Wedding with a 2 year old

[mammabing]

Looking for some practical advice. My brother is getting married next week and I need some ideas of things to take with me to entertain my 2 year old. It’s not massively formal and he’ll be the only child there. So far we’re thinking sticker books, colouring and bubbles for the reception.
Last wedding we all went to I got away with playing ‘hey bear’ silently on my phone during the ceremony but he was only 7 months so it was considerably easier! Any advice would be appreciated!!

Food more food and more food

We took my daughter to two weddings at 2. The first our food arrived 2h late and we had a very hungry grumpy 2 yo. The second wedding we took her own food so we could do her food when she was ready for food and it went much better.

We did 4 funerals between 2 and 3 and we adopted the same principle for them too. We have always had the parent that isn't directly sat at the back with her for a quick exit if needed.

Is he closer to 24 months or 36 months? If the latter it’ll be easier, though either way it depends on his interests. Would a jigsaw/other puzzle work for the ceremony, and some cutting with safe scissors at the reception (too messy for ceremony)?

@Superscientist Snacks are definitely a must. Thankfully it’s buffet style so there’s bound to be something he’ll eat but I’ll pack extra anyway

@Pomegranatemum He’s just shy of 2 and a half but jigsaws are a bit of an obsession at the moment so I’ll add that to my list!

What sort of place is the reception at? Is there green space he can run around, kick a ball even? He'll probably be happy to wander about a bit and get some attention from various grown ups!

If he likes fiddly stuff you could do him a treasure bag/activity backpack. Get loads of bits and bobs (it's a great use of party bags crap, toys from the front of magazine etc) and wrap them up individually or put in purses/small bags within a small rucksack so he's got lots of opening to do and excitement about what's next. You can include stickers, bubbles etc in there to extend their life a little bit. Other good stuff is a hot wheels car or two, notepad and pen, bouncy ball, packet of raisins (or other small snacks), buttons and a shoelace to thread them onto, storybook.

Sticklebricks. They are amazing for keeping little boys occupied, in my experience...

There was food she could eat but instead of the food arriving at 4 as scheduled it arrived at 6 and the dessert at nearly 8 by which point we barely had enough time to eat it before putting her to bed! They only had half the number of chefs they were meant to have.
The next wedding the food arrived an hour late!