does anyone do their own party anymore - I mean no entertainer/DJ?

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we are trying to save money on DD's party (she will be 7) because we just can't justify the entertainer fees but I don't want the party to seem rubbish because her mummy is doing it and really has no idea what she is doing.

Do people do it nowadays? do you end up with awkward 'what is happening now?' patches?

Dd is eight this year and has already organised a sleepover with three friends. Thank fuck.

I feel your pain.

We had a bouncy castle and face painter for dd2's 5th earlier this year. The bouncy castle would have been enough, they were crazy with excitement as it was.

yes I am hoping this is the one and only for this child (then DD2 can have 1 hall party and that is it)

Hubby thinks we need some sort of entertainment but I think it is a shame if we can't still just do a party like our parents did. we went to a nice outdoor party in a local park recently (lucky with the weather) and the kids just played around having a wonderful time with balls, outdoor toys and so on.

If we could do music so they can dance when they want to and some games, perhaps a crafty thing set up on a table if they feel like doing that then surely they could cope without being directed around for an hour and a half?

We do have facepaints if I can be bothered to offer them. I suppose if I made it clear it was only a little thing not a full face then that could be a possibility.

Mind having said that a sleepover would fill me with more fear I think (we aren't at that stage yet).

It's quite difficult doing it yourself. Professional entertainers keep things ticking along and you can go off and get the food ready etc.

We live abroad and kids parties are

1. 8-20 kids in a restaurant (the whole party is basically the meal, maybe playing in a field outside for a bit afterwards if there is one)
2. traditional jelly icecream run around the garden organised by parents, grandparents, aunts, etc.
3. a special outing to cinema, theme park etc. for a few friends

So basically no children's entertainers. That said my oldest is only 6 so we'll see what happens in future but they don't seem to be a "thing" here.

I'd say if Mum wants to, why on earth not? Make sure you have at least 1 glamorous assistant. Good luck!

DS1 is 5 and my favourite parties are the non-entertainer ones - pass the parcel, musical statues, pin the tail on the donkey, wrapping up in toilet paper, singing songs together etc. Probably a bit young for 7 but you could have a session of (the dreaded) loom-band making with prizes, disco dancing, a box of costumes, lucky dip, blind man's buff etc. Is it a summer birthday - if so that makes it easier with outdoor activities, paddling pool etc.

You probably have to be a certain type of personality to keep the energy up but you could always rope someone in to act as the MC.

We do home parties. Just make sure you've always got an extra game/craft activity up your sleeve in case one doesn't last as long as you thought it would.

Never had an entertainer, always done parties at home or outing to movies/laserquest then party tea.

If doing party at home: Make the parents drop the kids. 2 Hour Limit. Have a loose theme (ie snowman party - pin scarf on snowman - running races putting hats and scarves on - crafty activity making snowmen - birthday tea, party bags with the crafty items they made in and some tat. Cheap and cheerful). Kids have always seemed to really enjoy it as the main thing is they are getting a lot of attention.

Happy to contribute some suggestions of things to do!

any suggestions more than welcome tiggyhop.

thanks everyone - ok I feel slightly more confident about doing this now. Hall is booked so lots of space but it isn't stupidly big. Not doing party bags just a book each from sets at the book people which works out about 80p a child and I have a mix of them so can cover most kids personalities.

One of my friends suggested getting them to build igloos (dens) for a competition but I would need to find enough boxes etc for at least 3 groups to do that but I do have some old white sheets that could be used so might be able to work on that idea a bit.

We had an entertainer a few times but the majority of the parties I threw for the children were just me!

Have a plan - expect that plan to go awry and you'll be fine. I used to do themes - pirates, willy wonka, beach party - it doesn't have to be expensive it just makes it easier to tie the whole thing together.

Pass the parcel, musical statues, musical chairs (although I remember one mum complaining that she thought that was 'dangerous' the silly cow) pin the tail on the donkey (they really LOVE this one for some reason), etc etc. Giving them grub always takes a bit longer than you'd expect.

I always allowed the kids a bit of mad running about time as well - they don't have to be constantly entertained.

The best piece of advice I can give you is to ENJOY IT. Go into the party with a sense of excitement, enjoy the games, enjoy the kids, they're so bloody funny at 7, smile a lot, laugh and I promise you if you go into it with a happy positive frame of mind you will be absolutely fine and the children will love it.

My children are teenagers now, and I would LOVE to be throwing them parties again. It was a wonderful part of my parenthood and a valued, precious memory for my children.

I did a party for DS's 7th birthday & the kids absolutely loved it. We did a mini tournament & split the kids into 4 teams of 6 picked from a hat with 1 adult supervising each team, used our kiddie easel for keeping scores (points for 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th)
and we had a little awards ceremony at the end when everyone got a medal plus trophy each for the winning team (thanks poundshop)

Games included:

Mini obstacle course using hall benches & cones, hoola hoop, skipping rope & a football + goal

Pass the balloon: 2+ lines of kids then pass balloon using knees to the end of the line & first team back to the beginning wins. Same game again later with oranges under the chin was brilliant.

Zombie game - pick 1 team member & the others have to wrap him up with toilet roll. They get 5 minutes & then the teams sit down whilst the judge (DH ) who doesn't know which zombie belongs to which team judges.

A quiz - we weren't sure how this would go down but it was brilliant and they got very competitive about it! 25 questions covering all sorts inc captain of England football team, capital of USA, author of Harry potter, a few 'name that tune' music clips, a couple of slightly tricky spellings & sums etc. answers at the end & total was their score.

Chocolate game: teams sit in a circle in the middle is large bar of chocolate on a plate with knife & fork, hat, scarf & large bulky gloves. They have a dice & take turns rolling & if they get a 6 they put on gloves etc & can trying to cut & eat chocolate whilst other teammates keep rolling the dice in turn & when the next person gets a 6 they take gloves etc & have their turn. Keep going & winning team is first to finish their chocolate (keep it nice & cold as being hard makes it trickier & game lasts longer )

It was bloody knackering but we couldn't afford entertainers & knew a large group of 7 yr old boys would need something to stop them turning feral. It was great fun & (if I do say so myself) a really really cool party - younger DS wants the same for his bday next year .

All these games sound great but as I'd be organising it on my own it's just impossible! Last party I had was his 4th and we went to a local park, met in the park/played for 20 minutes then had a ride on the mini train (£30 for all of them) then picnic I made, all in all spent around £65. I'm trying to think of something similar I can do this year, outdoors, fairly cheap and low enough effort that I can handle it myself. I'm stumped!
Some parties are massively over planned though, last one he went to was ridiculous, entertainer plus about 8 planned games/activities that were needlessly complicated (pass the parcel had alternate sweets and forfeits, for 5 year olds!) it was exhausting and unnecessary. If I'm paying an entertainer then that's the entertainment, any spare time can be filled with disco dancing or something.

Yep every year as DS doesn't like entertainers & refuses to give his parents a free pass.
We pick a theme every year - we've had - the gruffalo, teddy bears picnic, octonaughts, sooty & sweep and lego Star Wars.
Decorations, cake, food to match theme. When he was really young we just had loads of outdoor /large toys for them to play with. Each year we've added games in, last year with sooty & sweep we got the puppets & 'they' ran the games.
Because we had the whole class + other friends we split them into teams to keep things moving & let everyone have a go. They all got a sticker telling them if they were on Sooty, Sweep or Sues teams.
We had a treasure hunt, obstacle course, pin the tail on the donkey and loads of traditional games.

This year we stuck with a few games & a treasure hunt - again in teams. We also made them balloon light-sabres and let them have the most ridiculous battles, run around & generally have fun.

thanks for all the ideas, lots there to think about. Hadn't thought of doing quizes or anything like that but yes they all love problem solving at that age.

I have a feeling in the spring DD2 will want a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory party!

For my granddaughters birthday last year when she was 8 we got some heart shaped little boxes from Hobbycraft and painted them. They then all made a bracelet that we got from Wilkinsons in packs of 2 for £1.50. This year we got some plain tiles and some rub off stickers to decorate them with. Each of the activities took almost an hour so after having tea ,doing a bit of dancing and opening presents it was time to go home. The guests only needed to have a piece of birthday cake to take home because they had the jewellery box with a bracelet or a decorated tile so we didn't need to do party bags.

For my granddaughters birthday last year when she was 8 we got some heart shaped little boxes from Hobbycraft and painted them. They then all made a bracelet that we got from Wilkinsons in packs of 2 for £1.50. This year we got some plain tiles and some rub off stickers to decorate them with. Each of the activities took almost an hour so after having tea ,doing a bit of dancing and opening presents it was time to go home. The guests only needed to have a piece of birthday cake to take home because they had the jewellery box with a bracelet or a decorated tile so we didn't need to do party bags.

We've just done a Harry Potter party for DS's 8th birthay (as in, the kids have just gone home!)

Popular games were playing 'Hot & Cold' with hidden golden snitches (ferrero rocher with feathers stuck to them), making 'potions', and all the usual stuff like pass the parcel, musical statues etc.

We also did the entertainment for DD's 5th birthday last year, which was about 20 children in a local hall. We did face painting and lots of games, main thing I learnt was to have more games/ideas than you think you're going to need, as some things didn't take as long as we thought. That said the children did quite enjoy just running around the hall shouting

Almost all the parties where we live are done at home with no paid entertainer, but we live abroad.

Key things are not to invite too many lids (1 per year of age is good), invite kids who all already know each other so they play easily together, and have a plan, at least 2 adults for the party kids PLUS a separate 3rd dedicated solely to any younger siblings, and have back up activities just in case (mainly for your own peace of mind).

Treasure hunts with maps go down well, a craft activity, the game where you throw a dice and eat choc with knife and fork after putting dressing up items on if you throw a 6... We begin by getting guests to hide their presents around the downstairs and garden, and one everyone arrives the guests direct the birthday child's search with "warmer" and
"colder" and she unwraps as she finds them

love the ferrero rocher snitches!!!

great ideas and tips everyone - thanks