Birthday party for 4 year old

[NeverNoMore221]

This is the first year my son has said he would like a birthday party - he'll be turning 4 towards the end of the year. We'll be inviting the children from his nursery group.

We live in a very small flat with no garden, so couldn't host it at ours.

The weather is likely to be cold as it will be winter so can't do a playground / park.

Soft play is sadly out of our budget.

I found a hall to hire that we can afford, but they don't allow bouncy castles etc.

What do you do at a party with children in this age bracket? My son will be one of the oldest and some of the children will have only just turned 3.

I think barely 3 is too old for a lot of standard party games and had originally planned for a bouncy castle and disco. Now we can't have a bouncy castle or play equipment I'm worried about how to entertain them?

Help please!

Meant to say too young for party games, not too old. My son certainly doesn't have any interest in pass the parcel etc.

Have you checked if your local leisure centre do parties? Often they do with a bouncy castle included. Otherwise could you check what a children’s entertainer will cost for a village hall

@Lkahsvtv the hall we found costs £11 per hour to rent and a bouncy castle about £90 for an afternoon.
My budget is max £150 and the cheapest leisure centre / soft play type place in our area is £250 for an hour and a half. One is asking £575!!

Our local children’s centers hire the rooms for parties quite cheaply. They’re full of the stay and play equipment, so you just need to add music and food. We’re in the middle of 4th birthdays and that’s proving very popular.

@YallaYallaaa that's a great idea but all of our local children's centres closed down in 2019. There is only one left in my local area and they don't hire for parties.

I'm hoping for ideas to entertain the children in the hall I can afford, I'm just not sure what party games would work for such young children.

It makes me sad I can't afford to give my son the party he wants. He's desperate for a bouncy castle.

Should add I live in central Surrey if anyone knows anywhere in my budget!

There are places who hire out soft play type stuff for parties, often 100. I would look those up.
such as:
https://surreysoftplayhire.com/

I recently went to a 3rd birthday party with pass the parcel and although most of the kids needed some help, it was pretty funny! They do also play quite a lot of games at nursery (e.g. what's the time Mr Wolf etc.) so a little bit of that would probably work okay. Otherwise, I've been to a few parties in local halls which are also hired by baby & toddler groups, and often the group doesn't mind lending their toys (maybe in exchange for a small donation), so it might be worth looking into what toddler groups run in your area, and if you can borrow some stuff. Then the kids can all just run around and play.

Parachute games?
Basic crafts?

That's way too expensive. Not helpful but I paid £70 for a leisure centre soft play party in my area. They divide the room up so multiple parties are going on, hence the smaller price.

Sorry it's over priced. Could you just take a small number of friends to a local soft play or somewhere fun for the afternoon?

Picnic in the park would be so cheap, I know someone that did this.

You could also hire like a character artist, (we have a local Spiderman and an Iron Man) to come and do an appearance.

Village hall + children's entertainer is great idea. Just fill the space with balloons and some craft activities on the side and let the entertainer do their thing. Piñatas always fun too.

There’s a franchise called pop up play village who run kids parties, they bring role play equipment (building bricks, play food, dolls etc) and set it up and the kids just play. My daughter has been to a couple and loved it, it seems really popular with all the preschool age kids who are maybe a bit young for organised games. I think when I looked in to it, it was a little over £150 but not by much, so may be out of budget but worth a look if there’s one near you.

If any of his nursery friends have a birthday about the same time, you could have a joint party?

Cardboard boxes... Lots and lots of cardboard boxes.

I would get some foam playmats (as many as you can), cover a large part of the floor and then build a network of cardboard boxes. If anyone in your family is having a sofa or furniture delivered, ask them to save the cardboard box.

The kids can jump in them, sit in them, crawl through them, decorate them... The possibilities are endless.

Some ideas...

https://www.thecaterpillaryears.com/cardboard-box-party/

https://www.wired.com/2012/04/birthday-week-throw-a-byob-party/

https://desertchica.com/cardboard-box-party-fun/

https://mellysews.com/cardboard-birthday-party/

Ahh I'd forgotten about the parachute! Brilliant idea - thank you.

I recently moved to a Scandinavian country and I’ve never seen a bouncy castle party here, or been to a soft play one etc.

My son just turned 4 and his parties have mainly been a rented room/house with lots of different zones set up for the children. This includes:

-A craft area with cheap paints, paper, stickers etc.
-A mini football pitch with a goal and some cones to cordon it off
-A piñata or pin the tale on the donkey type thing (piñatas are a great success)
-A toy zone - just bring as many as you can and allow for lots of free play. Outdoor toys can work well in winter indoors too
-Balloons (can’t touch the floor due to lava etc)
-DIY face paints (you can buy cheap sets from Flying Tiger)
-A simple treasure hunt (can be outside and inside if weather allows)
-The game where they stop when the music stops (can’t remember the name)or as a PP said, see what they do at nursery as at least then you’ll need to provide less instruction.

At this age, I think the children are just so happy to see each other and spend most of the time just running around that you don’t have to plan anything too rigid - just create the space for them to have fun.

Such a clever idea. And my son actually loves playing with cardboard boxes - he was being a robot with some the other week.

Use things you may have at home-

one section with a car playmat(poundland do one for £3) and loads of toy cars/trains

section with mega blocks/duplo

table with paper and crayons/crafts

pop up tent and tunnel

food table-let them decorate their own biscuits/cakes.

loads of balloons

music playing. Musical bumps will be a hit

rope the family in-1 adult for each section

I was at a fifth birthday party with a magician. No idea what that would cost but if you had an entertainer all you'd need to organise is the food, it was in quite a small hall and was a big hit with the kids.

We had to do a hall 4th birthday party at short notice, so nothing hired, no big equipment. Musical statues was a big hit, we did it repeatedly. We did pass the parcel, but I knew they all already knew how to play. Pin the tail on the donkey was less good, they didn't quite get that the point of the blindfold is that you can't see and the tails end up in silly places – and that's okay. I was also ready to do sleeping lions and very simple relay races (which I know they do at nursery), but didn't end up needing those.

Lots of balloons. Also buy the long, thin shaping balloons and a pump and make balloon swords – they're really quick and easy to make, and the children played with them for ages. We also had two craft areas, one with a long roll of paper for colouring and another with card shapes, glue sticks, and little bits of coloured tissue for sticking, and both were well used.

Pinatas are pretty common here.

I don't think 4 is too young for pass the parcel (my child is 3). Also musical statues/musical chairs. Dance to baby shark/sleeping bunnies etc. And definitely get a bubble machine!

@Danikm151 balloons are a good idea. Thank you.

@skkyelark yes to musical statues and maybe some crafts, but I'm not sure about balloon swords - my son's nursery are having issues with a lot of the boys playing fighting games (including my son) so I think I'd like to avoid anything that encourages this - sadly sane would go for a piñata @Fiddlesticks24 but bubble machine is a good shout!

So far I've got:

• Craft table
• Temporary tattoos (?)
• Bubble machine
• Musical bumps / statues
• Parachute
• Pass the parcel

I'm actually taking my son to 2 birthday parties in the next few weeks (one in a garden and one in a hall with a bouncy castle) so I'll see what ideas I can pinch from these!

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to reply and help.

At that age they will just want to chase balloons around. A corner with a blanket or tuff tray with toys is a good idea. Fake tats, facepaint, parachute can work.

I wouldn't bother with any games with rules. Sent so many people basically shooting into the ether trying to tell kids what the game is.

I hate pinatas with a passion.

Don't overthink it, kids are happy with a few crisps, a runaround and a piece of cake.

My daughter went to a party for a three year old where the parents had borrowed a load of ride on toys (I think from a local playgroup) and set them out in the hall. I think that would still work at 4? They also had a colouring table - you could set up a few bits like that to the side, maybe a Duplo area, or Brio trains if you've got them. And get loads of balloons!

My dd is only 3 but she loves a mini disco - especially songs with specific dance moves to copy like the cha cha slide and baby shark. Mini disco could fill a good 20-30 mins of the time!

Look into a party entertainer, the type that come dressed up as a character.

They bring games and activities with them and run them all for you. Most are not much more than the £90 you were going to spend on a bouncy castle.

All the ones I've seen have been excellent and have brought things like pass the parcel, parachute and glitter temporary tattoos with them. Saves you doing it and the kids love them!