Reception class party ?

[Nightfall876]

Dd seems to have a few favourites but also friends with everyone as she is very social. She’s often telling random friends they “can come to my party”. I’m thinking of booking a small hall near us and having lots of craft activities. This would mean inviting about 30 kids and I know how much a lot of kids enjoy parties at this age. Dh thinks this is too much work and having a handful kids at ours is much better. We also have a baby who is a few months old now.

p.s is there also often cake for the adults too at birthday parties ? As some parties I’ve been to that are class parties , the whole family came

If you can afford it a full class party in reception was the norm then smaller parties for year groups after.

Only watch out and not to generalise but some boys aren’t great at crafting or sitting still. My son got invited with his friend to a party like this and they spent the whole time wresting on the floor with a balloon 😳

We hired our local council hall / party package which came with a bouncy castle and a few toys etc which was quite cheap and we only had to bring food.

Personally I would opt for a full class party, it’s nice to get to know the parents and kids but make it was easy as possible for yourself within your budget

Also no not standard to feed parents or other kids / family

If it's just going to be craft activities then I agree with your DH, it's going to be far more work than you expect. I think when it comes to a community centre / local hall you really need something to keep them busy, such as an entertainer, bouncy castle, party games etc. Craft activities are lovely as an extra, but many reception aged children aren't interested or will be frustrated if they can't do it.

If there's a soft play locally that's always a good choice, as you don't need to worry about keeping them entertained, and the food is usually provided as well. Although I appreciate the price might be more than you wanted to pay.

As for the cake for adults, it's not something i've noticed, it's usually just drinks for the adults. (Tea / Coffee etc)

Don't invite the whole family! You need to make it clear that no siblings are allowed due to numbers. I would expect parents to stay though. 30 4 and 5 year olds is more than enough.
A hall sounds great. I wouldn't do loads of craft stuff as that's a lot of clearing up, but some colouring would be nice for those that want some time out from the chaos! Then music, balloons and bubbles will keep them happy. Lots of room to run around in hall is great. Pass the parcel is obligatory though 😆.
Always offer parents a drink and some cake/snack. They usually go I. And eat up the party food once the children have finished.

I'd also agree that kids that age want to run around at a party. We recently went to a party where they had a bouncy castle and a little sick and all the kids had a fab time.

I think if you are wanting to do crafts then maybe having a selection of friends to your house and doing it there may be better?

You don't have to feed the parents, however having the option of tea/coffee and maybe a bit of birthday cake would be nice.

I just hosted a full class party for my 4 year old. 20 out of 30 in his preschool class came. Most parents didn't stick around (though we live overseas where that's common at that age). I made sure there was some extra food around - we did hot dogs so I probably cooked 40 and had 30 buns, so there was plenty if a parent or sibling wanted. Then we just ate the leftovers for a couple of days afterwards.

It's actually not a big stress hosting the whole class as they are used to their own dynamics and know how to play together. Agree with having lots of physical activities. At my son's party about 5 kids did the craft activity, but they all did the running around parts (we ended with a mini disco). Agree very much with simple activities. My son's party was in the evening, we were at home, I bought a load of cheap torches and glow sticks, and they spent most of the time just running around and playing in the garden in the dark with torches. Then food, then disco dancing (I bought a cheap disco bulb that fits a normal light fitting). Bubbles, balloons etc are also great. Make sure you have a couple of extra adults on hand as parents who come with their kids aren't responsible for running the party or dealing with other people's kids.

If you have a whole class party bear in mind you also need to figure out how to deal with the mountain of presents, half of which will be unsuitable (wrong age, tat etc). I explained to my son that we don't open at the party, and as he opened, I also made clear that we would put away some for later (mainly puzzles suitable for older kids or craft kits) and would also give some away to "kids who don't have so many toys" (eg he got a gun toy and that's not something I'm happy with in the house).

Sorry I forgot to add - there would also be a pass the parcel ! Not sure if they would understand musical statues yet ? I can just imagine them being confused when the music keeps stopping lol

Reception kids can play musical statues for sure.

With a bouncy castle, how do you monitor how many kids go on ? The room isn’t massive so I can’t have a huge one , I would have to look at prices too, but I’m just wondering how do you avoid kids knocking into each other or too many kids going on at the same time and smaller ones getting hurt

I would really advise against an all class craft party for 5 year olds. I did a craft party for 10 seven year olds recently and that wasn't that easy!

When my dc were that age we had class parties. We had...

Disco and balloons. DH learnt how to make balloon swords from YouTube.

Party games such as musical statues, limbo, stations and party dances

A craft table for those who wanted. Some dipped in and out, many didn't visit it at all.

It worked very well.

The food was a cold buffet with tea/coffee and cake for adults.

We did whole class parties in reception and year 1. We hired a hall and an entertainer so just had to provide food and cake. IME cake isn't necessary for the adults but tea and biscuits is normal. Our last one was in December. I provided mulled wine and mince pies for the adults, which went down very well.

As a veteran of many childrens’ parties I would say you need to book an entertainer or a soft play place. Yes it’s more expensive but there’s a a reason people shell out. That many young children with just crafts or even crafts plus bouncy castle will be really hard work and likely there will be quite a few upsets/tears/bored kids.

Or if that is over budget then have 10 kids and do something more home made.

In my experience, if you're going to do a full class party in a church hall type thing, you either need a disco or bouncy castle. This is much easier than trying to organise 30 small children into doing little planned activities. If you get a disco they will facilitate musical statues and pass the parcel. If you get a bouncy castle you could set up a separate craft table in the corner for children who want to sit and do something like that.

It's nice to offer parents tea or coffee if the hall has the facilities for this but parents don't expect to be fed.

They are usually 2 hours long, with food halfway through and cake/singing happy birthday at the end to signify that the party has ended and you want people to leave.

For large numbers of young kids, we did a hall with a bouncy castle, some soft play bits, balloons scattered around and a cold buffet they could pick at whenever they wanted. I think they liked the lack of structure.

When mine were little we had party at the local leisure centre. They had the option of s big sports hall with bouncy castle, or a soft play. It was a lot cheaper than other local soft play options. Under £100 I think at the time, though probably gone up a bit now (mine are 13 and 11).

Sorry to jump on, can someone please help advise me. I'm organising my DD first birthday party she will be 5. She turns 5 end of Sept 2024 and starts school at the beginning of September 2024, she goes to pre school and I know a couple of other mums not many at all and only in passing to say hello.

1st thing is am I giving enough time for invites? They start at school 1st week of spetmeber , I'm going to have the teacher that week for a list of the class' names to send invites , I've booked entertainer and hall for the 5th Oct. Is 2 weeks enough time to ask for replies which will literabey be only 2 weeks before the actual party?! I'm worrying as the entertainer isn't cheap and I really don't want to let my DD down on her first ever proper birthday party.

2nd thing hall booked entertainer etc which is not cheap but she can only do 10am start is that too early?!

I know it's a long way away, but worried its All last minute and it wont work out well with not much time to try get something else sorted in time. Also worried sending invites on 1st week dont want to be that annoying parent whos bugging the teacher on first week of school.

Please help party people x thanks

There might be a "meet the teacher" evening before they start, so you could give other parents the heads-up then. They probably won't want to commit at that point, but at least they're warned.
The teacher may well not be allowed to give you a list of the names, but might be willing to give out the invites if you're inviting everyone. There might be a class parents' whatsapp group or similar, but that might take time to get established (less if someone starts the ball rolling at the meet the teacher evening).

Very often a class WhatsApp will pop up before then. Do you have any kind of school events prior to September? We had a couple in July.
Either way, I think it's enough time and you will get a reasonable attendance.

Not that I'm aware of. I was really panicking this morning when I got an invite to a prtt in March for DD l. Il just roll with it, invites sent out 1st week Sept with 2 week RSVP and then 2 weeks later is party date I'm hoping that's enough? If not many then il have a 2nd plan to maybe just hire last min bouncy castle. I hope hope hope all goes to plan just want her to have a really special party

I'd put the RSVP date to a week before the party at the earliest. Then you'd have 3 weeks for replies.
Agree the teacher won't be able to tell you names, but they should be able to say how many in the class. Then do enough invites without a name on. 'Xxxx is turning 5, please join us at...' Make sure your name and contact details are really clear and obvious!
They don't have to have individual names on. Ask the teacher if they can give them out at end of class.

A whole class party for reception sounds insane! We also live overseas and have never heard of anyone doing that here. It makes a lot of sense from the fun perspective but seems prohibitively expensive and difficult to organise. You barely know any of the other parents and kids themselves are unreliable messengers.

Dropoffs between ages 4-5 are also very rare so most parents will hang around until the party is over. Inviting 25 kids would mean preparing some kind of waiting area plus food and drink for 25-30 adults 😱. If you've had or been to whole class parties, what do the parents do? Do they expect to at least have a drink and place to sit?

The rule here tends to be the child's age +1. So if they're turning 4 they get to pick 5 friends. If turning 5 then 6, etc. Most activity party venues don't allow you to go over 10 kids.

They are very common @StarshapedCookie
I did them for my two in reception.
Generally hire a church hall and entertainer, buffet for the kids and tea and biscuits for the adults (although I did mulled wine as I have December babies)

Whole class parties were the norm for us for the first couple of years of school. Church hall and (very hardworking!) entertainer, or a
softplay.

Generally parents hung around until maybe 2nd/3rd term of reception when it started tailing off. A few stayed for longer, but some who were on their 2nd/3rd/4th child were drop & run from very early!