children's parties - let me know your most successful ideas!

[beasmum]

my son will be four this year and we've never done a party for him before. (don't call social services - he's had fantastic birthdays, doing lovely things with us and his grandparents, aunt, uncles and cousins etc!!!!)

I just thought this year, now that he's at pre-school and will be getting to know one or two other children a bit better, does anyone reckon they have thrown the best party ever?

I have been to some dire parties and wondered what you wonderful mums out there do so that I can steal your ideas....his birthday is in August by the way.

John Styles. Fabulous, fabulous children's entertainer - does traditional Punch and Judy, balloon animals, comedy. Had a room full of children and parents entranced and weeping with laughter. Had him for ds's fourth birthday and it made the whole event so easy.

Aloha, where is he based?

London and SE I assume. I'm in London. Oh, he was fab, he really was. I'm booking him again for ds's fifth birthday.

Hurrah, I'm in SE London and he sounds perfect for my DS's 5th birthday - not until Sept but I do like to plan ahead!! Let me know his contact details if you can please.

Thanks

he sounds brilliant. Am a complete novice on parties so any advice on numbers / length of party etc would be gratefully received.

All I know is I hated the children's party I recently went to where there were literally 20 two year olds....frazzled parents trying in vain to make them sit down at table at once - couln't even FIND the birthday boy to give him a kiss goodbye - with 20 kids and their parents you can imagine amount of bodies stuffed into one room --shudder----

Beasmum book him NOW. I tried to organize a party entertainer in S London with two month's notice and most just laughed at me!

here he is!

Motherinferior and Blu will vouch for him (I hope). he is very strict with the children - but they absolutely LOVE it, and it means you literally don't have to do anything.

Dora the Explorer themed party for DD's 3rd birthday was good, but very hands on for me.
Her 4th was at the Playbarn and completely hands free! Fab!

Tend to do smaller parties at home for ds's, kids love em.
Past years have been ...Pirates, Harry Potter and Charlie and choc factory

for a party at home, children that age like treasure hunts and pass the parcel , we also have decorated cookies and cupcakes to take home. At 4 they still want to play freely, organinzed things don't go over so well

Hana, my ds's friends loved organised activities at that age, and it saved my house from being ransacked!!!

beasmum, I love doing parties, and am probably insane. I would advise keeping it small and the most simple old fashioned ideas seem to work the best. My ds loved his pirate party so much last year he is having it again this year. Pass the parcel always goes down well, musical statues, and we always do a 'pin the X on the X', so for example, last year we had a large picture of a pirate and you had to pin his eye patch on; for halloween we have had a skeleton you have to pin the head on. I found some great sites. If you google it you can get loads of tips and suggestions. Pirate party comes up with loads of helpful things. Enjoy!

Snap pinkmama!! pin the eye patch here too!
Plus pass the treasure chest, and gold coin hunt in the garden

spykid, wish dd's friends or rather my friends children were the same, would make things a lot easier!!

have no choice when they come to my house

We always do theme parties at home and the kids seem to like them as not many people do them. We've done all sorts including Harry Potter, fairies, pirates, Lemony Snickett, puppets, wizard of oz - I may be sad but I love planning for them - making invites, cakes, even (gulp) preparing the party bags.

Janeite, sounds like me!
Must swap ideas, love the lemonny snicket idea. Ds1 is thinking of star wars for this year

We did a christmas art party for DS (4) and five of his school friends. We made christmas stockings, paperchains and bead bracelet for mummy.

I got loads of plaudits from other mums who told me there kids loved it.

For my ds's 4th party he had 24 friends and a few of their younger siblings.
We hired the village hall.
Party 2hrs long 4pm - 6pm
Had small disco lights, kids pop cd playing and a few balloons to bat around when they came in.
Also made a large HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner on a roll of white paper (Ikea). Each letter was patterned, stars spots etc .This was taped to a table in the corner so the less adventurous had something to do.
4.30 Ate party tea jam ham cheese marmite cut out shape sandwiches, homemade mars bar cake and jelly tot iced buns, obligatory snacks fruit sausages etc
5pm Entertaining "clown" came
5.45 Music and lights back on, wrapping paper made into a cone and filled with plain popcorn given.
6pm Parents and children left with small party bag and cake

It was exhausting, took quite alot of preparation but the great time the kids had was worth it and it did feel like a special day for my ds rather than an indoor play centre party where they all go off and play and it could be anybodys party. Hope this helps.

jenthehen - we are planning something along that idea for DD's 4th birthday. Just trying to sort a hall out at moment, and trying to decide on the entertainment. Will be a princess party though. Was going to have a "disco" music and ballons half of room and then a couple off tables with some crafty stuff - colouring of princess/prince type pictures, making crowns/tiaras. Then have a finger food type tea in the middle. Have rounded up lots of helpers for preparing food, etc.

August is a fab time of year to have a party, my ds is in July.
1st birthday had a family BBQ in back garden, was brill.
2nd birthday we had a beach party. (we live in the next town to Blackpool) We met all of his little pals (about 15 kids and thier parents) in a quiet spot on the beach when the tide was out.
I made under the sea party boxes for all the kids and one each for the adults. Took swim nappies and towels and they played on the beach for an hour. It was brill. This year i think we may have another garden party.
I bought a cheap bouncy castle form a bargain shop. (£20) with an attached paddling pool, bought some building sand and poured it into a spot in the garden with buckets and spades.
We set up a gazeebo that we borowed in case of rain and had food galore, fab fab fab.
I also do Halloween parties and i threw a small birthday lunch for my freinds little boy on Saturday.
I bloody love it i do!!!

Spykid - feel free to PM me and we'll pick each other's brains!

DD is only 2, but her birthday is on Dec 22nd which brings its own difficulties. We did a little party at home for it (2nd) with four little buddies, a bunch of helium balloons, fairy cakes, and mini-party bags. They were all thrilled - DD was over the moon, and still talks about it. I think any more than that would have been overwhelming for her, and stressful for me!

And anyway, I plan to start humbly and work my way up to bigger and better things sloooowly....

Yeah!!! I have just booked a big hall for DD's party We have hired it for the full 3 hour slot - so gives us lots of time for the party, plus time either side to prepare/clean up.

Aloha, he looks wonderful, but is he...very...expensive? No prices on his website I see...
beasmum, when ds was four and a summer boy too we got the largest paddling pool we could, plenty of water-pistols and water toys and had a pool party. Plenty of chilled rose for the parents and a lovely time had by all. No more than eight guests. We did a few games (Sleeping Lions widely recommended as a wind-down before tea) which was a pizza picnic in the garden.
Everyone enjoyed themselves hugely.
For Londoners wanting a venue party that's a bit special I cannot recommend the Golden Hinde at London Bridge highly enough. Lovely acting student entertainers, really GOOD party food with optional cake from Konditor and Cook, the run of the ship and of course, Borough Market to hand for parents to escape to for an hour or so.
We did this for ds' sixth, a bit of a one-off as it wasn't cheap, but it was excellent value for money IYSWIM. All of us enjoyed getting away from the usual suspect venues in our corner of SE London!