5th birthday party ideas

[Orangepink5]

I am having a 5th birthday party at home for my son on Saturday afternoon 3-5. It is going to be Easter themed. There will be 25 children (mainly 4/5 year olds with a few younger siblings). Can anyone who has done lots of parties for this age give me some ideas.
If it is dry we hope to be outside for most of it, we have a big garage to do tea in. If it is very wet then most of it will be inside but the children should be ok doing a quick Easter egg hunt outside in the garden. The plan will be a bit fluid until we have an accurate forecast. House is not smart so no worries there.

Current plan:

ARRIVAL:
Easter crown decorating on arrival
Have football and a few other games/toys outside
pin the tail in the bunny

HUNT:
do an Easter egg hunt- something non chocolate so as not to ruin their tea. Any ideas? Maybe a 6 egg box each, each section coloured differently, they have to find something red, green, yellow etc in the garden to fill the sections. Or else find coloured stones or stickers or something else a 4/5 year old would like- ideally not too much plastic rubbish). Prize for winner or for completing

PARTY GAMES:
egg and spoon race
pass the parcel (if inside)
musical statues
whats the time Mr Wolf

TEA

FINISH: chocolate Easter egg hunt.

That sounds lovely but I'm just wondering if kids that age wouldn't rather just have toys to play with and left to it. Maybe some balloons. The Easter egg hunt but sounds fab but after that I'm my experience kids that age just want to play at a party, run round with their friends and maybe have a balloon fight. Maybe just the kids I know though 🙈

I’m doing a home birthday party and going to use our bubble machine as that always seems to go well at parties.

That sounds great. Kids that age defo need structure otherwise it will be mayhem

I always did home birthdays, and I always did games/treasure hunts. It was great and they loved it.

Egg hunt ideas:
either:
put a little bag at each place and they take one egg from each bag.
or
give them a box with only 6 places so one egg each place
or
make the hunt for something slightly different and then the easter egg is a prize.

your problem with an easter egg hunt is that one clever kid find all the eggs.

we did a variation of the last one for lots of parties.
clues - I had photos of 10 things round the garden and they had to find them (as a group) and bring back what was hidden there. So I gave them a photo of a watering can, shed, apple tree etc and in each place was a large puzzle piece.
When they put together the puzzle they could see where the prize was hiding. eg the puzzle was a photo of the shed/an upside down bucket, whatever) . They did it as a group, I handed the picture to a differnet person each time, and they brought me back the puzzle piece to get the next clue. Then together they made the puzzle and found the treasure.
It sounds complicated writing it down! But it stretched out the game, and it had several steps, hunt, puzzle and then find treasure, so it took longer and was more satisfying.

I would never give out one prize for a hunt at this age.

I like the idea of finding 6 different colour things to go ina a 6 egg box. But you might need to help out, eg leave a bag of coloured pegs, or a box of toy cars in the garden and tell them it can be anything they find. Everyone who fills their egg box with 6 different colours gets a sticker. (and I would be fairly tough, anyone who comes back with 6 bits of rubbish in 1 minute flat gets told to try again)

Thanks for your super helpful comments so far. I will read properly later. The plan will obviously be flexible and if they are happy running around the garden by themselves or with some toys, then great, I will do less organised activities. Bath I’ve been to a couple of birthday parties in village hall when the children have been bored which is a worry! I’d prefer to have over-planned than be left with whinging children!

Any other ideas for Easter egg hunts that don’t involve lots of chocolate?

Sounds great. Where did you get the puzzles from?!

Print off a picture and cut it into 8 pieces.
= a puzzle.
and the puzzle can be a photo of where the treasure is, eg the sofa inside, the shed, under a large teddy sitting in the kitchen. wherever

I am definitely with you on having lots of activities.
They do get bored, especially as a larger group don't settle down and play in the same way as 2 or 3 do, and they are over excited by being at a party

You can let them collect chocolate eggs, but they go in the egg box and go home, so no eating.