

I like simple craft type things, as well as balloons, a dressing up box and different things to play with around the room at this age. Or you can hire a bouncy castle / soft play equipment, or entertainer.

Hope you all have a great time!

Rope in people to help. Making sandwiches for 50 25 people takes ages, as does putting food out, cutting cake up for party bags and so on. You won't be able to do food stuff if you are running party games (and you'll need help with those too) so make sure you have some reliable people around you.

I did a party in a church hall last year when dd was 6. Kept the food really simple as like yours it was between meal times - sandwiches, sausage rolls, pizza, crisps and cake. There was an urn so made teas and coffees for the parents and supplied cake and biscuits.

Hired a large bouncy castle, an entertainer and a face painter & glitter tattooist. I've not been to a party in a hall that didn't have bouncy castle or some sort of entertainment laid on. Think it would be really hard to manage that amount of kids on your own!

I would definitely get an entertainer. We had about 25 kids at last year's party and the entertainer was worth every penny!! She kept everyone going from blowing up balloons as they was arriving, party games, getting them in a line and sat for food, getting everyone out on time! I didn't really need to do anything except sort the food out. I ordered sandwich platters from costco which made it easier too. I ordered 30 party food boxes from ebay and had cake already cut up and boxed for children to take home and a small different birthday cake for the candles/singing

Sleeping lions is a good game if they start getting wild, a slow cooker filled with hot dogs is a good cheap food idea.

I got parachute ( £15) and page of games from Internet
No way invite 50!!!! Are you mad !! seriously could be dangerous
Love the idea of having different stations
You need lots of adult help
Keep food v simple we used Costco sandwich platter £13 which was more than enough for 10 kids, and parents. fruit platter as a nod to healthy people
The honours and veg sticks completely ignored. And thrown in bin
Slab cake with smarties on for pudding. Party bag was 2 waitrose cupcakes ( v yummy and 0nly 40p per party bag) and a helium balloon

Wow thanks for all the responses.

I'm assuming not everyone will be able to attend... plus we're probably not inviting everyone from both classes. All of DD's class plus some from the other class, she was at nursery with a lot of them. She's quite friendly & not easily fazed by noise so I'm not concerned about that. But I suppose other kids might be, something to consider, I want them all to enjoy it. Invitations not yet gone out - waiting till we get the booking confirmation, just in case. (I've seen comments on here about kids getting excluded from parties & I don't want to be one of those parents...)

Pizza is a good idea. There is a kitchen attached to the hall so I could easily do that. Will cut off crusts from pizza, & sandwiches. I'm not too concerned about hot drinks - the kitchen is a very good size for a church kitchen, could fit 15-20 people in comfortably so we'll go in there with our brews.

Will add fun biscuits, breadsticks to the menu. DD loves hummus, carrot sticks so they're staying! I wasn't sure about fizzy drinks - DD hasn't ever had them, very suspicious of them but I've seen other kids with them. I don't want to seem too "worthy" as one PP put it.

I don't think there's anywhere to hang a piñata so that's probably out. I'm planning on several prizes for pass the parcel, depending on numbers maybe 2 or 3 per round.

I'm putting a note on the back of the invitations to ask about any food issues etc, & to let parents know there will be nibbles & drinks available for them too - will probably just do crisps, cake & drinks. And to ask for phone numbers if they do plan to drop off & leave.

My DM, PILs & Dsis are attending & will help as needed. As will DH of course. I've been to a couple of parties for other kids in the class - most parents do tend to stay though.

Will definitely have a craft table. Masks, hats with decorations (no wet glue or paints) & colouring sheets. I don't want the parent to hate me after as I've ruined their kids' clothes... plus there's at least 3 kids I know of that aren't into competitive games / get overexcited easily.

Think you're doing too much!! No need to tell the parents there will be nibbles. Honestly it's coming across as a bit of one upmanship whether that is your intention or not. But it's your little ones party!! And it sounds fabulous

5 year old son had a party earlier this month. We rented out the local soft play and invited one class and family/friends. I think we had 30 people, maybe less.

Food - jam, cheese and ham sandwiches. Sausage rolls (ASDA frozen £1 bag were actually tasty!), breadsticks, party rings, crisps, cheese twists, cocktail sausages. Donuts went down amazingly (12 for £2 in Morrisons).

I was stressing about food but I went down really well and everyone ate.

Oh DH is fabulous with kids - much better than me! He's officially confirmed he's taking a day off from revision (I should bloody think so) to help with the party.

I can do all the catering - we have a massive fridge & I've booked time off work so that's not an issue. We can't really afford to buy pre-made & there's no Costco nearby anyway.

I do tend to overthink stuff a bit... am stressed at the moment about other stuff so I'm thinking about this as I can sort this myself. Probably.

It was my DS party on Saturday, I recommend that you hire a dj I did he kept the kids entertained and everyone had an amazing time. There was about 30 kids.
Food wise I did hot dogs in buns, pizza, crisps, chocolate fingers, party rings, chocolate dipped marshmallows, cakes and bread sticks. I had those cup drinks that come in boxes of 12 (B&Ms or home bargains sell them).

I love doing my ds's parties! You need some activities out for when they arrive. Bring a few toys and see if you can get some oversized balloons (cheap on amazon) and have them blown up on the floor. Ride on toys are good too. You can hire these quite cheaply if you have some spare money. Anything to keep them happy and calm when they first arrive.
At that time you dont need to serve much food, everything you said is great but dont do many sandwiches and no bread and butter. Everyone will have just eaten. Parents never eat much , sadly, but they'll appreciate a cake or biscuit.
Make sure, fir pass the parcel, you have 3 or 4 parcels going round at a time so they don't get bored. They will love musical statues or musical chairs...easy with a big group and they can keep dancing after if they enjoy it.
Start going round with a bin bag picking up rubbish, then handing out party bags as a hint when you need people to leave!
Have fun! X

I think the key thing to remember is 5 year olds do not eat huge amounts so if you are having cakes/biscuits etc allow a max of half a sandwich each. Stick with ham or cheese or jam. Don't offer fizzy drinks.

Also for 5 year olds do not let the parents dump and run - DS is now almost 10 and at that age the parents all stayed - you fo not want to be responsible for any escapees and having to help with going to the toilet.

I personally never fed the parents but offered tea and coffee... they may have hoovered up any leftovers...

For that volume of people i would get an entertainer and dont forget the party bags - for kiddies that is the most important bit

Maccy D's are awesome, also softplay is always a hit

oh sorry didn't read properly, I see you are having a home party - just went to one today actually and it was awesome, lots of nice games like pass the parcel - really traditional, made me a bit emotional as brought back memories!

oh shit it's in a church hall, major fail - I'll stop posting now