4yr olds birthday party - should we hold it in our flat or in the school hall?

[welovesausagedogs]

DS wants to have a pirate party for his 4th birthday. We were planning to hold it in our flat as we have quite a large living room space where there would be room for the children to sit with the entertainer etc. However this was before DD3 had arrived, i am now slightly worried that it will be too chaotic to hold it in the flat. The school hall at our local school which is 5 mins from our flat is available, for DS birthday weekend. Should we hold it at home or in the school hall??? Past experiences of how birthday parties at this age at home turned out would be helpful.

How many children are coming?

A smallish party can be done at home. Halls have the benefit (obviously) of more space.

I had 4 children round for a small party at home recently and it was fine, nicer than a big party in a hall for my DD who is less keen on big parties. I'm not sure I'd have wanted too many more though.

Home or school hall you will still need to do the tidying up!!

Do you know many parents? Most will need to stay with their 4 year olds, if it is the weekend they may need to bring older chidren with them, your flat may then be to small to contain party children, parents & siblings.

Do you have help?

You are very brave, DD3 will be 4 next week and she is having no party cake

The children will be all over your flat - in your bedroom, bathroom cabinets, under the sink...... The parents at this age may well just drop and go. You are relying on your entertainer to hold their attention for the full 2 hours. Which he won't. Go with the hall, and when they are all in, lock the doors until hometime.

School hall. No question. Yes you will have to clear up, but it's geared to be child proof and clean up-able.

We have been to a number of DS nursery friends parties and parents always stay, generally siblings don't come unless they have been specifically invited. My mum and dad live round the corner, so they are going to help. Well we kind of have to invite the whole of DS class, so fifteen children (including DS) but that is not including DD or any extra siblings that may decide to come.

hall for sure

then they can run and run and run and run and you get the idea

I would go with the hall.

I also wanted to add that I always ask beforehand if it is ok to bring DD1 & DD2 along as I have no choice if DD3 wants to go to the party, I do know most of the parents and take snacks and drinks for older children and as they are 8 & 10 they are bored or glued to their DS's don't join in.

Most hosts offer food and drink once the guests have eaten and some do a smaller party bag including cake, some enjoy having 2 older children to help out and let them help with the party

I have no choice but luckily we have a nice bunch of mums at our schools so it hasn't been a problem yet

Ok i think we will go with the hall, it's reasonably priced too, which is good.
Bohica, i wasn't saying i wouldn't allow sibling to come, i was just saying at DS nursery generally one parents will take their child without the sibling. DH and I generally both go to DS friends birthday parties as it's nice to chat to other parents, so that means we take 2yr old DD with us, but she sits on my lap the whole time, so it's not like she needs to be entertained. I have no problem with what you do, as you are not expecting the entertainer to entertain your elder children, at one of the parties ds went to the parents had to book 2 entertainers because of the amount of siblings that wanted to come along.

I think it depends on how many children you are inviting. My dc are older now but we always did parties at home but with lower numbers. Both DC had 1 party each outside the home. 1 in a softplay place and the other in the school hall.

I found the out of home parties alot more stressful tbh. It was harder to keep tabs on all the kids because even at age 3 and 4 not all parents opt to stay.

We still had to clean the hall and prepare the hall before hand. Then transfer food, cups etc down there. The whole affair took up a whole day really by the time we arranged everything and transported stuff and set it up.

At home its an afternoon. I just remove breakables out the room. Move the furniture to the edge of the room. Tables is alreasy laid and food in the fridge taking 2 minutes to transfer to the table. I always had a box of toys in the corner of the room for the quiet/shy/upset child/children) who didnt wnt to join in games etc. Cleaning up is quick and easy. A few bin bags and whizz with the vacume and your done.

We have done both this year. Being at home was more relaxed and didn't need as much structuring, but was only 3 7yr old guests. Hall is a bit more concentrated into a few hours, but we had 18 4+5yr olds and I wouldn't want that in my house. Also with the at home party we had to blitz the house, whereas the hall was a blank canvas and didn't need tidying before and after.

I would say 8 or less guest have it at home, more than that go to a hall.

DS has been to parties with his nursery class of 15 and children's houses who have a similar amount of living space to us (which was what gave me the idea of doing it a home in the first place). The school hall comes with tables, but with our flat, would you hire small tables (this is what others at nursery seem to have done). Still unsure because i asked DS and he is adamant he wants it at home, my mum said today when i was talking about the whole thing that they wouldn't mind holding it there (using their second reception room and garden) but this would require it being sunny, and i don't know if its fair to let them have to deal with it in their house.