Birthday party

[HollowCity]

DS birthday soon. Some of his "mates" at pre-school have had their birthdays recently. They've booked venues and had entertainers, bouncy castles etc. I'm on maternity leave at the moment and money is tight. We cannot afford a hall, entertainer or anything extravagant.

AIBU to arrange a simple old skool kid's party at our house? Party games, jelly and ice cream, cheese sandwiches and wotsits! Kids don't seem to have these type of parties anymore so I think it'd be nice.

Any ideas, tips?

Definitely do it. It would probably be a novelty. My kids actually prefer these type of parties

Pre school is definitely the time for traditional Home based parties! Do it.

Yes definitely! As well as traditional party games you can also add inexpensive craft activities and/or biscuit decorating - always goes down well!

Yeah it's fine. Only reason most parents don't is that they don't want the mess.

I'd love to do it but we live in a tiny house so we've had to go with a village hall

The only reason I'm not doing that again this year is because my house is too small :-( Last year my son turned 2 and we had very simple activities and a pinanta that they all loved whacking. " hours and lots of happy kiddies. Go for it!

I think many parents don't do home based parties because of the effort needed.

Tips would be - do some games, then all sit down for sandwiches, crisps and other savouries. Do some more games, then all sit down for jelly and ice cream. More games, then all sit down for cakes. More games, then sing happy birthday. That way, they don't all pile their plates with sweet stuff at the start.

One game I remember is musical corners. Stick a coloured piece of card in each corner of the room and have four smaller pieces of the same coloured card in a bag. Play some music for dancing. When the music stops, the children run in to a corner of their choice. You then give them the option to change their minds - count down from 5 to 0 - anyone remember Runaround with Mike Reid from the 70s? Then pull a piece of card from your bag, and everyone in that corner is out. If you start with them all wearing a party hat, they can just lose their party hat and carry on playing. You'll eventually get to a winner.

Pin the tail on the donkey, nose on the clown or whatever appendage on whatever you're good at drawing. This can keep attention by everyone watching and measuring who's the closest.

I'm sure other people will some suggestions to add! Good luck. Have fun.

yanbu. My dd is 4 in January, and we just don't have the funds to have a big expensive party. We'll hopefully do a nice little tea party at home with her friends. Plenty of cake and i'm sure they'll have a blast

90 minutes maximum.

I would do it as:

Free play when they arrive and/or a craft activity
Games - organise more than you think as they will probably go faster.
Last game before food something gentle like sleeping lions
Food
Cake & Happy Birthday
Free play / gentle game like pass the parcel

Party games too!

Good old fashioned jelly and pass the parcel parties are very muc hin vogue at the moment.

YANU. We were going to do this for my daughter's 3rd birthday this month, but we just don't have the space as at this age they all still need parents with them and we'd be tripping over each other. So we've booked a smallish room at the local village hall for about ten of them and will do the same thing there. We'll bring some toys and stuff to play with, do cake and nibbles/junk food, pass the parcel/musical statues, sing happy birthday, blow out candles etc, give out party bags, done. No hired soft play or bouncy castle etc. I wondered about making some cupcakes and giving them one each with bowls of sprinkles etc and letting them decorate one each.

I had honestly never heard of all class parties til I came on mumsnet. As a kid, my birthdays alternated each year, and I chose when I was older. One friend could go with me to a more expensive activity, maybe two if my sister didn't want to do it as well, then the next year a party of 6-8 friends at my house. Pretty similar for all other friends. The only time parties were en masse events in hired venues was for 18ths.

The idea of a whole class party just does not compute for me, cause I have never been in a cohort where everyone would have WANTED everyone else there.

That’s exactly what we’re doing for DD’s 4th birthday next week, and we’ve been to lots of pre school parties like that so it definitely is still done!

HollowCity I meant to say, the room we have booked is costing us about £20 for three hours so should give us time to put stuff out and do a quick cleanup and have about two hours for the party.

Definitely do it, as you can see on this thread a lot of people book venues because they don’t have the space so if you do then enjoy it

Thanks so much for your replies and encouragement. Tbh we don't have a huge house but with a few bits of junk hidden away we xould squeeze a few kids in. We've looked into hiring somewhere local but the costs just add up and up....food, decorations. By having it at home we can limit it to 4-5 friends. The other kids have/are having everyone from the class at theirs so I do feel a bit tight that we're not reciprocating to everyone but we simply can't afford to host, feed and entertain 24 kids!

All "booked" and invites sent.....now I need tips for organisation. It's for 2 hours!!

As they got to School both my DD preferred these type of parties at home with a handful of their ‘real friends’ rather than everyone in the class at soft play with an entertainer etc. I gave them the choice and they had experience of big fairly costly parties and still preferred this option.
Top tip in my experience an hour was too short but two hours was too long. Go for one hour and a half (leave them wanting more). The other parents will be envious you have done this and your DC will be proud to host a party at home by their mum with their friends. As they got older it was a variation on this mainly Xbox and films chatting hanging out together and sleepover etc.

Ooh just seen that you have opted for 2 hours it will be fine. Plan ahead. Opening presents with friends present was nice as was; Pass the parcel worked well usually did two or three of these, musical statues two three or four, sleeping lions, best dancer, the chocolate game (dice, gloves, hats etc), pin the tail on the donkey or in hour case puppy, maybe a craft activity. Etc etc. Enlist the help of a friend or partner safety in numbers and more fun. Decide whether you want parents to stay or not some maybe hard to get rid of others may have no intention of staying etc.

Craft can be good and can double up as a party bag present (if you are doing party bags). Treasure hunts can be fun too - there are various types - worded clues, photo clues, scavenger hunts. If you have a garden then get them to bring wellies so you can play some more active games.

Does your son have a favourite programme/ film/ topic because then you could theme it. For example 'what's the time Mr Wolf' becomes 'what's the time Darth Vader (substitute in archetypal villan of choice). There are numerous websites with ideas for themed parties which can help to pull a party together.

You should def do it. Party game tip, small wrapped sweets or prizes inserted into balloons then blow up and tie the balloons. Stick kids and balloons in a room together and let them loose popping the balloons for the prizes.

Every single party my children have been to they have come out declaring it the best party ever. All parties are good for kids. There is no right or wrong with kids parties, kids just love running around with other kids and sugar on tap.