Shirley's Party Advice Part 7 - how did they all get so big...

[stealthsquiggle]

Part 7 - link to previous one to follow!

Oooooooo thats BETTER than the fatface version. Far far nicer fabric. Very well done!!

Love all the easter bits too

Chicks were only made today - population is now up to 4, but one will be a present for the friend DD is going to play with tomorrow.

Party peeps i just started a thread in chat. I think im
About to be hit by norovirus and im a wee bit scaredy. Dd2 was sick all sat night (i thought it was mil giving her two BUCKETS of chocolate) so then easter dinner with my sode n today my mum and stepdad are really ill.

Ive got cold sweats, pounding heart, queasy feeling and a sense of forboding! Anyone there...take my mind off it please!!!

Hmm, I posted and it's disappeared

I think I may be going a little over the top for the 2 "Victorian" days DS is having at school.

They've been asked to wear a costume for both days - so I bought one...and then changed the hat because it didn't really fit and added patches to the waistcoat to make it look older

They've been asked to take in a Victorian style lunch too and the note requests that it's taken in wrapped in a tea towel rather than in a plastic lunch box to make it more authentic...so I researched Victorian lunches on the internet which suggested Homemade bread with ham or cheese, a piece of fruit and maybe a piece of cake. Fine - except I then went an looked up Victorian recipes for the cake! again.

Tell me you did the same Stealth

LOL Blathers, I absolutely would have done, so am with you in spirit, but DC's school don't really do these things - they even take care of most of the play costumes after Y4, so I don't even get to go completely over the top get involved with those .

Phew :)

I bet there is at least one child that turns up with a bag of crisps and a fruit bag out of a Happy Meal to make up for my over enthusiasm.

Hello Ladies. I have 2 parties to plan and need help. Ds2 will be 4 at the end of this month and wants a tractor cake. He's really not good in large groups, hasn't got any special friends at nursery (although does talk about named children) but will play nicely in 1:1 situation. I was thinking of inviting max 6 children to our house, praying for good weather and wants they play outside. This is what we did for Ds1 at that age and it was okay. Am not sure whether to suggest fancy dress to make it a bit more interesting? And need a back up plan in case of poor weather.

Ds1 will be 7 in early June. He wants a dinosaur party. Spoke to a local party organiser who would run it to include a craft activity or two, games, decoration and music for 2 hours for 150. That does not include invites, food or venue. I think she'd probably do a good job and Ds1 would probably listen to her better than me, but that's a lot of money!
Any thoughts ideas please? I can manage cakes but the thought of keeping children entertained fills me with dread.

Cheminotte - can you put a scale on the dread vs the cost? Only I you could easily spend £150 on the materials to do it yourself don't tell my DH that does that include party bags? If so, I would take her up on it.

If OTOH you want to do it yourself then I am sure we can come up with lots of ideas. How many DC?

As for DS2, I would keep it understated, unless DS2 really likes dressing up? There is a good tractor cake in one if the books I have, which I did for DS's 2nd birthday.

Thanks Stealth .Party bags not included although they would have a home made craft to take home.
I definitely wouldn't spend anywhere near that much. I just don't have the inspiration to be making life size dinosaurs etc! Her price includes a scene better on the door and all the craft and games. I don't want to for it but feel I should iykwim.
So a few ideas so I can weigh up the relative cost / pain factor would be good.

For Ds2 he does love dressing up and will often disappear upstairs and come back as A knight or Father Christmas. I think 5 children should be plenty so will invite 7 or 8.

Numbers for Ds1 - somewhere between 10 and 15. Also music, what do 7 year olds like?

Well if DS2 approves of dressing up then it's a must . I will think about some dinosaur ideas for later, but music - when DS was that age we went for themed music to fit the party, do dinosaurs would have involved jurassic Park theme music etc. DD is much more "aware", so for her 7th we downloaded Now that's what I call music 854 and (to DH's embarrassment since it was on his phone) the One Direction album .

Spent a bit of time on Google yesterday. Dinosaur cups and plates etc will certainly be no problem. Some dinosaur craft sets on Baker Ross but not much that will keep them busy for long. Also looked at local venues and closest church hall is 20 per hour. Others do not give details or say from 5 so have emailed for details. I have to organise the venue either way.
Talking about it with Dp last night my dread is about: not being 'in control' of the kids, doing something too young that Ds1's friends find boring / babyish.
Also we have no means of playing music.

One of ds1's friends' mum has agreed to help out and she is a primary school teacher so am feeling a lot more confident about doing it myself. Ideas so far: green and silver balloons, dinosaur footprints cut out of black card, Pin the head on the dinosaur (or is that too babyish at 7?), pass the parcel with forfeits in each layer (roar like a t-rex).
Have found a hall locally that also has an outdoor play area so they will be able to and play there if the weather is good. Just need to think of some craft activities, discuss with ds1 and decide on invite list.

and decide whether to get a bouncy castle as a back up in case of poor weather.

Sounds like it is coming together nicely. IME pin the x on the y is a required part of any party, at 7 or older.

Relay-type games go down well. I am trying to think how to dinosaur-theme one though....

It's getting towards that time of year again. Ds will be 5 in Sept so need to start thinking about his birthday as Aug & Sept will be taken up with work & holiday. He has said since last November that he wants an Atlantis party, but Atlantis as in the BBC series not Disney. He has assigned roles to all of us. He wants a whole class party plus a few extra. Most of it will be themed, and we will dress up (he has cast me as Medusa), party bags though will have lego polybags from newspaper offer which I picked up for bargain price.

Thoughts so far are
'what's the time Medusa',
achilies ankle - thought could attach balloon to each ankle and get them to pop each other's while protecting their own
Some sort of wool maze and labyrinth but not sure how to do with this number

And that's about it. I am wondering about just doing 1.5hrs to save on hall cost. I know lots of the children already and think they will be quite a lively bunch. Some craft maybe make a shield or something.

Any other ideas?

Hi.
I'm in need of ideas. I usually hand the reins over to soft play centres and the like for parties as it's so much easier.
At the end of July my DS will be 8. He briefly considered a football Party at Goals but he has now decided he wants a party/BBQ at home!

If I'm honest the idea of 10/15/20 kids fills me with dread!
What on earth do I do with that many children - more than likely boys, for 2-3hrs?!
My ds loves Minecraft, football, nerf guns.

Don't know where to start. If the weather is nice we have a Decentish garden but even In July it would probably rain!

Any help/ideas would be fantastic.

TIA :)

Hi Dilly. My only piece of advice would be to start by telling him that having it at home will mean fewer guests. Decide how many you can comfortably fit inside and limit it to 2 less than that (so you can agree to 1 or 2 more if necessary). At least you won't have parents taking up room at that age.

We have had the fancy dress party for ds2 - lovely weather, just garden toys outside and few toys out inside as well. Had pass the parcel prepared but didn't do any games in the end as no need.

Dinosaur craft party this weekend. Have various crafts but any ideas for games most welcome - 7 childrent in total.

Pass the dinosaur egg - balloon under chin
Some sort of dare involving getting a plastic dinosaur out of some jelly without using your hands?

This had completely dropped off my active convos. Party mojo entirely awol at the moment, but marking my place to come back and attempt to recover it.

I think a max. 15 children to invite. Hopefully not all of those will come. I have 4 dc so the other 3 will likely be about too so there could possibly be 19 dc then.
On the housing estate we live on most of ds friends live a few mins walk away so not sure if some parents would stay or not.
Would need to make sure there's adult suitable food/drink too!

Dilly - most parents seem happy with a cuppa although I tell them to help themselves! But I'm not expecting any to stay for ds's 7th.

Hello again everyone.
How are we all? I'm so very sorry that this is such a one sided relationship but I need your help again

DS1 and DD will be 5 and 2 respectively in August and I've lost my mojo
It'll be a joint party as it's a joint birthday (excellent planning, not) and I don't know what to do. You may remember last years' was a Superhero party and I must confess it was frikkin awesome!! I'm not even sure if I can top match it
A friend suggested circus but I'm not feeling it. I really liked Princesses and Pirates but I think it would be wasted on 5 year olds and may be best to keep in the back pocket for a couple of years? DD is the most unsocial child ever and so has no friends so really, it's just a party for DS1.

What do I do?? While I do like the circus idea, I'm not sure I can be arsed to work hard enough to pull it off and make it good enough. DS is a skylanders fan and just wants that. I can't tell you how close I am to buying commercial party paraphernalia and just hoping for the best...........
Talk me down from this ledge!!