Party games for thirty 5 year olds

[Lottiegirl97]

We have hired a hall and have an entertainer for our daughter's 5th birthday party. However, the entertainer is only on for 1 hour. We'll then have tea and it will mean there's about 30 mins at the end where nothing in particular is happening. Any ideas for games or activities that would keep them amused and prevent the party just fizzling out?

There are plenty of party games on the internet, but 've got 30 kids coming and I fear many would be hard to do with that many children.

Duck, duck, goose is good with a large group of children. Also the Hokey Cokey (old fashioned but still enjoyed). You could have two groups of Pass the Parcel going on simultaneously but you'll need an adult to supervise each one. Musical spoons is fun.....use plastic spoons and take one or two away each time (just like in Musical Chairs).

Sleeping lions is a good one to do when it all gets a bit hectic!

At 5, they will love just running around lots with balloons, but musical bumps usually works (sit down on ground when music stops - a statue is tricky at that age) and maybe a challenge for the group to keep 2 or 3 balloons in the air for as long as possible ( that way no one is ‘out’)

'Disco dancing', kids will burn off energy and little boys enjoy a good old 'floor slide' (as do some little girls too). Old favourites like 'I am the music man', 'Superman', and the 'Macarena' inbetween current music will probably get a few parents up to take the pressure off too.

If they've been listening to the entertainer for an hour they'll probably just be keen to run around with balloons or noise makers, have some music and dancing going on and then let the party filter to a natural close.

Having more structured games could be a little too much. I suppose it partly depends what the entertainer is doing with them.

I misread that as party games for 35 year olds, seemed pretty niche.

Thanks all. Some great ideas here. Think Holidays987 suggestion of music, dancing and balloons sounds like the simplest way to go.

I feel for you with a party of 30 though OP 😁 I hosted similar when Dd was that age, in the local community centre. Ours was a 'Disco' with a face painter, lots of fun but quite manic! Tbh as it wound down the kids were just running about doing their own thing and we held back enough food and pop to distract the over excited with. We deployed a piñata towards the end for the over exuberant kids to line up for, which worked out well.

At that age if they need a bit more structure than just dancing, do a musical statues where they have to copy the adult at the front when the music stops. As the adult you put your heads on your head, stand on one leg, stick your tongue out, etc. No one needs to be out, just keep them playing. Then you can get one of the kids to be the leader when they've got the idea.

Also stuff like obstacle races - put them in teams, each team takes it in turn to move a ball from one hoop to another, go through another hoop etc, or an egg race with a plastic set of eggs and spoons.