Urgent party games needed, rain stopped play!!!

[wobblywibblyknicks]

DD's 4th birthday is tommorrow and the plan was to have a bouncy castle and various water-play stuff out in the gorgeous sun and sit back relaxing while the kids went mental.

But....the weather down here has suddenly gone very bad and is due to be worse tomorrow, and the bouncy castle won't fit indoors so I'm not having it (was only borrowed from nursery so no money wasted). Already planned to do musical chairs, musical statues, pass the parcel and blind man's buff but the party is two hours so even with food I think they'll need a lot more to do.

Help - any ideas for fab party games that will keep the kids occupied AND don't take much setting up or explaining???

Girlie version of pin the tail on the donkey.

Sit them in a circle with a paper plate each with 5 1p sweets on. They can only eat them via chopsticks though. (This gives you a few minutes breathing space for the next game!)

Eat a bit earlier than planned and do an ice-cream factory style dessert.

Guess the intro?

How about a junior version of spin the bottle. Make a list of forfeits for where the bottle stops. Like, jump round the circle like a frog or sing Twinkle Twinkle or tell a funny joke or do a tongue twister.

Have an arts and crafts table. Just some paper and tissue paper , glue etc. messy but fun. We usually use paperplates instead of paper and they stick stuff on and draw etc, or they can make a mask if they want.

Would you use a pin with the donkey for 4yo's or do it with blu-tack (have nightmares of injured kids and the perfect mum brigade looking on disapprovingly)?

Sweets and chopsticks idea sounds perfect!

Ice cream factory would be brill but its in a hall and won't have a freezer to keep the ice cream cool.

Spin the bottle & crafts sound good!! Why can i never think of these things?

Use blu-tack instead of pins.

I'd use blu-tack - its easier than pins anyway. If you are in a hall and have space what about a treasure hunt of sorts. my friend did this last year - she made several large posters with very simple clues on them. The answer to each clue led them to the picture on the next poster (iyswim) and so on until they found the treasure. The children loved it.

Musical newspaper -kids have to stand on a piece of newspaper when the music stops- just rip of a piece from each sheet between each round.

I went to the zoo story game. Give each pair of children an animal and get them to make the noise.
Make up a silly story about going to the zoo. Each time their animal is mentioned in the story they have to make the noise.

Praying for the weather to perk up a bit for you.....

oooh, musical newspaper sounds fun!!!

Hope the weather does turn but it doesn't look like it, its been bucketing all day.

Messy but fun,the flour game.

Put large sheet on floor

Fill mixing bowl/similar receptacle full of flour.

Turn upside down onto plate,a bit like a sandcastle.(tricky bit)

Place sweet in centre of flourcastle.

Get knife,plastic one best,get each child to shave a bit of the sides of flourcastle.

Whichever poor child collapses the castle then has to retrieve sweet without using their hands!!!