Best time for an afternoon party for 2 year old?

[EmmaRoyd]

I've booked a function room for the afternoon but have never done this before, and DD is the oldest of her little friends so I'm the first person in the group to organise a 2nd Birthday party. I was thinking 2.30pm-4.30pm or 3pm-5pm. I am providing food. What do you think? Also are they too young for an entertainer? I don't want to waste money.

3-5 would suit my 2 year old.

Lots of children that age will still have naps after lunch.

What kind of entertainer do you have in mind? What about Tumbletots or something similar?

Agree - 3pm to 5pm. We had a birthday party for the eight 2 year olds of my group of NCT friends and that worked really well - they were well rested, and you can have children's tea at c.4:30pm then home.

We all brought toys (a big aquadraw, stuck paper to the floor and brought crayons, ride on toys, a little pop up tent). Also had a quiet corner with blankets and books. My DH can play the guitar so we did song time at about 3pm. You could easily just sit round and sing to a tape of stories. We played pass the parcel with music. We also gave each child one present and everyone sat round and opened them. That was pretty much it and the children loved it! I think the novelty of being in a big church hall was fun enough. Oh, and there were balloons which the children kicked around. And some nice decorations.

We had drinks and nibbles for the adults, very simple tea for the children (little sandwiches, carrot and cucumber sticks, little fairy cakes) and one birthday cake for the lot of them (Hungry Catepillar - see my profile pics). I think an entertainer would be wasted myself - half the children would wander off / need a wee / start playing with the toys etc.

I think everyone had a nice time and the 2 hours went by quite fast actually.

Thanks very much everyone, there are loads of good ideas there and things I hadn't thought of. I did think they were too young for an entertainer. I will take plenty of toys, balloons and a bubble machine.

A bubble machine! You are sorted.

I'm here to ask almost exactly the same question, you've pretty much done it for me EmmaRoyd, thanks!

We've hired a room for my DS's 2nd birthday, and are going to bring a tent, tunnel, ride along toys, music and bubble machine if I can get one in time. I wanted to know if that would do it, and it looks like it would

Sorry to hijack, but I've got a couple of quesitons ...

We'll have a mix of ages, with some older children there. Will they expect to be entertained do you think? Are there any games which older ones could help the younger ones play perhaps?

Also, what about party bags? So far we've got a bath-toy (like a rubber duck but they're different animals), a jungle-animal toy, a box of raisins and a piece or birthday cake - is that enough?

We hired the church hall for DD1 and her friends joint birthday. Lucky for me I also helped run the mother and baby group so we got to use our toys
We got cotton bags from tickseed.com and used some fabric pens for the children to scrawl on when they arrived, my MIL ironed them during the party so they got to take them home.
We had a paddling pool filled with playballs, some tunnels, building bricks and a load of balloons and rideons and they just went nuts.

Party bags were the bag, a small pad and pack of 4 crayons, cake and some raisins. DOn't put anything in that you don't want the children to play with (like a deflated balloon, very dangerous)

Make sure you have a kettle and tea and coffee and the parents will love you.

Ours is a week before xmas. Mulled wine and mince pies for the adults!