Party

[Li60]

I’m organising a birthday party for my soon to be 6 year old and I’m looking for ideas. There will obviously be cake, juice sweets et. As far as games go I’m planning pass the parcel, musical statues and chairs.Does anyone have ideas what else we could do? The party will last 3 hours at our house in the garden

That's a long time to entertain esp at home!

Hire a bouncy castle
Character
Entertainer

Chalk, green games, balls, frizby, slide, swing if you have them, quiet zone for drawing. Bucket of water and paint brushes. paddling pool with washing up liquid and bubble wands.

It isn’t a long time - you have arrivals first half hours, kids playing, couple of games, food, free play and cake.

Big bin bag to show its home time. And hopefully people will help tidy and leave.

If you have any toys, bucket of Lego, train set, stick them out in the garden as well.

Food of some sort - that uses up 30 mins of the 2 hours. Either sandwiches etc or pizza as you're at home.

You could organise races - egg and spoon, bean bag on head, skipping etc

You are having party food too? Just with you mentioning juice sweets and cake specifically… other than that I’d maybe a sand station, a football, personally I’d hire a bouncy castle as itl be much easier.

2hrs is the sweet spot, long enough for them to play and eat, not long enough for them to start winding each other up.

Have some kid friendly music, there's always a couple who like to have a bit of a dance between running about.

1hr playing, 30 mins for food and blowing out candles on the cake, then last 30 minutes they play while you clear the food away and sort out the party bags. Parents will arrive 5 mins or so before the end.

Encourage parents to drop and go, it's easier to just have the kids than to have to entertain the parents too.

I've always done parties at home, usually 2 hours but three if I had a theme and lots of ideas. Themes made it much easier. I didn't go overboard or do lots of decorations but it helped me think up/search games and most importantly crafts. I highly recommend starting with a craft and having another to do later on too. These save you tons of money as one can be decorating party bags to fit the theme and the other can then fill the bag! I also always had a scavenger hunt at the end - for sweets that were hidden while we did some games in one area all together. These sweets go in their bags and signalled home time once found. Another tip! I find cake is often wasted so I would have one cut up in advance and rolled in napkins. The children chose whether to have theirs at the party or take it home. With children 5 and up they get on much better with each other when their time is mostly directed (organised by you) rather than free play. About 2/3s directed, 1/3 free. Team games and races work well if outdoors, think sports days at school! Have sweets for prizes.

Worth asking another parent or two to help but generally much easier if most parents don't stay in my experience! Hope it goes well.

Glitter tattoos (you can get cheap sets to do then yourself)
Decorate buns (two each, one to eat there and then, the other to take home)
Disco
Craft activity. Hobbycraft and Baker Ross have some good things.
Homemade pizza