Reception whole class party- I need your help!

[MinisterforCheekyFuckery]

I am new to this malarkey having so far gotten away with a small birthday tea for family at home. But DD, who starts school in September, is turning 5 in December and in a moment of madness I have agreed to have the dreaded whole class party! I am 30 weeks pregnant so blame the hormones

I have booked a venue (community hall)
and an entertainer. She does 45 mins of magic and party games, then 30 minute interval for food, then she does another 45 mins of magic, songs and and dancing with the kids. So at least I don't have to worry about prancing about trying to entertain them myself when I'll be a few weeks postpartum!

But aside from that I am utterly clueless. I could really use advice on how to sort the following with as little stress and expense as possible, especially as baby will only be a few weeks old:

Invitations- how far in advance do you give them out? Should I give more notice than usual as it's approaching Christmas (8th of December)? How will I even find out the kids names and track down all their parents, will the school be willing to give me a list of first names? Will the teacher/TA mind handing out invites if we're inviting the whole class?

Food- I know some people do little bags/boxes with sandwiches etc instead of a buffet. Do kids seem happy with this? Does it actually work out any cheaper? Will people expect hot food?

Parents- are they likely to stay or should I expect them to drop and run? Which is preferable and should I specify on the invitation? If they stay are we expected to feed them?

Party bags- is it possible to do them for a whole class without it cositng a fortune? What sort of things would you put in/not put in?

Where are the best value places to buy decorations, balloons, party bags etc? Preferably online!

Anything else I haven't thought of? Any tips, advice, do's and don'ts, or general words of wisdom would be very welcome!

Thank you

Helly I would prefer parents stay as apart from anything else, it seems like a nice way to get to know people as the kids will all be quite new to school still. More than happy to provide Tea, Coffee and cskes (or maybe mince pies as it's December?) as bribery!

I like to think I am a total expert at this having had quite a few massive/whole class parties for my December kid.

Invites out after October half term. December weekends get booked up quickly.

Vast majority of parents will stay. I usually do mince pies and mulled wine for them and some chocolate biscuits.

Food wise we always call up the local pizza place a week before and negotiate a discount on 6 or 7 margheritas and get them delivered. Usually costs 40 quid. Cut up some veg sticks if you feel the need. Bear in mind that kids hardly eat anything at parties.

Party bags are a must, sadly. Pack of Haribo, tattoo, small toy (finger lights are good), glittery gel pen, cake. Amazon and Pound shop good. Decorations/plates etc I find are the cheapest in pound shop also.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HD25ARA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8 This bunting is insanely long and we've used it for parties and camping for years now.

Have fun!

Also Costco is great for those trays of small bottles of water, I just have them for the kids to help themselves. They also do a massive sheet cake if you don't want to get one specially made which they will decorate. Also good for parental biscuits and mince pies!

Sounds lovely op. But be aware some parents may bugger off and use it as free childcare. That bunting looks amazing!

The no siblings request will be difficult to enforce since you also want parents to stay at the party.

Single parents or parents whose partner is at work will often bring the whole tribe and I think expecting them to sit still at the side during the party is too much.

I also think that many CFs will see a kids party at that time of year as an ideal opportunity to ditch and run off to do some Xmas shopping. Make sure you have extra helpers!

Party bags - eBay for mini bubbles, bouncy ball then mini bags of Haribo and a slice of cake is enough.

Books could end up being expensive then go unused sadly.

Party food - I'd go for buffet of jam sandwiches, cheese cubes, raisins bread sticks and quavers and big jugs of diluting juice.

As you are an early in the school party, you could start the trend of no party bags - I bet the other parents will love you. A sweet cone is a good compromise. When ds1 was 5 I did decorated cupcakes in cellophane bags. Looked v impressive but I choose a simple cut out icing decoration so fast too do.

For themes we went to or held mermaids and pirates and knights and ladies at this age. Both worked for mixed groups - something for the girlie girls but allows the other girls some scope as well. My ds once went as a mermaid - looked like a gorgeous little Neptune.

the no siblings request will be difficult to enforce

I think the key is if you get asked prior to the day or not. If folk are polite & ask, it's easy to plan. It's the CF who rock up with an extra 3 siblings usually after not RSVPing for the one invited child that causes issues pisses people off

The no siblings request will be difficult to enforce since you also want parents to stay at the party

That's a fair point. It would be nice if they stayed but I'm not planning on insisting or anything. Will have Grandparents on hand to help.

Single parents or parents whose partner is at work will often bring the whole tribe and I think expecting them to sit still at the side during the party is too much.

Honestly, if people have no childcare then I understand and I wouldn't mind if they asked first. But it's the thought of a load of extra kids just turning up on the day when I haven't catered for them (especially if I go with the sandwich boxes) that worries me. Obviously if it happens there's nothing to stop them joining in with the entertainment but I would feel bad about not having enough food for them.

But it's the thought of a load of extra kids just turning up on the day when I haven't catered for them (especially if I go with the sandwich boxes) that worries me. Obviously if it happens there's nothing to stop them joining in with the entertainment but I would feel bad about not having enough food for them.

I think it's really rude for parents to bring siblings to gatecrash a kids party but speaking from experience it does happen.

The catering aspect is not your responsibility, that's the parents look out to bring snacks for the siblings to eat while the party guests are seated having their food.

I'd send any siblings back to parents at the point the food comes out.

A theme is a good idea but please avoid a pointless segregation of the sexes like "princesses and pirates" or something. These kids are so little and already get so much pink/ blue brainwashing from the media etc. Also not all girls/ boys are into those characters and will feel uncomfortable.

I think you'll throw an awesome party and hats off for all this effort while pregnant!

Maybe instead of just putting "no siblings" (I really don't want lone parents to feel excluded) I should put something along the lines of "siblings can be accommodated if you let us know in advance"? Or maybe I should just leave it and accept that there will be some who take the piss.

Tube Top having given it some thought I don't think I'm going to specify a theme. Parents don't need the additional hassle of putting a costume together a couple of weeks before Christmas and, although DD likes it, I know some kids don't feel comfortable in fancy dress. We could always choose decorations, a cake and tableware that are in a particular theme but might not even do that if she's not bothered.

We always do a piñata and hand out party bags for the kids to fill with the sweets and choc that fall out which seems to go down well. Did books too this year. Super cheap when you order multi packs from the book people.

I also always do food that needs no prep. Petite filous, bags of crisps, sausage rolls, whole fruit and pizzas delivered (pizza hut do medium margaritas for £5).

I also ordered a giant Colin this year. More for my benefit than DC's TBH. 😋

Mine are teens now but I wouldn't do sandwich boxes for 4 - 5 year olds. They hardly eat anything at parties. You'll just waste most of it. Better to have platters of food, then parents and siblings can dip in too. Also you won't need the hassle of making sandwiches to order. TBH they rarely choose to eat sandwiches (though accompanying parents might insist). I stopped bothering after a few parties and just had pizza slices plus crisps / fruit usually. They don't drink much either so get the smallest bottles you can.

They love party bags. My rule was 3 toys (bouncy ball, whistle etc - whatever came in multiple packs as it's cheaper), 3 small sweets / lollies etc and birthday cake. Cake was the most trouble as I had to cut it rapidly after singing happy birthday. Unless you have 2 identical cakes and pre cut one - though I never did this. With little ones parties, you do get helpers though as other parents stay. (Later they just want childcare and most people do send their children - even at 2 weeks notice I found!)

Re fancy dress - maybe it was just the fashion for a while but I found the girls often dressed up in costumes anyway. Mine had tons of Princess / fairy costumes that they wore to every party whether fancy dress or not. Boys either have spiderman etc or don't bother.

See the parties we have had recently the food on the table has seen so much waste. The few that did individual lunches seemed to get eaten...plus the kids can take them be sent home with them

Princesses and superheroes is popular because most kids have something they can wear even if it's not a full costume eg a superman tshirt, tiara.

Re cake - I have done the main birthday cake with the candles and fairy cakes to throw in party bags to save having to rush cutting up the big one.

You may find you have a party shop you never knew about nearby - ask someone local who has older children. use jugs of drinks (and include water, not all like squash). Book people are good for cheap multipacks of books - keep looking and they’ll have an additional discount code at some stage so you could combine with getting DD some Christmas presents.
Add a chocolate freddo (can’t bring myself to buy sweets, choc seems so much better somehow). Cheap tat eg bubbles. That’s enough. Or maybe a few chocolate coins instead of freddo as it’s near Christmas.
I got someone to do the boxes as for me worked out much cheaper (even adding a few for emergency CF spares) as I’m terrible at having to totally over cater - therefore losing all savings 🙈
Personally, I’d give lots of notice given the date near Christmas as people will be booking Christmas activities but with new one starting in school I’d do my best to get child there and work around things as good for child and me to meet the new class.
Reception party I’d stay, from Yr 1 drop if I needed to be somewhere.
Don’t forget lighter and cake knife on the day (from experience..,desperately trying to find a smoker at a child’s party to light the candles...)!
Take bin bags to clear up.
If you have a newborn outsource if you can afford it. If not get ready done things as much as possible. If you don’t want to buy an obvious supermarket cake get a plain inched cake (Waitrose/m&s) and put plastic toys on top. Child they gets extra present at end of party!
As it’s christmas I think they’ll all turn up in Christmas jumpers so a shame to do fancy dress!
Good luck! Oh, and don’t expect to see much of it - ask a friend to take photos of DC for you!

Oh, abd ask your entertainer re party shop recommendations to buy the tat!
Find out if you need table cloths or not. Some halls have very rough bench tables that NEED covering.

I don't want to spend loads on a professionally made cake and some of the supermarkets do really quite pretty ones now. I was thinking I might get some fairy cakes/those big precut tray bake type cakes as well to bung in the party bags, to save us having to cut up the cake in a rush in between "happy birthday" and home time. Plus one supermarket cake isn't going to feed 30+ kids anyway I'd imagine.

Thank you all so much for all your replies.
I'm already feeling much more relaxed about the whole thing.

Supermarket cakes - cupcakes - traybakes - lots of people do that OP, don't worry.

Food boxes work well.

One of the best entertainments I ever came across at a children's party was where they rolled our a huge roll of bubble wrap and let the children jump on it !

If you can get an e mail list (you might have a class rep) then you could do invites on paperless post, which tracks responses, and helps generally with ease of rsvp. If not, if it's whole class the teacher will probably let you put them in book bags, be aware that rsvps are often slow or non existent.
As for party food, I favour the tea in a bag approach and buy cheap sweet bags or paper bags and pop in a roll (if I'm feeling keen I make half cheese and half ham, but you may prefer to keep it more straightforward?) then a little foil wrap or snack bag of vegetables eg cucumber, carrots, peppers? A small bag of crisps. You could then hand round a platter of fruit.
The best idea I saw at a party was a lady who brought out a small cake (which I thought would never be enough to give everyone a slice) then once candles blown out, she produced a tray of fairy/cupcakes decorated in a similar way, saved her needing to cut up cake whilst children waiting!
Party bags, I think are often a bit of a nuisance, and beat alternative ideas I've seen include a book, wrapped in paper (you can buy packs of 10 for around £10 each ) you could sneak in a bag of chocolate buttons too? Or if you are more creative, you could buy a plastic flower pot and a pack of seeds? But this would cost a bit more?
As for decorations, do you have a theme? Pinterest is useful for ideas? But just a bit of bunting- easily to re use, brightens up hall and perhaps a few balloons tied to the outside of the venue so people know where to come. You could buy table cloths and such like to brighten up the tables but I'm not sure I would?

One of the best entertainments I ever came across at a children's party was where they rolled our a huge roll of bubble wrap and let the children jump on it !

DD would love that!