3 year old party

[Skyandseaholidays]

Hello!

Afraid a small party planned has now grown to around 12 children and 20 adults! We have a hall booked. Can I avoid having a bouncy castle!? Party is from 3 to 5pm and the is outdoor space

What's in the hall? Do you have use of toys for example if there's a regular playgroup there? I've been to plenty of church hall parties for this age group where there is use of slides, ride on cars, various toys etc.

Not that I can see, we've not been to a playgroup there.was thinking if we can bring our own toys and set it all out!

What toys were you thinking of bringing? We went to one once where there was an entertainer but not until about half hour after we got there and before that there wasn’t really anything for the children to do so they just sort of stood/messed around.

A hall is a big space to fill. At church hall parties we've been to there have been 2 slides, small climbing apparatus, about ten ride on vehicles, mini trampoline, large play tent, toy kitchen play area, large boxes of vehicles, figurines, dressing up box and so on.

We've been to one where someone hired a bouncy castle and soft play equipment but that will have been pricey.

If the weather is good then there's more scope with the outdoor space, but again what will there be to do? Last summer we went to a pool party which was fab. The family had a very large inflatable pool, big enough for 10 two year olds to play in, as well as a bubble machine and lots of garden toys.

Cheap way to use the outdoor space would be to borrow a gazebo from someone, bring lots of picnic blankets, food and teddy bears and make it a teddy bears picnic. Tell all the children to bring their favourite bear. Have party hats for all the bears, few bubble machines, as many toys as you can bring, maybe a treasure hunt type game or something like that, music and good food for everyone. You could have a little station where the party hats are with lots of stickers and the kids can decorate their own party hats for their teddies.

If my child had a summer birthday I would absolutely do this.

Thank you for the ideas! It's one of the smaller church halls, so max 40 people with some outdoor space. I was thinking of getting a selection of toys including outdoor ones and set up a paddling pool but thought parents won't like that

Good idea about using a gazebo - they immediately add a feeling of celebration! I would use it inside if necessary - put blankets and cushions underneath it for the chr to sit on. Sticker table is a good idea as no mess. Easy idea is to draw a long thin caterpillar on approx 8 A4 white pieces of paper stuck together. Buy lots of large, plain coloured stickers. Stick different colours along the line. Children can add to it while party is on and name it? A few party games like musical statues and musical bumps always go down well. Make sure that your music is loud enough for the hall. We had stickers printed that said ‘Fushia’s 3rd Birthday.’ Instead of asking chr to sit out when the music stopped, we gave them a sticker and let them carry on being ‘in.’ No unnecessary tears and kept the party going.

Thank you both!! Some great ideas here! I ended up booking a bouncy castle last night but will do the craft table as suggested. The hall and the bouncy castle is costing more than I expected and we don't have a gazebo so will have to give that a miss. We won't have a children's table so will use the picnic ideas too!