What do I do at a party?

[Rainalldaylong]

Hosting my DD’s first proper birthday party with some of her little friends in a few weeks. It’s at a small restaurant with outside playground space & and a small bouncy castle. The restaurant are preparing a table with snacks I’ve requested for the children-sandwiches, fruit, cupcakes etc. The adults can obviously consume the food and order extra/different drinks from the bar if they wish. I’m also bringing bubble wands for the kids and probably party bags to take home.
What else do I do? Do I walk around sort of directing things or is that basically it, sit back and chat with the mums? Do I organise any games at this age? I’m just not sure how much of a role I need to take? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m thinking people will be fairly late, def not arrive at 11, perhaps 11.30, then play, lunch out at 12? Games, cake and party bags? Quite a tight squeeze, hopefully they won’t get bored and it’ll go quickly 🤣

My experience- children won’t touch the savoury food, especially at 11am. That age is too young to help yourself and they won’t be up for sitting around being fed when they could be playing. If you want them to eat savoury food as lunch at about 12,don’t bring it out till then and don’t bring out sweet stuff at the same time.

Do the cake sooner rather than later. Cake, singing and blowing out candles are 100% what birthday is all about when you are three.

Don’t do pass the parcel unless you are prepared to have a present in every layer and rig it so everyone gets a present- too much hassle IMHO. Find out what games they play at preschool and do a couple of those- duck duck goose and sleeping bunnies are good ones. Musical statues possibly but only if you are prepared to pretend not to see them all moving. At that age you cannot really declare one child a winner, the others just cry.

As other said- individual bubbles will just get spilt. Don’t do it. Bubble machine yes. With that and the bouncy castle you are all set. When she’s older you can organise more.

I think the majority of people will arrive at 11 because it is a 2 hour window. Kids parties are not as fluid as adults’ in that respect.

We had DD's 3rd birthday party in church hall with bouncy castle and food. I remember we only played one game because the kids just wanted to play on the castle. 2 hours is perfect. I would bring the food out about 12pm

In terms of the music for pass-the-parcel, if you can't get hold of a CD player and the venue doesn't have one, could you play some tunes off Youtube or similar from your 'phone? I'm sure the kids will have a great time. Hope all goes well. x

Some great advice - HaveringWavering’s is vg, although Pass the Parcel is always so popular! I’ve seen Pass the Ball work pretty well....child left holding ball gets small prize. Everyone’s a winner at three. 😉Children’s parties can be stressful, but a plan really helps, and you can drop things if needed. Bubble machine and bouncy castle sound great. Having some craft activities can work well too...just put out on a table. Stickers, stamps, crayons, decorate your own party crown etc. Baker Ross/The Works are good for ideas.
Hope it all goes really well! 😁

Don't have the bubbles from the start - it's useful to have something new as a distraction if they start to get fractious on the bouncy castle.
Something like sleeping bunnies could be good for calming them down before the food.

Have you checked the numbers for the bouncy castle? If it's only six at a time, and you've got more than that coming, you'll need to monitor taking turns, and make sure there's something else (eg simple crafts) to do.

I think if the party is 2 hours, then food outside play items and a bouncy castle should be plenty of entertainment - when I've ever been to mixed parties for 3yr and younger, there haven't been any games. You could maybe do the hokey cokey or something if they look like they are getting bored, but it will take them all a while to mash their food into the carpet eat their lunch

My only concern would be that you need some sort of contingency for bad weather, so I would take along some colouring sheets (or plain paper) and crayons, and maybe some singing games you can do sitting at tables, (wheels on the bus type stuff).

I'd maybe offer a free coffee/tea for adults, but if they want booze they can buy their own (if they are driving most people won't want booze anyway)

It sounds fun and I'm sure everyone will have a good time, - hope all goes well

I think you've had some great advice on here! Kids arrive at 11, play on the bouncy castle for an hour. Play some music, have a bubble machine. Food at 12, then play until the end. The lucky dip bin sounds like a great idea too!
The only thing I wouldn't be doing would be buying drinks for the adults.
I would provide soft drinks on the table for them but not buy them drinks from the bar!

[quote Rainalldaylong]@Twintwix Any other ideas for party game along with pass the parcel?[/quote]
Cut a bright ball of wool into 3/4 inch pieces. "Hide" them (really obviously for 3 years olds...so draped over chair backs, low on a tree/bush, edge of a plant pot...basically anywhere accessible and on eye level of a 3 year old.

Set them off to hunt them.

Anyone with the "right" number at the end wins a prize. Of course everyone has the right number = all win prizes.....

Prizes can be popped into the named party bag for later so can be anything you want.

@Rainalldaylong

Oh my god 🙈this is stressing me out 🤣is it usually a stressful day? Do people enjoy doing it?

Um.

Sorry.

@Trytothinkofaname 😂 Thought was just me. Felt excitement in all the planning bits, but now that it’s approaching, it’s a bit 😩

People should arrive on time or no more than 10 minutes late in my experience. They won't get bored.
Last year we had a bouncy castle & balloon twister for my 4yo's party. Mix of ages from babies up to 6yo and they were fine and in fact some stayed for 3 hours as it was in our garden.
I didn't do anything except put food and drink on a table, cut the cake and hand out bags.

And we had a great day. I love ds birthday parties, seeing all the kids have a good time is nice

I love doing birthday parties! If everything is organised beforehand there isn't a huge amount to do - they entertain themselves!

If you’re playing music from your phone then if you sit it in a mug or cup with the speaker bit inside the mug then it will make the music louder

I wouldn’t do pass the parcel, 3 year olds will not understand it at all and there may well be tears! Another thing that I liked to do was those water tattoos, you can buy cheaply on eBay all sorts of themes and apply with some wet paper towel, really easy and 3 year olds will love it. Or face painting a little heart or star on cheeks

How about a face painter in the corner ?

I recently hosted our first kid's party. I survived, dd had a great time, it'll be fine.

Everyone was on time. It was just a garden party but our running order was make crowns, pass the parcel (have extra layers because it can be quite tricky to rig for one prize each), ice lollies, savory food, musical statues (kids got consolation biscuit as they lost), bit of general dancing (spotify on phone plus bubble machine), stawberries and cake which they ate there , group photo, party bags and home. 2 hours fairly flew by.
Most of the adults just had drinks, and turned down the food, not sure if that's normal or not. As chief kid herder I did not get to chat to anyone 😂.
This was 3&4 year olds.
At 2&3, and with a bouncy castle I wouldn't overthink the games. Also with hindsight I'd have done musical statues first, the girl who won the pass the parcel nearly won musical statues too.
Good luck!

@shouldistop

If the oldest children are 3 then honestly don't do party games. Pointless.

Agree. They’re too y unfair just let them scamper about and enjoy the chat with the other mums

*they’re too young