Third Birthday Party. Advice Please!

[thumper]

Well, got Christmas and New Year done, now onto third birthday party for dd. Was going to be super organised, invites out before Christmas, plans in place and all that. Suddenly hit home today that it is two weeks on Saturday and I've doen NOTHING. Tell a lie, bought the invites tonight (which were going to be designed and printed at home). Yeah right. Anyway, need some advice please. Are three year olds ready for organised games? Was thinking about musical bumps, 'pin' the tail on the donkey, and pass the parcel. Or do I just get all the toys out and let them play?

Also, do I give them all separate plates of food or put everything on a table and let them help themselves like they did last year. Any thoughts and ideas VERY welcomed. Thanks.

thumper- someone has asked this very same question on the GU talk site. I'm having probs doing the link but if your search for Gaurdian Unlimited, go into Talk, then News Talk, then Advice (down the left hand column) it should still be there. Loads of good tips.

Thumper, my advice for the easiest ride for you and a lovely time for them would be to hire a small hall and get a bouncy castle (sorry, I know I've said it before but I'm a big fan!) You then don't have to do anything IME, except let them at it You can deflate it with a push of a button when you want them to eat and inflate it again with a push of a button when you want them to leave you alone to clear up! Don't try to organise them too much I don't think, just either do the above or get loads of toys out if you're going to do it at home and leave them to it (albeit slightly supervised). I'd put food out and let them help themselves with help if they need it. Know what you mean about best laid plans and all that!

thumper, I got a great CD, called something like "party fun", about £5 from Party Pieces (www.partypieces.co.uk I think), which has pre-recorded (even the breaks! ) games such as musical bumps / statues / pass the parcel with a nice man giving the instructions. I used it at dd2's 3rd birthday, where there was a mixture of ages, but they all enjoyed it, and it took a lot of the stress away for me. Also, the thing I was most pleased about at that party was that I didn't make endless sandwiches / sausage rolls etc, I bought (again from party pieces) boxes (a bit like happy meal boxes), and gave each child their own individual portion; jam sandwich, cheese sandwich, cheese string, squeezy yoghurt, carton of drink and a couple of little cakey-type things. It worked really well, and I knew exactly how much to prepare (not v. good at portion estimation). There seemed to be less mess, too, for some reason.

Thanks for sharing the info about Party Pieces, Emsiewill - what a great site. Must admit that I love planning childrens' parties (sad!! - perhaps as I've only got one DS!!), he's not 2 until March but I am already getting ideas together!

Have been away for the weekend so didnt see your responses until today. Thanks a lot chaps, has made me feel much more relaxed about it (probably won't last though!). Invitations have now gone out and still VERY quiet in the office today so will start planning!

Do you have a toy library near you? If so you can borrow some larger toys like little tikes stuff which are excellent for parties - this is a good idea for in a hall too - and could go along with www's bouncy castle.

OOOOh some great ideas here - dd is 3 in Feb so am starting to think about it. Luckily our local nursery lets you hire it - and as all the kids who will be coming to the party are at the same nursery it is a nice familiar place for them all, all I have to do is provide food and games.
Doesn't help, though, that dd doesn't seem to know her friends names! Will have to ask nursery leader - they can't ALL be called Stephanie? (her best pal!)