I've Messed Up My Kids Party

[FixItUpChappie]

Last year we had very low turn out for our youngest son's party and I ended up padding it out with some of our elder sons friends. So this year I over-invited expecting similar attendance issues. Then to add to the problem I panicked when we got almost no response in the first few days after the cards were sent out, and invited some additional children.

With a flurry of late responses we now have 17 kids in total (including our 2) coming to the house on Saturday in our not huge bungalow and who knows how many parents. If anyone else RSVPs I might cry. These parties are a minefield - feast or famine apparently. It's extremely cold and snowy here so I can't open up the garden to disperse the crowd it do have basement toy room.

I think this many kids will overwhelm the activities and games planned. And 17 gifts!! Can you imagine? I'm going to be decried as a greedy glutton of a mother 😳 I ordered special plates and cups online for my sons "wizard" theme with extra just in case and I've exceeded the number. There is no way to get more now. Our dinning room table seats 8 at a push 11 if I add a card table.

Please tell me I can salvage this mess! My husband thinks I should text parents and request they drop off - but that seems very awkward to me...as I expressly stated parents were welcome to stay or drop off considering the kids are mainly 5yr olds.

What a dummy I am! Has anyone has this problem and pulled off a party their child and guests still enjoyed?

I'd put my most gossipy friend onto it and ask her to casually drop into
her playground conversations that parents weren't expected to stay, UNLESS THEY REALLY FELT THEY HAD TO.

Most will be delighted to dump and run.

Other games that might work:

Sleeping lions - everyone has to lie down, if you move at all you are out. You can say funny things to try to make them giggle and move. Prize for the last one standing.

Pattern game - they all sit in a circle but one goes out of room(A) Someone is picked to be the leader. They start a pattern eg clapping hands. A comes back into room. Leader has to keep changing the pattern eg start rubbing heads and everyone needs to copy when they change. A needs to work out who the leader is.

Pin the tail on the donkey.

Thumbs up thumbs down

Chinese whispers

Heads and tails. Everyone puts their hands on either their heads or their bottoms. Toss a coin. If it’s heads all those who guessed heads stay in, the others are put. Keep going until only one is left. They get a sweet. Go again.

Good luck!!

Dammit - the others are out, not put!!!

Can you book a local church hall or something and tell parents there's been a last minute change of venue?

Some really good ideas on here.

Also, I'd check that no parents are bringing siblings of the guests.
That'll be a quick way to end up with something totally out of hand.

Sounds like your DS will have an amazing day, definitely one to remember!

Sleeping lions - everyone has to lie down, if you move at all you are out. You can say funny things to try to make them giggle and move

That sounds like the perfect calm down a bit game

This may well be one of those experiences you look back on and smile (?) and say, do you remember when we had 17 plus children at our house for your fifth birthday?..... you may have already answered this but can you change the venue to somewhere more spacious? If not can a small marquee be added to back door.? Kids do move about a lot at parties and once fed and given a balloon can possibly just create their own games and craziness. What’s the collective name for a posse of 5 year olds? Seriously it’ll be one to remember, hopefully for the right reasons, just look forward to that glass of wine after you’ve filled the final black sack with detritus. I LOVED organising my sons parties when he was young, they were all memorable and c’mon it’s just a few hours, you can do it!

Make some Celebrity Jigsaws

either magazines or print off some large (A4) pictures of someone they will recognise ( TV stars . CBeebee , PopStars that I have no clue who they are !, superheroes)
Glue onto card (cereal box) cut into irregular bits, mix up 2-3 pictures and give to a group of 4 to assemble the right ones

If you can't seat them all around the table just use if as a buffet and put a blanket on the floor where they can have a picnic. Chuck a load of balloons into the room and they will entertain themselves. Good luck!

Well my youngest just doesn't seem to be having much success yet in making similarly aged friends so I figured I'd invite a bunch of boys from daycare and school, meet some of their parents, try to establish some connections.....was an innocent enough intent. Because he's not got a specific group of friends I really didn't think we'd get such a response.

I enjoy kids and parties but the guest list every year for both kids is always this nebulous unknown element. In an ideal world we'd have 6 kids and call it a day, but with illness, flakiness (as someone above said), competing football/hockey games, etc, etc you just never know.

I know I should probably look for a hall but I'd rather not...all my birthdays as a kid were at home - I've been sort of married to the nostalgic notion of it

I'd keep the plates and cups for another time or use them for cake/water. Instead, get in those boxes like Happy Meals come in. You can have them all ready with crisps, wrapped biscuit, babybel, small bag haribo then make up 20 lots of ham sandwiches - half a round each, so 2 quarters each - which you cling film and then just chuck in each (ready) box when it's time to serve food. By far and away, this was the easiest party catering we ever did. Plus those cartons of flavoured water that you stick a straw in - no spillage or choking-hazard-tops to worry about.

Plus if they have their own box each, they can all easily sit on the floor to eat.

Definitely definitely picnic boxes. One cheese, one ham, mini packet of cheddars and some cucumber sticks/halved grapes. Give out something sweet at the end.

Buy some plain paper bags for them to decorate and those can double as party bags and an activity.

Read a theme related story. This sounds bonkers but has worked at every child’s party up to and including age 6 that I’ve ever done. Get them to sit in front of you, picture book obviously works best.

Enlist other parents help, if they’ve stayed then it’s their own fault!

Summon your best inner primary school teacher... you need the voice and the control and the eye contact with trouble makers that they do best!

I once had a Star Wars party for 30 x 6 year old boys - they all showed up with light sabours and I realised they were banging each other with them and risked eye injury...they were all quickly put in a box for after the party.
I'm worried about your wands...wands = sticks for 5 year old boys - sticks they will likely stick and poke at each other!
Also - another option is to entertain them by getting them to make their own pizzas standing around the table.

My friend does a register at the beginning of the party. Have all the kids names and also have some silly names in there....Harry potter? Pokémon? Spiderman? Etc....sit them down and call the register. This not only puts you in charge...but the kids find it hilarious. Also you can do a type of scavenger hunt....hide either laminated pictures or plastic toys outside. Give the kids a sheet and what they have to find....they can't all write but could colour in or draw something.

Move as much stuff out of the party room as possible beforehand, put the dining table along a wall/in a corner to free up space. This can be used for the food then the children go and sit picnic style on the floor. Chairs can go in the kitchen for parents to sit on. Keep food simple and easy, pizza (from Dominos if you need to), ready prepared savouries, crisps, crispy cakes, fairy cakes etc.

Plates, cups and napkins don't all have to match. Buy some generic party ones and if you get a chance put them alternatively on a pile. With the themed plate you can put a generic napkin and cup, with the generic plate put a themed napkin and cup. That way every child gets a bit of the themed stuff.

Dead lions is a good suggestion already made for a game. Jigsaws mentioned earlier of celebrities, but maybe print out Harry Potter or wizard pictures instead. Do you have a whistle for crowd control if it gets too raucous? We used to do children's clubs and a whistle was excellent. Have a bag of Haribo/small sweets, when the whistle blows everyone is quiet and stands still. Best child gets a sweet. You can practice this for a few minutes at the beginning to get them used to it then use it as an impromptu game if things look to be getting out of control. You can use wrapped sweets so the children can choose to put them in their party bags if you are doing them.

Your dh doesn't need to make drinks for parents, he can help with a group if you split the children into groups. The parents can leave and come back later, make their own drinks or help out. Just have fun, as long as there is something fun for the children to do they will be happy.

Is there a village hall or similar near you? Our local council facilities are super cheap and you might find one free. At minus 32 I can only assume you aren't in the U.K. but scout halls/community halls/local government run/church halls may be free.

We had 17 kids for DD’s party in Sunday. Bit chaotic. Do pass the parcel with lots of layers as it’ll keep them all in one place for ages. We did spot prizes for best dancer and did musical bumps and statutes. Borrow a huge picnic rug and get them to eat on it - we did this as not enough chairs. We were glad a couple of parents stayed to help out. Good luck. Buy wine for afterwards!

17's really not that bad, just be clear no parents due to limited space. On one of DDs birthdays at nursery we squished about a dozen kids + parents into a 2-bed flat when it was suddenly freezing, soaking and windy in the middle of June (albeit by dismantling our bed and putting it it DD's room on its side) and managed to have a nice time.

I totally feel your pain about invite numbers - one year we picked a date that hardly anyone in the class could do and DH went into utter panic that DD must be really unpopular, but we did manage to invite other people to get a decent turnout. It did turn out to be a fluke and other years have been fine!

I feel your pain, my kids always invite the whole class...

We did wand making the other year, I gave the kids ribbons and beads and wires. They loved them.

We also made leaf crowns with double sided sticky tape and pine cone fairies

Oops, pressed send too soon.
Read them a story, talk about it. They will love that!

Musical bumps/chairs. Pass the parcel.

We also make sensory bottles, old coke bottles, glitter, colored sand, stones, water beads, loom bands and corks. Hot glue the lids shut. Always a massive hit!

I’ve been there OP and feel your pain! We moved as much furniture out of the living room as possible and then had lunch boxes on the floor picnic style (but without picnic blankets which would have been a trip hazard on our wooden floors)

Pass the parcel went down well, as did other dancing games (music statues, bumps etc but themed versions).

When everyone was getting over excited from jumping about we handed out colouring pages (ours were Lego as it was a Lego party but I’m sure you could print off some wizard ones). They coloured on the floor and it kept them occupied for around 20 minutes, which amazed me given there were 20 5/6 year old boys!!

After that we stopped for lunch then we got out huge bags of Lego, again on the floor, and set them some building challenges. It was noisy and chaotic but very very doable, even in our modest sized house! I’m sure you’ll be fine, sounds like you’re organised!!

Havent read the thread yet

Went to a similar party recently, all 20 boys plus siblings turned up.

The hosts had:

Hired a table and child chairs
Opened up another room for a specific activity to spread the weight of children
(This was facepainting but could be videos, computer games, Lego...)
Had adult food and drink in one room so most of them kept in there
Had a tent in the garden for the food!

This is not what you asked but my experience of pass the parcel at parties is it takes too long the kids get bored and you can't remember who is out - then we went to a party for a 3rd child and the mum showed me the light.

Have a tub with small prizes or sweets wrapped in tissue paper and then a balloon or soft toy or wizards hat. The kids pass the hat and when the music stops they are out and get to choose a prize and the game quickly restarts while they unwrap at the side. Keeping going until two kids are left They then sit back to back passing around themselves, this time the person with the hat wins. Much quicker and everyone gets a prize. (Or use a wizards hat to hold the prizes it works well for linking with a theme as you can pass anything )

Another tip I got from a veteran mum is when you go to a party write who the gift is from on the front of the card envelope so it's easier for the party child's mum to see and write down when the birthday child is ripping them open later !

Also use so teacher tricks to get the kids attention- ie get them all to follow directions, can you touch your nose, stand on one get, stick out you tongue, sit on the floor. Or clapping a rythem that they call back. Also here if you say Are you listening in a sing song voice the kids sing back yes we are !

Ok, first breathe, secondly - can you put the table upstairs, in the garage? Empty room = picnic! Pizzas, fruit, cakes, get extra plates in a plain colour that matches from Asda, for party bags google the book people or go to a discount book store in town - you can buy age appropriate books for £1-2. Get lots of sweets for the bags - Aldi own brand are great. Encourage parents to take an hour or two for themselves - suggest they come 15 mins before the end for a quick drink thus will not be late!