Your Best Tips For A Great 6th Birthday Party

[colette]

I am having a party for dd's birthday in November year , previously we had a simple family and a few little friends gathering. I am hiring a church hall and inviting about 25 children. Could anyone give me their best ideas for games ,food,party bags , how to keep them all from getting too hyper etc.. please?
I must admit I am getting a bit apprehensive on it all going well .We are doing it on a budget and are not hiring an entertainer just using a very helpful BIL,who will be DJ and hopefully games compere. There have been a lot of parties in her class this year , but as we are not planning on doing this every year I want to make it a memorable day for her and hopefully fun for the adults. I am off to pick her up from her school disco so hope to read your experiences and tips later.
Thanks

I am back

Thanks sue - it does cover more than food. What is the best homespun entertainment though?

My top tip would be 1 1/2 hours is plenty!

If you play some elimination games it can work well if you have some tables and chairs and an ongoing "craft activity" ... colouring-in masks or something very simple - a competition for a "prize at the end" - this stops them getting bored and disruptive if they are out first. This is also a good ice-breaker for when they arrive, so they are not milling about aimlessly waiting for sufficient children to start the first game. It also gives shy children something to do.

This age is great for traditional party games, there are some great threads on here if you search the archives for 'party games'. Make sure you intersperse rowdy/bouncy games with quieter ones.

Label the children as they arrive; this is a great aid to discipline if you don't know all their names!

Thanks Roisin
The idea about making masks is good as my dd loves that sort of thing and it is a good chill out area. I will search for party games and practice

Colette - this thread is a good one ... look especially at Wills's post of 8 March at 9:56. She's referring to a 4th party, but many of the games, particularly the quiet ones, would work well with 6 yr olds. We used some at ds2's 5th party last year, and "wobbly sweets" was particularly good at getting them to quieten down and calm down!

Hope it goes well.

And it's brought back loads of party memories for me!

Another tip: Make sure you explain games slowly and carefully. This gives the children chance to chill out a bit, and is also necessary as some of them will be unfamiliar with lots of party games.

For ds2's party we wrote all the children's names on cards and put them on the floor in one corner. When we wanted to explain, they all had to come and sit down on their name cards and listen.

It does make it a bit like school, but the kids don't mind, and they tend to behave better and listen properly, so you don't have to end up shouting over the noise to explain what they have to do.

Final tip: don't invite too many boys!

HTH

Hi Colette, we have DD's 6th party on 13th November. I've bought party bag stuff from Primark (16 hair items for £1) and really pretty too.

We are just having 8 and having it at home. Have bought some packs of little Haribos, they are 2 packs for £4 in Tescos.

Not done much else yet. We are having my friend round and she is doing hair, make up and nails and another friend is doing tattoos! We're going to have some great girly pampering.

I've just given 2 parties - for a 7 and a 4 yr old - so hopefully have a few, hard-earned pearls of wisdom to impart!
I found the following website invaluable when I was panicking beforehand. It's geared at parties at home, but there are useful tips, and it's very amusing to read!
www.kidspartysurvivalguide.com/tccpsg.html

Pass the parcel tip: I've spent years wrapping up the exact n/o layers for the exact n/o kids, and one really useful tip from this survival guide is, don't do that! It just takes too long, and the kids get bored waiting for the parcel to go round and round. Make each kid do a forfeit perhaps instead of getting a sweetie at each layer, that could be fun.

Kids don't mind if they don't win a prize. Keep the prizes small and simple in any case, just one small sweet is sufficient - the excitement is in the party itself.

Have you thought of fancy dress? I always think this is a brilliant ice-breaker, and there's an immediate party atmosphere.

Discipline. Sit them all down early on and explain what's happening, the programme etc. Be firm from the beginning. Anyone who's playing up, tell them that they'll have to go home early - they soon get the message. Don't tolerate bad behaviour.
Have sthg that makes a noise, that will tell the kids when it's time to stop and listen.

Dress up as a clown or sthg yourself, or maybe wear a funny hat, then the kids know which adult is the focal person to listen to.

Party games. yes, it's a brilliant age for games, but don't attempt too many. Have a few up your sleeve just in case, but you can fill up a lot of time just dancing in eg musical statues, bumps etc. Just have freetime dancing do, with the conga (spelling?) etc.

Food: I've spent years doing lots of little bits and pieces for the kids to eat. This year I did a couple of huge pizzas and chicken nuggets. I cut the pizzas into SMALL squares, and it all went down a treat. Small meant hardly any waste - there was plenty for seconds, but not much left on the plate. Same with the cake - Small slices. Keep some for parents at the end too. You could always cook the food beforehand and take it to the hall, it needn't be piping hot to serve.

Party bags. I named all mine so that I could tailor boys/girls or younger/older children, but if your party is all the same age group, keep things simple and keep the bags all the same. Have a couple of extra just in case - maybe a sibling will stay on, or someone else turn up at the last minute! And maybe have extra sweets or sthg handy to give to siblings who arrive too at the end of the party. It's so easy to do, but it creates a nice atmosphere, and the parents appreciate it.

Phew! Am getting carried away with my rosy-tinted memories. Better do some work instead! The main thing is, keep things as simple as you can.

Good luck! Enjoy! Don't forget your camera!

Thanks Roisin and secoundhandrose .
I might be able to get a parachute - my friend thinks I would have to watch that the boys don't damage it,do you think it would be motre trouble than it was worth?I think it would make the party a bit diiferent and also make great pictures

I will chech the website later , ds has just woken up. Good luck with the party secoundhand rose .

I have just had a party for my 5 year old at home and we have been to several others recently as well. I'm not sure about 6 year olds but 5 year olds seemed to hate loosing and pin the tail on the donkey, and musical chairs caused quite a few tears for those who were 'out' or didn't win a prize. They all loved dancing so musical statues and musical bumps were very successful.

Rushingaround- are you ok?

Wasn't sure if I was barging in on a conversation between folk who all knew each other, and maybe I'd got too carried away with detail! (Hardly ever post these days, so when I do I get quite excited.)
Good luck with your planning!

Rushingaround - off course you were not too enthuisiastic(sp) , it is absolutely necessary when dealing with overexcited children . I am only an occasional visitor as ds grabs the keyboard, whines etc. and am grateful for replies and support..

If your dd likes arty/crafty things, you could consider ordering stuff from Baker Ross to use in the party. They are very cheap and have an incredibly wide range of things. I find the only problem is trying to stop ordering! Their website is bakerross.com. They do a catalogue as well.

I found that is you are having a games that require children to be 'out', I have 1 nice prize for the winner, but lollies and sweets for the children that were out, so even though you have just told them they are out, they collect the sweet on the way and it means less tears.