Entertaining with limited space

[mamadash]

WondeRing if anybody has any good ideas as to how I entertain a few families either individually or a family at a time when we have limited space. Typically the families we want to invite are 4 people (mum, dad and kids). But our table only sits 4 (6 at a stretch). We would have to eat in installments as we are 4 as well. Once kids have eaten we would need to keep them entertained while we ate and chatted. We ony have the one tv in the living room - all open plan and the bedrooms are small so difficult to send kids there to play. It is so far limiting me from inviting these families over. And they have invited us quite a bit and it makes us look as we are embarrassed to have them over. What do I do? Does anybody have any clever and creative ways around this. I am sure they exist.

Do you have somewhere nice outdoors nearby - a park or river? Have them over for a light lunch (like sandwiches) then pile outside. Or have a picnic.

Do you have a garden ? Kids could play outside , as long as dressed appropriately ,

Most people are happy to mill about in the kitchen etc , as long as you have a glass of wine in hand !

My sister had her 50 th birthday at home , and had about 25 round , all adults though , we sat on the stairs to eat .

We used to use a small children's table with chairs for the kids. The adults sat at the large table and the kids on the smaller one. It was a squash but worked.

Or, set up a blanket on the living room floor and let them picnic together while the adults dine at the table.

As jalopy said, picnic blanket on the floor for the kids - makes mealtimes more special somehow. We did it when we had two sets of friend's around with three children in total (plus DD), and worked fine. They had fun!

In summer time we used to do picnics, it take a bbq somewhere. That way you can entertain an indeterminate number and kids manners don't matter.

In winter, think about a drinks party where everyone adult stands or sits on various seats and you provide pizza and fizzy drinks and divide the children up into age groups into bedrooms.

But we used to eat in stages.

Agree Id keep kids separate from adults either inside or out...last time I did something similar the kids ate in our tent which I put up in garden, they thought it a great adventure and us big kids had a few hours peace to enjoy our meal

Thanks all for the ideas. Would welcome any more.

Mama, on the BBQ front, we passed a great PYO farm today, which lets out one of its fields to people who want to have picnics, BBQs etc. Some families had put up gazebos with BBQs, so actually the weather matters less. that might be an idea. or a walk in the country with thermoses etc.

The other v obvious one is to say to everyone, ok, we'll all go to x museum, we (aka you) provide the picnic which we will eat in y area - many museums have places where you can do that, as long as you buy something from them but the science museum in london has a great family area for kids where you don;t have to buy anything at all. and then you all head off round the bits of the museum that interest you, age related, and after the appropriate period for cultural ingestion you get down to the eating stuff.

brunch is always a good one. because it is more informal so it doesn;t matter who is where. with a buffet in the the kitchen, rugs down in the bedrooms, you can put the adults in the living room.

i used to have about 4-6 foldable chairs that got heaved out when i needed them and lived behind the sofa or under the bed when not. i then passed them on to a friend who lived in japanese style space. tiny.

hth

OP, are you me? I could have written every detail of your post, from the small bedrooms to the open plan design, the table that only seats four at a time and the guilt at not reciprocating invites! Marking place in the hope that I can pick up some tips! :)

Could you do a finger buffet instead of a sit down meal and then people can choose what they want and sit in the lounge or at the table to eat? As long as you don't mind crumbs on your sofa and carpet!

You could do either a buffet type lunch.
Kids could go outside in a tent or under an awning & adults could sit inside.
Or you could give kids picnic boxes of sandwiches and mini sausages etc.
They could then sit infront of telly & watch a film if wet. Or eat outside if dry.
Adults could have an easy meal like a casserole & rice that you could do in advance & when kids are settled you could have your meal.
For a fun desert you could have a chocolate fountain in the kitchen, kids could stay there & have fun dipping fruit etc. adults could join in or not
Then you could all play some family games
like charades...or if nice weather go for a walk & come back for mulled wine or hot choc.

We tend to do cocktails and a buffet that can be picked at

Cocktails set up in kitchen area and food either at regular table ( only seats 4) or what seems to happen is everyone crowds around coffee table ( low to floor) and mixture of sofa and Japanese style floor cushions