What to do at 4 year old birthday party?

[PinnyPencher3]

I’ve got so far as to booking a hall.
About twenty 4-year-old children. Mostly boys.

What do I need to provide to keep them entertained? I have seen you can hire soft play bits but I think they are too old (boisterous) for that and would just be flinging them around.

Budget does not stretch to hiring an entertainer.
I know I can do musical statues and pass the
Parcel type games (terrifying as it is to me) but is there anything else, like creating a theme or other things to make the party fun?
Cheaper the better

If you're not going to have an entertainer or soft play you need to structure some stuff...

Miscal statues
Musical bumps
Pass the parcel (do more that one parcel for that number)
Could do some sort of crafty thing like making an mask and the theme could be a jungle theme
Pinnata

If you were to have an entertainer it would be games for 1.5 hours and then food for half an hour. But instead you could do an hour of games then half an hour of disco then eating for the last half an hour.

Bouncy castle? Games with balloons? Treasure hunt? Slime?

Just had my 4yos birthday party. About 15 kids. Also contemplated games/toys. But no, simply all you need are 20 helium balloons, each with thier own string and they will run around like lunatics for 2.5 hours. I tried to get them to do the pass the parcel but only had about 5 takers. I also out out a load of food and they all grazed on that throughout. The only time they were quiet was when they were eating cake!

@MaizeBlouse - fab news, thanks for that!
Let me know if you have any other tips / learnings having just done it. I’m thinking lunch boxes rather than buffet to keep mess minimal

Oh and what is usual duration for 4 year olds party? Two or three hours?

I think planning games is a good idea, but prepared to just let them run around like loons for the entire time with music and balloons!

Ours was 2-5, worked best for us as we have a 2yo who still naps. I specified on the invite 'food and fun' so people knew to expect some lunch type stuff. We didn't host at home (we have a tiny flat!) But in my DPs cafe which is large so having a big space for them to run was ideal. There wasn't much food mess tbh.. I had crisps, fruit (melon, pineapple sticks etc), sausage rolls, cocktail sausages (veggie versions too), breadsticks, dips an similar for grown ups. No sweets as I knew they be getting cake and didn't want too many hyped up kids! They mostly just ran over, grabbed food and ate it then and there so.like I say not much mess. The parents also supervised this too a bit I guess. Oh there was also water but no fizzy drinks/squash. Maybe that's mean but I really wanted to minimise sugar highs as the cake was pretty epic in terms of sugar ha.
I also made party bags which seemed popular (a light up bouncy ball, some stickers, a stretchy man.. something else I've forgotten!).
There was a vague rainbow theme but I didn't go big on that like I've seen some people do. No booze for parents but free tea and coffee as it was at the cafe. Everyone seemed to have a ball!

Two hours is PLENTY!

Would your budge stretch to a bouncy castle?