plan for 4 year old party

[verybusyspider]

really simple - 8 children to our house for 2 hours

I'm doing lunch in boxes (happy meal style)
I have some crafty making stuff (ds wanted crowns) stair gate will be put back on so all children down stairs with a selection of toys out to play with

I need a couple of games (or do I??) and am struggling for ideas - pass parcel?? thought about a treasure hunt looking for puzzle pieces but now not so sure (I'm not that confident about leading games in front of parents...)

anything I missed....

Pass the parcel always goes down well with kids. Ds went to a party at the weekend where they had musical bumps and a dancing competition. He loved it. Obviously depends if you have the room at home though.

Keep it short! Time will pass very slowly for you
Musical statues? Animal charades?
Have games where people win rather than lose - 4 years old don't always take failure well. My DD went to a party recently and was mildly traumatised by pass the parcel...
Do some face painting?

Have u got enough room to play musical bumps or musical statues?? Kids usually love those games, u just need some music

Hi we did this for our 4 year old and had similar number of children (DC now 7!). I would suggest have a range of games and be prepared to revisit them. I found it helpful to have a plan to follow but be prepared to improvise. It helped when things got a bit hectic.

Pass the parcel, pin the tail, musical statues (less potential for harm ime!) craft activities (we had a balloon that could be decorated could do face masks/hats as appropriate).

1 hour of activities allow 30 mins for lunch and 30 mins for last minute games and count down (yours!) until parents arrive.

By having a plan I found it meant I did not have kids wandering around and then becoming physical with each other. We did have a spell outside too (weather permitting of course) just to run off steam. We had musical placemats (like musical chairs really but kids sat on placemat and each time one removed).
Depends on how happy you are to let kids run free in your home. I removed anything that could get broken as even the calmest kids can become quite different in a group.

could also do fancy dress competition if kids come in fancy dress letting persons whose birthday it is choose winner and runner up!

Good luck

I'm not sure if that makes me more worried our house is very very small...

so pass parcel, pin tail on, statues.. the garden is also tiny with a door straight into out lounge/dinning area which is all open plan to downstairs so happy to let them go outside but they kind of need to be in or out so prob best to keep them in

flufflebum - party on sat, ds would adore fancy dress but too late to tell people, we have crowns to make - I wondered if I could do a game or song with them so everyone made them, I'm doing book and cake for party bag so if they could take a crown as well I think that would be that one covered, any ideas?

From my experience, keep pass the parcel very short otherwise the children get really bored. Have lots of balloons loose - children love playing with them, kicking them around.

I have a good idea for a party game. It's a treasure hunt with a twist. Print out a list of magic spell ingredients (with a picture of each ingredient as opposed to the word) e.g. a jelly worm, toy spider etc.

Then the children look in the room/house for the hidden ingredients. Once all the ingredients have been found, put them in a small bowl and put under a pashmina /scarf. Get the children to close their eyes and say abracadabra, then swap over the bowl of ingredients with a bowl of sweeties (you might want a helper to help out with this).

Works every time. The only downside is that the children think it is real magic and then want to try it out themselves again ... and again ... and again

I love that idea! its an underwater theme so I think lots of fish will be needed!

hurray all over and I think it was ok! I wasn't organised enough, I should have planned more games but great thing about being at home is you can just wheel out more of dc's toys more of a party themed stay and play can relax now till the next one...