4th birthday party

[Ka3090]

My sons 4th birthday party is coming up (my first time throwing a party with his nursery class).

I’ve hired a large hall and a couple of bouncy castles. One is a fun run type style with a slide and the second is an average castle with a slide also (trying to limit bumped heads). Also a few didi cars and hopper type things.

I’ve put on the invite 2.45 hours, I’m starting to think this might be too long although after an 1.5 hours we will sing happy birthday and put the party bags by the exit so maybe parents will feel free to leave earlier?

I invited about 25 kids, so far only 16 have replied which is what I expected. Is it likely for the others to show up even though they haven’t rsvp?

Age range is 3-5. No idea if siblings will show up!

Please reply your experiences with kids parties in halls/ any hints and tips! tia

2:45 is long, a standard party at this age is 2 hours. I usually only get a couple of extras, most reply if they are coming. Never had uninvited siblings. You have a good number for a party, I'm sure your son will have a lovely time.

That is long, we went to one very similar recently but a 5th birthday, bouncy castle, diddy cars and a nerf shooting range , I thought it was 12:30-2:30 it was actually 12-3 , we left at 2:30 as we had other plans, and most non family children had left already, so I think most people expect 90 minutes to 2 hours. DS is having a similar party soon and we've got the hall 10-2 but have put 11-1 on the invitations. I expect close friends and family with young children might stay a bit longer and our parents will arrive early to help set up.

I’d say 2hs max. Excitement + bouncing + sugar will lead to horrible behaviour / tears if they stay too long!

I’ve never had extras show up (and I don’t think it’s normal for our nursery group). But no harm having a few spare party bags just in case.

It's very long.

I would've made it 2 hours because unless someone is actually doing activities with the kids, they tend to run riot and that's when the fights/injuries tend to start.

Oh as for invitations, we've had 18 responses so far out of a class of 30 (plus a few random children ds gave extra invitations to say after school club!) , one asked if she could bring the twin sibling and I said that was fine (the twins are in different classes). I will make up 3/4 extra party bags for the day because the stuff I've bought comes in packs so I have extra anyway and teen relatives will gladly take them.

😂 Have you asked parents to stay. My kids parties where used as childming services while parents did Christmas shopping. I always used to end up with siblings in the end I sent invites including the siblings so I knew how many party bags etc to have.

Not more than 2 hours, it's normally 1 hour play, 20-30 minutes food and another 30 minutes play.

Thanks for the replies. Yes it is probably too long, I wouldn’t expect anyone to stay for longer than two hours. I’ll just have the party bags ready at the two hour mark.

@Weedoormatnomore I didn’t specify! In my experience it’s just expected for the parents to stay if they’re under 5. Who knows though!