Party at home for DD age 7 any ideas?

[glassofwine]

We told DD that there would be no more parties after last years expensive one, but now it's approaching we've relented and said she can have something small for just a handful of friends. I really don't want to get into spending a small fortune, so will have to have it at home, but what to do? They all like arty/craft stuff, but I feel there should be a theme or something specific to make. Any ideas?

How about making flower pot men - small upturned pot, pipecleaners for arms and legs, a smaller pot for head, stick on googly eyes, markers for mouth. You could probably find better instructions on Google, but just an idea.

Then you could finish the gardening theme with a polystyrene cup - get them to draw a face on it, put in a crunched up piece of kitchen roll, dampened, a sprinkle of cress seeds and they have a lovely reminder of the party as it grows.

let them make jewels ,a mask ect. I had a party for dd aged 5 and they all had to dress in princess outfits.They came along and we done their hair , make up and nails and they had some food and a disco afterwards like a pamper party and they loved it.

My little one was 7 in May, for her party we started off with paining kitty banks (about £5.00 from Tesco). I cut up an old sheet and made party bags with drawstrings and gave them t shirt pens to decorate with and that was their party bag, followed by a treasure hunt and the treasure was the stuff to go in the bag. Also a couple of rounds of dodgeball and it was all over!

You could do a cookery party - either "lead" it yourself or get a professional person in if it's just a few children. They would charge per head and bring all the ingredients. I did this last year for my dd (7) and it was a big hit with boys and girls. They made pizzas, little cupcakes, a simple pudding etc., in other words your dd and friends could make their own party food and have fun into the bargain. There is a bit of time for free play while things are cooking; the 2hrs went really quickly.

Wow, I've seen those kitty bank things in tesco's - great idea and the T-shirts too. i could amalgamate everyone's ideas and get them to make their own pizza's too.

I knew someone on here would know.