Shirley's party advice part 3 - in which Shirley may make a guest appearance

[stealthsquiggle]

We appear to have filled another thread

What a rubbish florist.

Never mind the catchment area, does the new house have an oven that works?

Yes yes the new house has a glorious double oven and five burner hob.
Im getting really excited to move. Dont know if you saw the hideous asbestos shed on my blog but ive had contractors here for two days taking it down. It was about 15 x 20ft big and full of crap.

Anyway landlord finally took it away and dh said i'll want to stay. Nope it looks just as bad and still as hazardous for two small kids. So excites to get a new kitchen with wall cupboards! Yippeeeee

Hi everyone :)

Can I please ask advice for a party I'm doing for DD2(4) and DD3(2) in August?

As you all seem very expert in party planning I thought I would ask here instead of starting my own thread.

The plan so far is

-- hire the room attached to the local church and have party from 11 - 1

-- a lady is coming for the first hour to do music and dance using props

-- after lady has finished the lunch for approx. 20 minutes

-- cakes being made by a friend. DD2 wants hello kitty and DD3 will have some kind of car.

Can you please help with the following

-- do I need something at the beginning before the lady starts or should I just let then play together?

-- do I need a theme?

-- there will be 40 minutes after the food has been eaten. Can I let them run around out side or should I do party games?

Also does anybody have any other tips?

Thank you :)

Forgot to mention that the guests will range from aged 1 to about 6 and will probably be a mix of boys and girls.

Guess who just got herself a job doing kids parties for a living

Whoooppp well done blathers. Not just face painting then?

Thing3. We always say a theme helps you hang a party all together so even if the kids are playing games you can gear them to your theme etc.
We always recommend a craft activity as it allows everyone to get there and those who are shy to hang back. You may find it takes longer than 20 mins to eat if you have littlies. We always recommend doing a lunchbox per child if its large numbers as then at least stragglers cab pack it away/carry it along etc.

I'd do games esp for the older ones as they are just getting to the age where they love musical bumps/statues/ pass the parcel. If pass the parcel is a bit tricky for babies have a bag or a box that they take fron rather than unwrapping. Free play is always fine for preschoolers so dont fret if kids just wanna run about, have some balloons to chase etc.

If you come up with a theme then we can help you with more ideas.

Oh, and welcome

No, I'll be doing crafts too and eventually songs and games too.

Putting some music on and letting them race round with a balloon or some bubbles is always a good time filler but I think you might be pushing it to entertain them that way for 40 minutes - but then as DW says, food might take longer. Musical bumps/statues with a few little prizes might be a good way of stretching it out a little. The bigger ones can play 'properly' for a little prize and the little ones will be happy wiggling along with everyone else even if they don't quite get the rules.

Themes really do help if there is anything specifically the DC like?

They both quite like bubbles at bath time, ninnies mouse, dolls and books. DD3 loves cars and stands looking out of the window at them!

The website for the woman doing the entertain saying the parties can be themed to suit individual tastes ie high school musical, rock, Disney, CBeebies, mamma mia ect.

If I have a theme it wouldn't really work unless the music was included in that as well would it?

Thanks for the replies and the welcome.

Not sure who ninnies mouse is!

They do like minnie mouse though.

Minnie Mouse could be quite fun. You could make ears for all of the children as your craft activity - with or without a spotty bow for the 'Minnies'. Black band of paper sellotaped to fit with some ear shapes stuck on maybe? Colouring sheets would be a breeze to find and print too as a back-up activity.

Red and white spotted table cloths, plates and cups would be easy to get cheaply too - much less expensive than the proper Disney stuff. Music should be fairly simple to theme too as I'm sure you can get Disney CDs. I think I've seen ice cube moulds, cake moulds and cutters too to make themed food. Disney activity packs for the pass the parcels present would be cheap too.

Or bubbles? Lots of white and blue balloon 'bubbles' and a bubble machine. White and blue plates and cups. Your only problem might be a sticky/slidey floor if you're going to have bubbles on for the whole party.

I have had a thought...

They both like teddies so how does a teddy bears picnic sound? The seats at the venue aren't really suitable for small children, they hold down if sat on wrong, so the children will be eating picnic style on the floor.

I could start the party at 10.45 instead of 11 and have a craft table where they could make something bear related. Then from 11 - 12 have music women and ask her to include some bear songs.

Then lunch in a picnic box to include pom bears and other bear related food. They could have a different bear cake each.

Then maybe bear related games, pin the tail on the bear, bear races face painting until 12.45 or even 1.

What do you think?

Ah, now if it's a Teddy Bears Picnic you want Thing, I am your girl

Am just back from a run and in desperate need of a shower first though. Check out my DD's cake in my photos and I'll be back later...

Ah yes. I did teddy bears once and blathers did one in dec. stick around and she'll come back with loads of ideas that she did.

Blatherskite your cakes look amazing!

ExH has a cash and carry card so things like crisps, sweets and drinks I should be able to get cheap.

Instead of doing party bags with lots of little things in I was thinking of giving every child a huge bubbles wand with maybe a little packet of jelly bears.

I'm really excited about doing this party now

If you think my cakes are good, you ought to see DW's and stealth's! They make mine look very amateur.

Right, teddy bears picnic parties... I did one for DD's 2nd birthday in December and it went down really well. I had children from 6 months to 13 years and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I was going to make invites but ran out of time and found that buying Teddy themed invites was fairly easy too. There were loads of teddy themed plates, cups and napkins availbale online and I added some cheap, disposable, red checked tablecloths that added a real picnic feel. We had balloons and bunting too.

For food we did little triangle sandwiches, chicken nuggets, tray pizzas, Pom bears (of course) and some crudites and fruit to go with the cake - which was a cheap Costco one that I just decorated.

For games we just did pass the parcel as I wasn't sure DD would cope with many more and then did craft activities to fill the rest of the time. We had colouring and teddy bear biscuit decorating. You could also do pin the nose on the bear and good old musical statues to some teddy bear music. We got "The Many Songs of Winnie the Pooh" which did most of the party and fitted in well.

For party bags, I found it really hard to find something that would suit everyone because of the huge age range so I did little plastic cones of sweets tied with some pretty ribbon and a little teddy bear reflector keyring. They went down really well and were very cheap as the sweets all came from Costco too.

Blatherskite Thank you there are some lovely ideas.

As it is a joint party and DD2 is starting school in september I am probably going to invite at least 20 children. Do you think it would be easier to give them a ready made lunch box instead of a buffet?

Also after the food is finished I thought maybe have a few game stations that the children could go around as they please. I was thinking maybe a bear hunt, pin the heart on the bear and something else but not sure what?

I was wondering stealth, do you have a pattern for those beautiful bags you make?

DS started reception with one teacher who then left to be a foster parent. I was a bit concerned about him getting a new teacher just as he'd settled into school but the new one has been really, really good and we've really noticed a positive change in him. His reading has come on loads and he obviously feels very safe with her as if he ever has a problem, she's the one he wants to go to. It must have been very hard for her coming in after the first term too. I'd really like to get her a gift before term is over and I think she might quite like a lovely bag - who wouldn't.

I figure if I start now, I might have the chance to mess it up 5 or 6 times and then just buy one

We had 25 children plus adults and the buffet worked well but boxes can be very good too, especially if you're sitting on the floor.

Colouring in was very, very popular with the children at our party. I printed out some sheets from the internet and provided pens and some stickers. Cheap and kept them busy for ages.

Blather, apologies for drunken response, but which bags? I have patterns for some, others are made up as I go along...

Drunk on a School night! Hope the hangover isn't too bad :)

I was thinking the shopping type bags. Something she could transport school books home in for marking.

I was away for work - this morning was not fun [selfinflicted]

I don't really use a pattern for those ones but there was a tutorial I started with. I will see if I can find it again.

Blathers - try this tutorial

Is it easy? I'm panicing just looking at the instructions to be honest!

For £6, I might just buy something like this and save myself the tears #wimp

It is easy, honestly - the only complexity in mine is the applique - assembling the bag is dead easy once you have done it a few times.