Party at home ideas for a girls 7th birthday

[Allegrogirl]

I'm thinking about doing a party at home for my DD. Previously I have always hired halls and done bouncy castle, party games etc. My older DD can get overwhelmed with all this (shortly having an assessment for possible ADHD). I'm thinking about having at home party for 7-8 school friends instead.

I'm quite nervous about having a group of children in the house and knowing how to entertain them for a couple of hours. I was thinking crafty bits and take away pizza and ice-cream?

I would appreciate any ideas.

that sounds great, if they are like most 7 yr olds what about frozen theming it
bung on the soundtrack, pin the tail on sven, make your own olaf from white pom poms.

If they get worn out bung on the film

Judging by my brownies they all have the dress to wear :D

Cake decorating

Make a load of fairy cakes before the party

Get some different coloured fondant icing, cutters, decorations, glitter etc etc

1hr decorating cakes. 1 game. Food then bye-bye

No need for party bags as everyone takes their cakes home!

I love parties at home! Yellow Moon/ Baker Ross (same company I think) are v good for craft kits. A theme makes it easier - then just tie in whatever games or activities you want. Shrinkles are good fun for that age group, or basic jewellery kits?

I did Frozen for DD2s 4th birthday recently (DD2 is obsessed). I think DD1 might have had enough pf Frozen although she has a lovely ebay Anna dress (DD2 insisted on being Elsa).

I'll check out Baker Ross for bits. It doesn't seem exciting enough but actually I'm sure DD1 would enjoy a chilled out time with her friends. I was thinking of Monster High cake, plates etc but not sure of any craft ideas to tie in. There must be some ideas on the internet so I'll have a search. Cake decorating is a good plan.

Thanks for the ideas.

How about making each other up as Monster High characters?

You could get them to decorate their own pizzas too!

The Bear Factory do bear making kits, and ideas for games involving them.

We've done few bear factory parties for different dc, -start off with a treasure hunt to find the kits, make them up and name them.you could also make jewellery for them if you needed to kill time. Then a few party games, food, job don.

Our best ever was a Huggy bears party. It's £10 per child but for that you get a kit to make a really gorgeous build a bear type cuddly toy so you don't need going home presents.

We got little white t shirts for the bears and fabric pens so the girls decorated them which took 1.5 hours then a disco with the bears then tea. Guests and birthday girl said it was "the best party ever". Several others had these parties after ours as well.

Some cheap crafty things would be good. We did this for my DD when she was 8 and the thing they all loved was playing bingo! It was a cheap set from tesco which I bought in case we ran out of things to do, but it was by far the favourite!

DD had a be my bear party for her 8th birthday and went down well.

They have a website and facebook page.

You order a teddy bear kit for everyone - comes with stuffing, a heart to make a wish - also got the t shirts for them to decorate and a sound recorder so they could record a message.

Like build a bear but done at home.

They take the bears home in the provided gift bag instead of a party bag.

Did homemade party food and cake.

We are doing decoupage and disco at home for dd2 6 th birthday. Obviously can't comment as not happened yet but kids love decoupage and it actually looks good at the end

Mine still like party games at that age and can easily theme things like stick the tail on the donkey into something else, or musical bumps onto pictures from monster high. Good to have it in reserve at least in case they are faster than expected at other stuff.

Must admit an hour for cake decorating sounds long unless you know they all have good attention span - but definitely still good thing to do.

We always do a treasure hunt too.

DD is having her birthday party at home this Sunday (and I have been in bed ill all week ).
My plan is:
craft activity (little animals to decorate or similar from The Range)
musical statues
pass the parcel
decorate buns (going to be shop bought now but I'd normally make them)
party food
play in the garden if any time left.

We've done treasure hunts before which go down well but as DS had one DD wants something different.

Love the teddy bears idea. DD adores soft toys. Some good ideas thanks.

Last year DD (it was her 6th birthday) wanted a party all her class could come to. So we hired a hall, and her elder brother ran a football camp outside, while we had tables set up inside with craft activities, face painting, party games etc. It was exhausting, and I assumed that the children would play with the craft activities by themselves, but they all wanted me to sit with them which made it hard to set up the birthday tea.

This year we are having a be my bear party at home - the kits have arrived, and they look great. My plan is to play party games for a bit, then make the bears, and take the teddies to the party tea as a teddy bears picnic. After that I have T-shirts for them to decorate for the bears.

Hopefully it will work ok! and I've roped in more helpers this year.