5yo dd party entertainer/petting zoo/ something else

[worm77daisy]

My dd is 5 in February. She would love a party and invite the world and his dog but I am going to try and restrict it to about 20. I have reserved a small village hall but am not sure whether we should shell out for entertainment... What have you found to go down really well with this age group: magicians/puppet show/disco/mobile petting zoo/ dance workshop... Something else?

She and I would rather do something a bit different from the usual hire a hall and a disco.

We are in Norfolk if that helps.

we hired a hall, bouncy castle and big inflatable slide for severla of dd/ds's parties

At that age a bouncy castle went down very well with my own DD & her friends,

also check if the hall also as other toys available such as ride ons etc - many do as they also run kids clubs - these will keep the kids occupied that aren't on the bouncy castle - have a range of coloured hair bands to hand - for example 6 red, 6 blue, 6 yellw etc - these can be used as wristbands so you can keep control of the amount of DCs using the bouncy castle in one go - ie reds get 10 minutes, whistle blow & swap - then blue gets 10 minutes etc etc

A cheap bubble machine somewhere high will mean there's plenty of bubbles to chase

A canopy made out of cheap net, with a split in the middle tied up with ribbon that can be pulled to open it, suspended from the ceiling & filled with balloons, sequins, streamers etc, - you can then let this go so that the contents all fall out as they blow out candles & sing happy birthday - (though not on top of the cakes as my DH tried to do) this makes for lots of excitement, great photos & the balloons & streamers etc will keep the kids occupied from there onwards :)

Wow thank you, I am not sure a bouncy castle will work outside if it is very cold in February? I am pretty sure it won't fit indoors at the hall. How many would you say is a good number of guests at this age?

DD has a magician who was brilliant and had them all in fits of giggles for ages, then a bit of chasing each other around then tea.

It depends on the hall and the bouncy castle - some have no to on them so they can be used indoors

Was meant to say 'no top on them' so they can be used indoors. The castles we had were used indoors

We had a smaller no top bouncy castle indoors too, the hire places usually have a selection - as at the school, chances are the PTA use a good cheap tried & tested hire place for bouncy castles

We've had DDs whole class, plus a few out of school friends at this sort of age, but its up to you really, not all will turn up or let you know as some ignorant gits so maybe invite a few more than you want there, but be prepared for people turning up with siblings too.

After the first 2 parties I cottoned onto the fact that no matter how much you insist on replies, its impossible to guess how many will turn up, more or less than invited - so go for finger foods & don't bother with party bags - a piñata & give the DCs a bag or bowl to fill their own party bag to take home - saves the hassle of doing too many, or embarrassment of not having enough