So....DD2 will be four on Christmas Eve..she wants a Christmas party and I need ideas?

[BeaverAbroad]

We have fun Christmas Days (a treasure hunt for presents, etc;) and this is DD2's first proper birthday ifyswim- last year we went to the park and made some snowmen and then had a nice cake and went back out to the snow. We didn't invite people over as I was still new to the area and she had barely been at that nursery.

This year is different, there are 16 children coming, between 3-10 (but 6 of them are my relatives, and of those,four are between 8-10, and a further two unrelated children are between 7-10 and are siblings of an invited child).

I know the numbers because I've had to send out invitations now (due to people being away or whatever) and it is going t be the day before Christmas Eve.

Any ideas? We have a Rudolph theme- already got pin the tail on the Rudolph, and we are picking stuff from www.partypieces.co.uk/jingle-all-the-way.html but have no idea about the rest of it, especially ideas for party bags, games and food? So far have got rice crispie cakes with Rudolph faces, and maybe I could have a snowman competition if it snows. Also thought of craft stuff she likes- signs for Santa to come, a treasure hunt to find the party bags. And the dog would look fab dressed with reindeer antlers

I'm just a bit blank. My other DC are born at sensible times!

Party bags - if you were feeling really crafty you could make large crackers and put the party bag stuff inside? If, like the rest fo the world, you are tearing your hair out on Christmas Eve to get things finished, you could just pop stuff in a normal bag like a mini cracker, gold coins, other seasonal chocolate like the marshmallow lollies which are around then. Christmas stickers, reindeer food, maybe some light-up brooches or Christmas bracelets?

ds is november for thier party bags i went to poundland and picked up a christmas dvd..they have loads.. stuck some chocolate in, a balloon and cake.

cheaper than buying loads of tat that will beak with in minutes and was enjoyed by all.

you could decorate some pre made gingerbread man/ biscuites? game and food sorted there.

parce the pucle is always a winner

get some tinsle spilt in to team of 3.. one be the "tree" and the two have to wrap tinsle round them.. first to do so wins?

(we do this at halloween.. but with toilet roll and a zombie )

Thanks for all the ideas. The cracker idea- I can make them, so would be useful. Also the Christmas DVD. Gingerbread men are perfect and the tinsel game too. I know DD would love that.

Rudolph's Pants game?

I got the idea off here, though it was teddy bear's pants, and I changed to theme of party.

Essentially it's a corners game: four colours of pants, four colours, or pictures of coloured pants!, in corners of room: children guess what colour Rudolph's pants will be when he comes back into room and run to that corner, they win and get a sweet

The pants game got a lot of hilarity here, best to explain to parents too in case they are concerned

Have you a hobbycraft near you? i saw in there this morning, foam reindeer antlers for about a pound. They could be decorated i suspect, too.

For party bag fillers:

www.bakerross.co.uk/fundraising-products/fundraising-santas-grotto-essential?p=2

For a craft activity, they could decorate the candle holder below:

www.bakerross.co.uk/christmas-ceramic-tealight-holders

I had a Christmas party for my dds once and one of the things we did was decorate the tree. They LOVED that. Have you got room for more than one tree so you could do this?

For DSs 5th birthday I got a pack a bit like this (look around on the site there are lots of different ones).
Between each craft they played a party game. I got the older children present (DS1 and his friend) to organise the music and which children were out in the games, whilst I got the next craft activity ready.
Added in decorating biscuits whilst I got the rest of the party food ready.

As soon as a craft was finished they put it in their party bags (all I then had to add was a piece of cake).

Thanks LittleMissGreen that's so useful! The craft pack will be great. That's £13. I can supplement that with some stickers (at our local pound shop, you get three packs for £1) and some cut out stockings or some cut out Christmas cards?

I was thinking of having a small craft table because there are different numbers, and adding maybe this (as it's only £2.50 for our numbers) and if I get some card, I can make some cut out baubles for them to decorate. For the older children, they could have the option of painting and doing some stuff, and some more grown up options- a paint your own bauble set for £5 and maybe decorating ginger bread men (while the others can decorate biscuits?) and a draw your own t-shirt (£2 for all the t-shirts. £2 for the pens.)

We don't have space for another tree as such, but we could put the tree up that day, DD1 and 2 would both love to do it at the party and we can tidy it a bit afterwards.

Thanks everyone! £25.50 or so, plus the biscuits and party food! I was thinking: normal party food, and let thm decorate the cake (we have a cake pan in the shape of a Christmas tree- I could ice it while my husband is with the kids, and hope it isn't a disaster).

Thanks again!

It sounds brilliant, please come back and tell us how it went.

Could you do a salt dough decoration thingy for them to take home (not sure I would wnat to bake with 16 though)

Could you use biscuit cutters to cut out festive sandwiches. Like stars, Christmas trees, bells etc?

Oh I just saw you have a cake- only I spotted some lovely Snowman & Father Christmas cakes in the Waitrose Christmas food magazine. They were £13 IIRC and I thought how much I would have loved one as my birthday cake :)