Help me organise a party for my dd who is almost 4, please

[lucysmam]

I've never organised a kids birthday party & have no idea what to do!

I can't remember any party games from when I was a kid & apart from the fact that she'd like a numberjack 4 cake (made by me so will be wonky )she's not very helpful with anything else she'd like!

HELP HELP HELP, I want to be ready to hand out invitations when she goes back to nursery next Monday as her birthday is 25th so figured parents would want about 2 weeks notice

Any help would be great, thank you

My daughter was 5 last week and I had been stressing about the party all over Christmas. We used a company that was recommended by a friend of mine (Dreambox Parties). They supplied everything we needed for a themed fairy party. You host it an manage it yourself, they supply all the stuff you need, but it was fantastic.

All the girls got fairy outfits which meant everyone looked brilliant. They also got to keep them as their home bag. We also got all the decorations and bits and bobs needed to make our house a little fairy kingdom. Best of all you get a story book that you use to guide the children through a fairy adventure. Along the story it threads loads of games (pin the tail, treasure hunt, musical statues, passing balloons between the legs, etc) and all the prizes and game props are included.

We haven't got a big house so we just had 8 of her closest girl friends, but it's been the talk of the school.

I'm not saying having the party was stress free but personally I'd rather do it this way and be involved and make it personal than just go to another play centre!

I've been in the business of entertaining children for over 18 years now and my best piece of advice would be keep it simple.

Often parents panic (easily done!) and throw everything at the children, toys/entertainers/music/bouncy castles /bubbles /balloons etc and wonder why the children are chaotic, that's because it results in an overload. Too much noise and bustle can be stressful for kids too!

Try simple games like Ring a ring a roses to get the children to sit in a circle to play 'Duck , duck, goose!" or pass the parcel ..Isn't it funny how a bear likes honey..

Don't forget simple nursery rhymes, you'd be amazed how children love singing them.

If all else fails, pop over to my site and have a look how I do it.

Just google Diane's Puppets.