Birthday party at home

[Drachuughtty]

DD (soon to be 8) wants a party at home with some other girls. Games, cake etc. Up til now we've done bigger events in a church hall. Do any veterans have advice?

We've done this. We usually have an activity or 2 to do e.g. decorating a t-shirt with pens, painting a money box, decorating cupcakes, putting toppings on your own pizza, a few games and ideally a run around in the garden or a 'disco'. I find the games bit the hardest as they tend to bicker a bit, so prefer games that are less about getting out.

Edited to say I usually cook pizzas and nuggets/chips, but you could also do cold food which you prepared before or even order takeaway pizza.

We’ve done a few for my daughter. Don’t invite too many people! 8 or so girls looks a lot sat round your table depending on space. Write down an agenda. Eg Music as people arrive and dancing, 15mins, biscuit decorating 20mins, bracelet making 30 mins etc. They could decorate a cupcake to take home in the party bag. Or jewellery box decorating, you can get boxes from the Works for £1. if the food is in a separate room to the games remember you can’t sort out both at the same time! You could do lunchboxes but I think it’s nice to have something like pizza / chicken nuggets / buffet food, crisps etc you can sort most of it before. Then you need another adult you trust to get all the food sorted, or run the games/ crafts. If you need to fill time at the end they can unwrap gifts. Have enough balloons for one each at least and do balloon games! They also like a disco ball

It’s way cheaper than a hall party / entertainer if you don’t go mad on party bags or activities.My girls love a party at a house and just seeing their friends and getting dressed up, having some treats. Also clearly state on the invite it’s a drop-off!

These are great ideas, thanks.
@BendingSpoons the bickering/upset over losing games is what stresses me. Any suggestions of games that are less about winning? Also length - is 2 hours optimistic?

We had a karaoke machine which they loved. You can do it using something like Spotify if no machine.

I think 2 hours is fine, we did 2 hours and we ran out of time! Always takes about 15 mins after stated start time for everyone to all arrive. Blast some music and get them jumping around! Could even do a treasure hunt with clues or find the mini animals / resin creatures. A group activity like all decorating a paper bag for their party bag or the iced biscuits are good to avoid ‘winners’

We did this earlier this year, same as you had done 3 hall parties prior to this for her. It was fab, we had an arts and crafts theme so one organised activity with air dry clay and then keyring making, colouring and then just playing in the garden.

Some games that could work:

• pass the parcel with a sweet/chocolate in each layer. I made the middle layer not too exciting so people weren't too disappointed!
• PPs suggestion of a treasure hunt with clues is a nice one, although you have to be very clear where they can/can't go in the house
• I like the suggestion of balloon games too - you could do under/over if you had enough kids
• the 'untangle' game - they all stand in a circle, put their arms in and have to hold someone else's hands (a different person with each hand). They then have to untangle themselves without letting go of their hands
• pin the tail on the donkey or similar. There is a winner but it's fairly clear cut so less likely to argue. You could obviously theme it e.g. pin the horn on the unicorn or whatever DD is interested in
• the game where 1 person draws the head and folds it over and the next person draws the body, then the legs etc
• Twister

I found not all the children would want to play the game. If I let some sit it out, others would want to too and it all fell apart a bit. So I decided to be fairly insistent that they do the games and then time to play.

We used to do this for one of ours who is a July baby, so we had bouncy castles, paddling pools, gazebos, tables outside mostly, or outdoor activities. The other is February so we always booked a hall and entertainer for big parties or did indoor activities.

I think by 8, they won't need the party games suggested above.
We did those when they were 4, 5, 6 and needed entertaining.

By 8, I would sort one activity for them to do - eg as suggested above, some craft or even they could make their own pizzas or cake or something - then let them play for a bit. Might be outside if the weather is okay or might be whatever games they have, from Operation to Twister to imaginative play in their bedroom.

then eat, then home.

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