Shirley's party advice part 6 - don't be afraid to interrupt us!

[Tinkerisdead]

Okay, this is shirley's party advice part 6. Shirley ducked out a while ago and you'll notice us chatting about all kinds of stuff whilst we wait for party planners to barge in.

So, don't lurk, jump in and chat. We'll give you any advice on parties from costumes to cakes....

[FasterStronger]

thank you DW46, I will start planning and get back to you with more questions soon.

[Badvoc]

Hello.
Not sure whether you can help me, but here goes!
It's been an awful few months for us health wise...my parents, dc, and me.
Ds2 was in hospital ask week and I was rushed in yesterday and am still feeling very tired.
It's ds1s b day on Thursday and he has requested a family b day tea (both my boys like this)
We have a big extended family so there will be -0 of us.
Checked weather and its looking grim here :( what can I so with the 7 dc who will be here?
Grocery del booked for thurs morning.
Cake and topper in cupboard.
Balloons and poppers in cupboard
Card in cupboard
Party treats on cupboard
I am doing buffet food...quiches, salad, jersey royals, wedges, goujons, the usual. Have a few deserts...including cake and ice cream and cheese and biscs.
Is there anything I have forgotten?
What can I do to make it easier in me?
I have never felt less like a party :(
My ds1 will be 10 btw and is getting a new bike :)

[Badvoc]

Sorry...that should read there will be 20 of us inc 7 dc

[stealthsquiggle]

Badvoc - what are the ages of the 7 DC, and what resources do you have at your disposal - for example, if they are mostly around DS1's age, could you have a {insert games console of your choice} tournament, or a board games session if you are not into consoles? Clearly if they are mostly little that won't work so well....

[stealthsquiggle]

Threeedaughters - under the circumstances, I think it is fine to separate the party from the actual birthday - otherwise you will struggle as people will be away and DD2 may feel a little forgotten - whereas if you can fit it in amongst the end-of-term stuff, they will all be in party mode anyway

[Badvoc]

They are aged 10y to 20 m stealth. 6 boys and 1 girl toddler.
We have a wii in the moan room and and ps3 in the play room.
We also have a decent sized garden with a trampoline and football goalpost. Also have a badminton kit etc but of course that's all weather dependant.
Party 4pm til whenever.
Feeling a bit panicky about it now....just want ds1 to have a good time.
(He is also meeting up with his school friends on Saturday morning for a nerf battle...dont ask!!)

[ThreeDaughtersLoveSandwiches]

Thank you. I had originally thought of doing the party in September but it would probably mean I would have to give the invitations out 6 weeks before and risk people forgetting or at very short notice and risk people not being able to make it.

So I have approximately 5 weeks to plans the party and no money, that should be do-able right

[stealthsquiggle]

No problem, threedaughters

Badvoc - OK, so it needs to be all about DS1 and minimum effort for you. Does he have a favourite game (PS3 would be best, I guess, as it would leave the main room console-free for everyone not involved)? If so, could you get him to draw up a knock-out contest for all the DC capable plus as many adults as are willing? He could draw it up on a big sheet of paper in this sort of style. I think toddler girl will have to amuse herself keeping the uninvolved adults busy though...

[Badvoc]

Oh I will put a cd in for the toddler..she loves to dance! :)
That's a good idea, thank you.

[stealthsquiggle]

As for what else you may have forgotten, maybe you should ask DS1 what the essential ingredients for a birthday tea are? I know my DC have a long list (biscuits in the number of their age, mars bar krispie cake, sandwiches, ......) and that way you get to check whether you are going to meet his expectations.

If you are missing something, then you could ask one of the guests to bring it. Given that they are family, and you have all had such a bad time, I am sure they (or at least some of them) are desperate to help - so a "DS1 really wants XYZ for his birthday tea, could you bring that?" would keep everyone happy.

[Badvoc]

Yes.
There are one or two things dh can pick up from the local co op...cream etc.
(Had a bit of an issue a couple of times with ocado with the cream bursting!)
We have banner (it's like bunting really) that gets used each year.
And balloons.
And poppers
Oh! Need to get some chocs for his school class!
Knew I'd forgotten something!

[ThreeDaughtersLoveSandwiches]

If there are 25 kids invited how many activities would be enough?

I was thinking of the following

-- decorating a little mug to take home

-- decorating a t-shirt, would I need a few different sizes?

-- glass sun catcher painting

-- mosaic making maybe?

Also would I need enough so they could do all do one of everything?

Do I need to get a few helpers? The younger ones will probably have their mum staying but the school age probably won't.

[stealthsquiggle]

Those sound lovely, but expensive. There are cheaper options (on Baker Ross) that they would be happy with, and which would mean that you could have enough for them all to do everything.

Also - T shirt painting and mug painting involve permanent pens/paints, which I am really paranoid about with other people's DC, so if it were me I would want as many helpers as possible.

[ThreeDaughtersLoveSandwiches]

The mugs were on special offer from the baker Ross website, £1 something each I think.

Ok so no t-shirt painting. Any other suggestions?

[stealthsquiggle]

Could they cope with any of the little sewing kits, maybe?

[ThreeDaughtersLoveSandwiches]

Evening

I have had a look on baker Ross and was thinking of doing the following activities

-- decorate a foam bookmark with foam stickers

-- decorate a foam key ring with small form shapes

-- decorate a mini mug using pens

-- paint animal sun catchers using glass pens

I was hoping that each activity could be limited to approximately 15 minutes. So they would have 60 minutes of craft 20 minutes for eating / cake, 30 minutes of games and 10 minutes of sorting out before going home.

Does that sound ok?

[ThreeDaughtersLoveSandwiches]

Sorry I did reply earlier stealth but it seems to have disappeared!

I think most might be a bit young for sewing.

[stealthsquiggle]

Threedaughters - sounds good to me. It might be a good idea to have colouring on hand in case they finish something quickly and/or refuse to engage in something.

[stealthsquiggle]

You will also need party bags (paper carrier bags from ebay would be ideal) named and ready to put things in as they finish them - perhaps they could decorate their own while you wait for everyone to arrive?

[LatinForTelly]

Hi, I am in a complete panic about DD's birthday party next Saturday. . In my head I'd thought we'd go bowling, but then spurred on by the nice weather we'd been having, I thought, woodland/fairy garden type party. The invites are not even out.

DD is going to be 8. Thinking 8 - 10 guests. We live in the country, on the edge of woodland. We're Scotland so it's more than likely to be raining!

Kids are quite outdoorsy, though one has some mobility issues (would struggle with very rough ground or a long yomp).

So, I was thinking, small scavenger/treasure hunt, then planting a fairy garden, then barbecue (not fancy, burgers in buns), then toasting marshmallows.

In my perfectionist head, I was imagining bunting, straw bales to sit on, etc etc but I have 10 days to organise. Am panicking.

If it's raining, girls are hardy enough to do scavenger hunt in the rain, as long as they can come in and dry out. We have big kitchen so I could just about manage planting fairy gardens in there, with a lot of hoovering afterwards. Decent size garage too (but quite full of crap) to barbecue in, if raining.

Do I sack off the scavenger hunt and just do fairy gardens? How do I do them without costing an arm and a leg? I think B&Q have decent value planters, compost, small plants. We've got stones/gravel, but fairy houses on amazon are £££, I think i don't have time to make 8 - 10 houses in clay before.

Gaahhh. What do I do - the least effort for max rustic but festive effect. Pinterest panics me.

Thanks so much for any help you can give! Sorry for novel-length post.

[stealthsquiggle]

Latin - do you have /could you borrow a gazebo or something equivalent? That way you could try and keep fairy gardens outside, barring strong winds?

DW will have a brilliant solution to fairy houses, I am sure.

[LatinForTelly]

I might be able to borrow one - yes I'll try. Do I try and decorate it or not?!

[stealthsquiggle]

If you have got the bunting etc then you could wait until the day to decide if it goes on gazebo or kitchen? Straw bales would be cool, though

There is a fairy house mould on ebay - I can't link just now, but you could cast them in resin and let them decorate their own?

[ThreeDaughtersLoveSandwiches]

I'm having a bit of a uncertain moment!

I have asked a friend if he could help on one of the craft tables and he looked at me like this and said it sounds like a lot of work and when he did his DC birthday that hired a room with soft play stuff and I could just get in pizza.

Am I being really stupid? I hate self doubt!

[stealthsquiggle]

The required answer which you can't actually say is "and that's why no one remembers your parties--