keeping kids amused at engagent party...advice please!

[Boardiegirl]

My DD is having an engagement party in 3 weeks and there will be about 25 children of varying ages. As my youngest is 22 im a bit out of touch! There is no outdoor area at the venue and im wondering if you have any ideas to help keep the children entertained? Al advice welcomed, thanks a lot Mumsnetters! :)

Games table? Puzzles, colouring in etc. I also just bought giant snakes and ladders in marks and Spencer's yesterday- its quite good, but you would need a decent amount of floor space.

With that many kids I would hire an entertainer and / or some baby sitters!

At my sister's engagement party we had one table for craft. I cut out some crown shapes, left lots of stickers, crayons, pens etc and a bit of sellotape to stick the crowns together. (Tesco budget range was cheap and worked well enough.) I also left some plain paper for anyone who just wanted to draw/stick etc.

We also hired a small amount of soft play type bricks. That seemed to keep most of the children happy enough while they weren't eating cake.

thanks guys...any others please?

Even if you don't really plan to use it I'd have a tv and DVD player.

At my friend's wedding they booked a couple of staff from their sons nursery who were actually not that expensive and entertained the children during the drinks reception with toys from the nursery and supervised a children's table for the meal. Amazing!