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.

I am just recovering from yesterday's party for my daughter's 6th Bday.

We did posh invites inviting her classmates for 'Cocktails' at the Village Hall and then we set up three tables with plastic champagne flutes and Cocktail paraphernalia along with Orange juice and Grenadine. The children spent ages (about an hour plus) designing their cocktail to be 'judged' at the end. Rest of the time was spent doing pass the parcel etc. plus food and a bit of dancing.

We did this with a different group of friends for her fourth Birthday too. Both times have been really, really successful.

You can add cocktail type music, i.e. Jazz and all sorts of other themed detail.

Another great party was barbecue food in the garden of one of my son's friends from nursery with sandpit and inflatables out on the lawn. They finished off with a Punch and Judy done by the Dad and his friend which was absolutely amazing and totally personalised.

I have to say I have a bit of an aversion to paid for entertainers mainly because they can be so impersonal. I have seen some who, as they go, have been pretty good.

We had ds1's 5th birthday party at home. 6 children invited, 5 turned up. Theme was Monsters, at his insistence, so everyone had to dress as a monster.
Did balloon bouncing, musical statues, pin the tail on the monster, and an impromptu game that seemed to be called who can make the most noise (aided by a box of noisy stuff that they found for themselves under ds2's bed - clackers, toy trumpet and sax, party blowers, cymbals and drum!!!). Prizes given for best / funniest etc.
Forgot all about pass the parcel as didn't have time, what with the hour they took for eating and general mucking about, which they enjoyed the most.
Top tip - if you're having it at home keep the numbers low. Ds1 had already been to 2 parties with 20 plus kids and they all got overexcited and squabbled and cried.

This is a great thread btw. Will revisit this for ideas for my sons Birthday in July - he will be 5.

My ds1 has done something different for his birthday every year. He has had parties at the local play zone, fancy dress parties at home,disneyland, legoland but the best has to be his 8th last year. He could choose what we did and he asked for a party with the works ie disco,magician,face painting, puppets, etc. I think he thought he was getting too old for them and this was his last chance. Everyone had a great time kids and adults alike, so much so I may have the same for my 30th in 2yrs time (with a bouncy castle too, of course)

oh and the entertainment only cost £120. whole party £220 (including hall,food, party gifts etc) but worth every penny

wow, everyone has had some great ideas! Marina, I loved your idea of the pool party in a huge paddling pool, hmmmmmm.....am planning already! Someone said their four year old had "24" friends for their party - are we totally unpopular or is that unusual???? At three and a half my son is only just starting to talk about other children as friends let alone have TWENTY FOUR of them!!!!

Couldn't ever face that many children though even if he did! I have to say it has clarified one thing for me and that is that I would want him to invite the people he genuinely liked rather than all the children he knows - I have a feeling the party would be more special to him that way, with so many children I feel it's more like a playzone experience, though each to their own, as I have learnt on mumsnet!

My dd's birthday is in August too and she will be 4. I think this is the last opportunity to do something personal at home rather than the crazy invite the whole reception class they do round here that we will have to do next year.

She has had some sort of garden party every year. Last years was so much fun. We had a hawaiian beach party. Lots of the boys turned up in Hawaiian shirts or those UV swim suits. We had a bouncy castle with paddling pool (in ELC sale) and we put a few bags of play balls in there. The girls wore bikinis and grass skirts etc or summer dresses. We had 10 kids plus parents and that was fine. Its normal for parties to be 2 hours long I think so they don't get too fed up with each other, but we always get a few close friends staying longer. We had fun Disney music on in the background and loads of balloons and bunting everywhere. We played pass the parcel and pin the nose on the clown,but mostly the kids were happy to just play on the swing, slide, inflatables and bouncy castle.

I made a tea of sandwiches, sunbathing jelly baby cakes, cocktail sausages, carrotts and dips, grapes, crisps etc and there was a big Nemo cake at the end I had made which went down a treat. I made party bags with small nemo keyrings; stickers; bubbles; party blowers; balloon and some penny sweets and all the guests got a flower lei to go home with (party pieces on line do boys and girls ones).

We also borrowed a bubble blower from a friend and the children went crazy running around the garden trying to catch them all.

August is a great time for a party. Have lots of fun!

wow hockeymum what a lovely party! lucky girl.

What do people think of party bags? In my day (Soooo long ago) they hadn't been invented and if we were lucky we came away with a bit of birthday cake wrapped up in a napkin! Now my son goes to parties and asks for his present bag (hangs head in shame, where have I gone wrong....)

Aloha, I've just booked him and Marina, no, I don't think he is too expensive. One hour show, including balloons, ventriloquist doll, Punch and Judy etc, for £100.

Thanks Mumsnet, saved the day.....oh, and for the SE Londoners, he's based near us......

Asda Helium canister, £19.99 + bag of cheap balloons on long strings. I got about 50 cheap balloons inflated on one canister and it looked GREAT.

beachy - I hope to book him for DS's fifth birthday in Sept - let me know what you thought!

when are you going back to work?

Oh that is reasonable! Thank you Beachyhead, and how nice to know he comes from the same neck of the woods.
some really original party ideas for us to nick when dd is older - cocktails and Hawaiian, how lovely.
I do feel having two summer babies is very lucky

Beachyhead - are you from the Eastbourne area????

For my chldren's Birthdays I have rented out my churches hall and had a "bring something to share" buffet and borrowed the toys from the toddler group they run there - If it is a sumemr Birthday then I do a BBQ (again, bring something to share idea) outside. Then all the parents can sit around while their children play in (relative!) safety - It is very cheap and works really, really well - My churches hall has a seperate smaller hall out the back from prams etc and toilets and baby change. It is great.

Also for my DD2's Birthday I had a "bring your own picnic" to the local park, which was again, cheap and easy - No fuss - Just how I like it!!

I'm pregnant with my first (DD) and am really looking forward to all the birthday parties - I remember some of mine .... my favourite was a Pyjama party, it was brilliant fun!

One of my friends daughters had a tea-party in the garden for her May birthday, all her friends (predominantly female) brought a cup, there was a gingham blanket and they drank 'tea' (I think it was in fact fizz...) Twas very tweed and girly but they had a great time (especially because granddad had hidden notes from the fairies at the bottom of the garden in the tree!).

Even in my mums small house we always had a few friends around and had fun, I don't think you have to spend lots of money or stress too much, just listen to what your child wants and try to enjoy the moment!

We rent a full sized bouncy castle. £75 for the afternoon and you literally don't have to do anything else other than give them tea. Really easy as the rental people turn up and install it -takes about 20 mins and all you need is access to a power plug. DS is 4 and DD is 2 and their birthdays are very close together in the year. Bit of light supervision to ensure the 4 year old boys don't terrorise the 2 year old girls and no one get over excited - easy for us as people tend to stay at parties at that age and a lot have nannies (We've only done week day parties so far). Where adults don't know each other, bouncy castle supervision is a great ice breaker. After the party DH and I had a glass of champagne and a good bounce ourselves! Rental company collect that evening, although the one we use are very flexible (next year we may see if we can keep it for another day!)

You don't need a very big garden, because it actually concentrates everyone in one area.

We had a pirate party in the garden for ds(4) last summer. He just invited 8 friends and tbh that was plenty. He was quite overwhelmed by the whole thing as it was. As for party bags - it seems the done thing now, but lots of places do cheap packs, Tesco, Woolies etc. of themed toys. We had a pirate pencil and gold coins in ours.
Organized games werent so popular, hunting for treasure and bashing the pinata seemed to work best.

If you're having a garden party get a gazebo thing incase you get bad weather - in advance. My dh had to go around all the neighbours last July looking for one when the heavens opened just as people were due! Don't beleive the weather men! We were doing a teddy bear's picnic.

I read somewhere that as a guide invite 1 friend for each year i.e 3 or 4 at age 3 etc. This is the number that they will be able to play with well.

that sounds a good idea about the number of children, how sensible, one for each year of their age! Like that.

I didn't have parties as a child (didn't ever cross my mind to want one so don't be sorry for me!!!) but my parents always took us on a special outing.

Does anyone remember their parties fondly? REALLY fondly or as just something you did? were they really occasions that made you feel special?

What I have always remembered is the birthday cakes: my Mum would make a different one every year, one year the whole meal was a 'man' with cake for head and body, twiglets for fingers, etc.

I found competitive games a bit stressful, though fun, but tbh just having a bunch of friends over for tea, dressing up for the party, and being The Birthday Girl are what counted.

After about 10, I really enjoyed going on special outings with one or two best friends - cinema, sleepovers, etc.

Have times changed a lot, or is this about right for kids now?!

Not from Eastbourne and not suicidal either (although like all, I have my moments!!!!) Just like hanging out on the beach!!!!

Had a party for ds (6) on Saturday - Thunderbirds themed - made TB hats, played themed games etc. 22 kids aged 5-7 - usual party food. Children seemed to enjoy it as they don't go to many parties where they play games any more. For a 4 year old party I would keep it really simple - just letting them play with balloons, a couple of easy games (pass teh parcel, Musical Bumps, Duck, Duck Goose etc)
Watch out though - I'd planned a balloon game before finding out one child had a phobia about balloons!

dd1 is going to have her first birthday party this year, shes going to be three, as she now has her little group of friends.

some great ideas here - now must choose

do i do a dora party, though, she'd probably want lazy town theme or do i book fred in the shed - apparently he's really good - does everything including the party bags.

decision, decision..........

We've done themed parties 2 pirate ones (But Mummy the last one was SOoooo good please can we have another?) and a Medieval Madness party (princesses and knights.) We keep it small in numbers but go to town decorating the whole of downstairs with our chosen theme. Party bags too are also themed and I love doing them (£ shops are great for these) For the medieval one we had plastic champagne flutes and I stuck gemstones round them and painted the bottom gold. We had a red carpet and I even sprayed one of our old about to be thrown out garden chairs gold to make a throne. Both pirates and knights were excellent themes and the kids still talk about them 2 and 3 years later.