what do you do at a 3 year old's birthday party? Help!

[RoseOolong]

In a couple of weeks we are having a birthday party for my daughter who will be 3 - she is very excited! She has only just started going to nursery in the past couple of weeks so our invite list has been our friend's kids and her neighbourhood friends, about 8 kids mostly 2.5-4 but also a baby or two and a couple of 7 year olds. Parents are invited to stay too, as it will be nice to see them.
I am fine on food and decorations, but the thought of positively occupying the kids with party games is filling me with terror!
Would love to hear what you have done at little one's birthday parties.
I was thinking about hiring a face painter, and maybe doing cupcake decorating, but drawing a blank on games that they will understand and enjoy.
Thank you!

Ask at nursery what sort of games they play there. Ask your friends too.

Duck Duck Goose
Pass the Parcel
Sleeping Lions
Musical Statues/Bumps/Chairs
If you have a garden and the weather is dry, you could have a little obstacle course.
Try somewhere like www.yellowmoon.co.uk for craft based activities, eg colouring masks

There's a Parties and Celebrations topic too which might have some useful threads.

I made biscuits for the kids to decorate at my DD's 3rd birthday. Kept them occupied for ages! And a craft activity - they made hats. I just cut out strips of card and they decorated them with bits. That also took up quite a bit of time. They took all that home with them at the end.

Same traditional games as BlueChampagn suggested.

We also played a simpler variation of Simon Says, i.e. they just had to do different actions there was no missing out the "Simon says" bit

I think the most popular game was throwing the balls from a ball pool into a tub and seeing if they could get them in!

I do decorate your own party crown (you can get crowns and decorations from Yellow Moon website), pass the parcel, musical bumps/statues, decorate fairy cakes/biscuits, tattoos, party tea, cake.

Did this for DD's 3rd, 4th and 5th birthdays, always seems to have been a hit.

Put on some music and let them dance - head shoulders knees and toes, Hokey Cokey, frozen... There's loads on Pinterest.

We did DD's 3rd birthday a little while ago and loosely planned it like this:

3:30 arrive and playing with balloons
4pm games - pass the parcel and musical bumps
4:30 pizza and smiley faces
5pm dancing
5:15pm cake and candles
5:30 home time

They'll entertain themselves mostly!

I mean spotify, not Pinterest!

We did a treasure hunt just choc coins we had party in garden as summer but could do in garden if dry or in house if not.

Pass parcel

Small craft activity

Music then let them entertain themselves.

Thank you everyone for your lovely ideas - this has been really helpful. I think I needn't have panicked !

I think decorating fairy cakes might be fun - and maybe towards the end a treasure hunt for their party bags. Making hats is a great idea too, and perhaps better for the sugar intake levels!

Thank you again! x