Tell me im deluded

[Beauregard]

To imagine that 30 4-5 year olds would sit still for a cinema party?
Daft question?
We are just coming up with ideas for dd1's 5th birthday and we thought it would be something a bit different.
Why are party ideas so hard?
Knowing us we will probably think sod it and just take her out for the day.

I once did a swimming party for 28 at local pool. Forgot about having to dry and dress 28 squirming 5 year olds. Also having to comb out tangled waist length hair of some shocking little divas who expected me to give them plaits, french pleats like I was bloody Vidal Sassoon or summat.

Hence my fear of leisure centres.

Don't you have any of those Wacky Warehouse places near you? Otherwise, (and I know this is possible, I've seen it happen), can you hire your village hall and have a bouncy castle inside it? I def. wouldn't invite 30. Why not just invite all the girls?

No wacky warehouse type places to my knowledge round here,only softplay who do parties but i will scream if i have to sit through one more.
There is a parish hall we could hire
Bouncy castle is good idea .
Not sure about having it girls only ?
dd has been invited to the boys parties.
Oh fgs what is wrong with me?

What I used to do when ds small & everyone did mixed sex parties is invite his intake of 10 kids. He started in the Sept and so that little clique of 10 just invited each other, & the Jan/Easter ones did their own thing. It sounds weird now I think about it, but at the time it seemed to work without anyone feeling left out. Parties wot I have done are:
Age:5 Wacky Warehouse type thing
Age 6 Activity World (big version of above)
7 Water fight party in our garden (not Oct!)
8 Chessington World of Adventures (v.expensive)
9. Hired swimming pool (v,v,v,succesful)
10.LaserQuest
11. Karate Party
12. Quadbiking

For a 5 year old, maybe a swimming party would be good, but you'd really have to keep the numbers down for safety.

I don't have any girls, but there are a couple of crafty type shops in my local town (Marlow) which do pottery parties where girls paint plates & presumably fire them.

Or, a friend of mine had a makeover party for her daughter where a beautician came to the house & they all got dressed up etc.

My MIL had a custard pie party for my DH when he was 8. She made custard pies, put plastic sheets down in the garden and told the parents to dress the children in v old clothes.

The kids were left to throw custard at each other, the mums sat inside.

All hell broke out - custard flew everywhere. My DH still marvels at the fun they had.

good one philomena!

mumbleslikeazombiechum-I feel im a hopeless case with regard to party organising ,how far in advance do you plan your dc's?
Philomena-is your mil mad

Mad? I thought so when she told me...but he did really enjoy the custard slinging and I suppose it was the Tiswas era!

I usually organise it 6 weeks beforehand, which sounds excessive, but my ds's b'day is 3rd September, a couple of days before term starts so I give out the invites in the last couple of days of summer term, otherwise, what with everyone being on holiday at different times, I don't know what's going on.