...to ask what your 4yo would enjoy at a birthday party?

[BabyQuark]

It's DD's first "proper" birthday party in December. I think there'll be about 15 children, boys and girls, mostly aged 4, a couple 3yos and some 5yo. We've hired a church hall for 2 hours (plus set up and cleanup), but they're not insured for bouncy castles or soft play, which 90% of the parties we've been to have had.

Is it really naff and lazy if I just set out loads of toys and hope the kids entertain themselves? We have a big dolls house, lots of those brio train track bits, wooden blocks, and a box of play silks, but I'm conscious that's probably not enough to keep them entertained or to look like much when they walk in. (We'll have balloons and decorations too, obviously.) I can borrow toys from the church toddler group but most of them are very much aimed at younger children.
Are they too old for a ball pit? Is a craft table a recipe for disaster? A pinata?
The party will also include lunch, but how much time does that realistically kill?
Do people do party games these days? I'm hopeless at corralling my own children to get them to do anything so I hate the thought of trying to get 15 kids to sit in a circle and play pass the parcel - but I'd give it a go if the kids would enjoy it.

If you have children that sort of age, what would they like / expect from a birthday party?

If you haven't got an entertainer or a bouncy castle I think you'll have to do party games. Pass the parcel, musical statues etc

They will definitely not entertain themselves. You need an entertainer or games. Frankly I would do a soft play party instead.

And yes too old for a ball pit, they will all throw the balls around. Craft table - do you have enough parents/helpers to supervise and help? Doesn’t sound fun, more like a church playgroup. Lunch will kill about 15-20mins.

I'd get an entertainer with a disco or something. They can organise them doing lots of little games etc. A craft table is actually a really nice thing to have, some kids find a party a bit much so like to take themselves off to do a bit of crafting.

I’d get a different hall and a bouncy castle.

I run 2 church halls and the venue that you have booked is having you on, I reckon.

As long as the bouncy castle hire people have insurance then it covers the party.

They are just giving you excuses cos they don't want a bouncy castle in the hall.

I would get an entertainer if I were you.

Can you get a hall which allows a bouncy castle? Really that’s the best thing for that age in a hall. Otherwise hire an entertainer.

Magician or entertainer definitely or a kiddy Disco
Otherwise carnage

Yeah I don't think just shoving out a bunch of toys is really a 'party' sorry and the children are likely to be bored. Sounds an absolute nightmare to have to do the party games yourself too. You'll be rushed off your feet. Could you hire a children's entertainer who could do a disco and games?

I would have rather picked a soft play centre, as you literally can let them go off and then have the food and then cake for the last half hour.

I would get another hall, I can’t think of anything worse than having to entertain all those children for that length of time. If you have a bouncy castle they will entertain themselves. My local leisure centre also provides a supervisor with the bouncy castle to make sure the kids are being safe so you don’t even have to worry about them getting injured!

Hire a Dj/entertainer. They really won't entertain themselves, and a church hall full of bored 4 year olds isnt great 🫣

I find most of the previous comments all a bit negative, sorry. I've regularly organised parties for kids from ages 3-14 and big groups as well, so as long as YOU are able to act as 'entertainer' it should be fine.
What works best in my experience is to divide them in groups: we often had a crafts group - you can pick up cheap wooden animals they can decorate with stickers, pencils etc. then a game group doing some kind of group assignment (building the highest tower?, egg race) and then also games with the whole group together. Pinata is also always a good idea, but I've always said that all candy gets collected and then shared equally in their party bags. With groups so big you have to make sure that whole-group activities don't take too long - 15 kids that get two swings each at the pinata is just possible but pass the parcel with 15 uninterested kids is already a bit much in my experience. Happy to give out more suggestions if needed!

Each time I hired a bouncy castle, it was the castle who had the insurance, they had £10million public liability policy and the hall owners required a copy of that from the bouncy castle company before confirming the booking. I used 1stchoiceinflatables and was verh pleased with them.

If your hall has banned castles then how about some tables with craft activities, a magic show and disco? Or hire some soft play bits? You could get an entertainer but that said almost every party I’ve been to with an entertainer has not been fun.

Or hire a different hall.

Ok, pretty unanimous on the "you need something more" front! That's as I suspected. I just remember birthday parties when I was a child being a few games and some cake and ice cream, and genuinely being fun!

@Celticliving that's interesting about the insurance... they said it was due to "concerns about liability in the event of an accident" - which I took to mean they weren't insured. But from what you're saying, if the hire co is insured they wouldn't have to worry about liability anyway!

We can't hire the local soft play as a) it gets booked up for parties about 6 months in advance and b) they've got a big snake thing there that DD is terrified of.

Ok, well I guess we have to either get an entertainer or rebook a different venue. I only work part time - it's going to wipe out a week's wages at this rate :sigh: Back to small parties at home in future I think! She's very excited about this one though so I'll have to suck it up.

(Didn't mean that last post to sound quite so negative! I'm excited for her, and do want to celebrate her birthday! Just hadn't counted on it being such an expensive production!)

Any thoughts on hiring a face painter, if entertainers aren't that fun?

We had about 15 kids at my DC's 4th birthday party and for about 1.5hrs they really did mostly just entertain themselves with some dancing, balloons and colouring.

Mixed feelings, my DC likes them but sometimes there can be a huge queue and then that's annoying too and lots of kids find it hard to wait.

Party games, music, crafts and toys then food followed by toys and music. I'd would go for 90 minutes

Entertainers are fun.

We had one at my daughter’s 6th and she kept the kids entertained and happy for the whole 2 hours other than the break for food. We considered a face painter but kids don’t want to waste party time queuing.

No trampolining places in your area?

They love bouncing.

I threw a pile of balls and balloons on and they bounced non stop for 40 mins.

They love face painting ...though possibly girls more than boys.

They quite like bubble discos as well ... Bubble machines and music and someone leading dancing, doing dance moves.

If you can get a couple of young women who do dance classes and are up for it, that's good.

Ya I’d get an entertainer, someone that will do a disco, party games and face paints. It’s well worth it and you’ll be able to relax a bit!

Sorry, that was in response to @Saffrom - I realise many people find party entertainers fun, or it wouldn't be such a thriving industry!

Good point about the queuing for the face painter.