To have a decopatch party for 6 year olds?

[Lindtnotlint]

Hello!

Thinking about DD’s 6th birthday. One option that fits various aspects of her complex brief (!) is doing decopatch of model animals. This would be for part of the party, then have a few games and stuff and tea.

It’s all girls and nearly all of them will be six by the time the party happens. About twenty attendees.

Questions:

-how long will the decopatch take? Am hoping for it to kill a reasonable amount of time but also recognise that kids have a limited concentration span...

-do I need to provide an “alternative” for bored/finished kids? Am thinking there isn’t something like that when you go to a pottery party or similar, and in some ways don’t want to create an option - ideally they would all sit down and get on with it...

-obviously it will be messy (I will give them aprons and the room is ). Will it be just insanely messy and I should run away? I would give each of them a pre-made animal, a pot of the glue stuff and a paintbrush and provide loads of different paper designs.

Other thoughts/critiques/suggestions? I like it because it is easy and doesn’t involve paint (with all the problems of mixing colours/dirty brushes) and will give them something “quality” to take home.

What's decopatch? You don't mean decoupage?

I have done a few craft parties with decopatch. It takes quite a while, but I have a couple of other quicker craft things for them too. Should they not finish, I just add them to the party bags for them to finish at home. I do a 2 hour party, craft takes about 45 mins, then I send them through to the lounge for games- pass parcel etc, whilst I change table for food. Look at crafty crocodiles.

of course plan an alternative

Are you having 20 kids in your house? You must have a hell of a big table!

Thanks Prof. That’s basically the set-up I am thinking of. Craft in kitchen-diner, off to living room for pass the parcel etc while I relay the table for food.

Does having other smaller crafts help? I guess I am imagining that the ones who get bored with the decopatch will be bored of craft altogether... but maybe that’s wrong.

PS Decopatch = brand name of a load of decoupage stuff that includes pre-made animals and the “right” thickness of paper etc.

What’s decopatch?

Oh, cross post!

I don’t know if I’d do something so messy in my home. Church hall perhaps?

Oh right, Lint, I get it now!

I would definitely have alternatives as some kids just won't take to the decopatch (some will just chuck a bit of one colour on and say they're done after 5 minutes while others will love it and want to spend ages perfecting theirs). The alternative can still be a quiet activity though - you don't even have to have it visible until you see some restless kids then whip out - the glitter craft or whatever.

We can fit them at a table in the kitchen diner if we hire an extra table...luckily the areas is pretty bomb proof (tiled floor etc) so it’s not totally ridiculous (I hope). DD wants her party at home and I quite like the idea of not having to decorate a massive church hall. (She is all about the theme and decorations...)

Church hall for sure. Ours charges 7 per hour. You could have craft tables set up and left out, food tables as well and still room for games, dancing, chasing balloons etc.

Sorry, ignore - another cross post

PopCakes (or others)- what would your “second quiet activity for bored kids” be...? (I get the logic of having it totally. Don’t want to make it too desirable in case it draws in everyone away from the decopatch)

I did decopatch when dd was a bit older - it was the easiest and most peaceful party I did!

It sounds lovely but I think it would be nicer with a smaller number - about 6 so they can all chat round the table.

We did it for dd1 9th birthday. We decoupaged 8inch letters I will find a pic. It was a 2 hour party. The letters took an hour and then we had the food then they made some bracelets and got a glitter tattoo. I had almost one to one help with the girls as it's fiddly. 8 girls did the craft.

You are very brave. I did a decopatch party for 20 forty year olds. It was carnage!

This is what the girls made. I was really happy with the outcome but my dd2 is 6 and though she loves the idea she gets bored easily and is heavy handed.

Cupcake decorating
Terracotta pot painting (paint them first with emulsion)
Mindfulness colouring books
Bead threading

@RuthW. What happened????? I am a bit scared now.

I’ve done this with my own children (of various ages) thinking they’d enjoy it but they were bored. I organised a unicorn themed craft party for Dd7 last year. I found a template online for unicorn masks that I could print out for them to colour in. They also had suncatchers that you paint (from Hobbycraft), and unicorn biscuits to decorate. This could easily be adapted to any theme you choose. (Oh, we also did pin the tail on the unicorn.)

Basically, my tip would be to keep the activities fairly short!

I would not do craft with 20 children. They will need a lot more supervision than you think. Five girls doing it at home, maybe, but not a whole class full.

What bridgetreilly said,

and you thinking that you can send them in the other room for a game of pass the parcel, whilst you clean up all that glue and mess, clean enough to then lay food out and eat from the same table is mad ambitious.

Great idea for small group. Up to maybe eight but not a large group.

For large group needs to be really really structured and have a lot of space

Obviously I would need other adults. DH, grandparents and godparents would be on deck. So I think the shift, clean, lay plan could work... (also the other room is on the other floor so the kids would be quite “separate”)

But I am hearing the point on needing more/different activities... Baker Ross have some plausible looking scratch art magnets and stick on masks that fit with the theme.

Am reluctant to give up on craft altogether as DD hates entertainers and is a bit “meh” on games and we don’t have space for too much wild running about....