Calling all Mumsnet Childrens Party Gurus! - I need help!

[Charlee]

I am having DS's 3rd birthday party tommorrow.

We are having a Pinata and Pass the Parcel.

i need.

1. More party games that will amuse ages from 1 1/2 - 6 (DS wants musicl bumps but i don't see the point as obviously the 6yr old will win as the others are all littluns)

2. WHat can i put in the middle of the P the P again to cater for a 2 1/2 - 6 yrs or shall i just buy someting for one of them and fix it so they get it iyswim?

The Queen of non organisation strikes again!

Help!

I would put something like stickers in the middle - most children love stickers from all ages.

Party games are harder at this age. One way to get roud the winning aspect, especially when you have a big age range - a fellow MNetter did it and it worked well. When the child is out put a sticker on their top so you can see it (as above - children love stickers) but let them continue dancing and joining in. Winner may well still be the 6yo, but they all get to join in and no one spends the party sat at one side all the time.

Or try and find party games that don't really have winners as such, more joining in and team work. Maybe team up a big and little child to do something together - relay races, eating chocolate blindfolded with knife and fork, the game when two children have to stand on newspaper which is gradually folded up smaller and smaller each time, etc.

Not sure about the games, but could you put crayons and colouring book or pad of drawing paper in p the p? You could get those really thick crayons so that even the smallies could use them?

Ds's third we had a bouncy castle, no need for games, it was wonderful!

dd's 3rd she had a v small tea party, no games, just dolly cakes etc.

How many are coming? It seems to be the dne thing these days for a present in EVERY layer of pass the parcel and for everyone to get somethng

I think you could just have music and dancing and put toys out and not worry too much about trying to organise them, it'll be like herding custard imo Is it at home or smoewhere else?

Yes i am liking stickers DS loves stickers hence my house being covered in them!

What have i let myself in for!

My lovely little birthday tea has turned into a party!

There will be 8 children and 9 adults in my teeny weeny house - gulp!

To be fair though 3 of the children are babies so they wont need much entertaining!

I think i will just stick to the pass the parcel and pinata and then let them play with whatever they want - in reason!

we had a 6 eyars odls' party alst weekend and even then they didnlt relaly want to be organised. Bouncy castle and a bit of space outside kept them amused, with a decorating activity and few simple games (pin the tail on, musical chairs, sleeping lions etc) and an obstacle course to the pinata. Tip don't put chocolate in the pinata as it gets mushed in the crush and when it is hit ! Also be careful to stand them well back from it.

you could do PP with sweets in each layer and one main prize - I did that and it went down well

MB etc could just have a collective winner

Hunt the .... something with parent help (I did finger of fudge)

how long is the party for?

or have a basket of small sweeties to offer whoever unwraps the layer

ime you don't need much more than pass parcel and the pinata will be fun too. Have you got plenty of music, they may do some dancing which will fill in more time.

One party I was at, the mum had organised for the children to do some cake decorating. She bought shortbread biscuits from tesco and then the wee icing pens and plenty of other bits to decorate cakes with, and then she laid out a huge big sheet on the floor. Once they had finished decorating them teh cakes were put in a cellophane wrapper for them to take home with them.
I thought it was quite a good idea, and the kids loved it. it was for a 3rd birthday btw

Yes, you can get kits in Tesco with gingerbread men and smarties and icing pens so the kids can decorate their own. I've also done a hat decorating table in the past with loads of stickers and glitter glue, etc - kids can decorate their own party hats if you cut out some crown templates or something. These things always seem to work better than organised games! Or blow up some balloons and get them to play balloon tennis - they love just batting the balloon around.

A 3rd (or maybe 4th) that ds went to have the fairy cake decorating thing - bowls of coloured icing, sprinklies, silver balls etc. They LOVED that.

Pass the parcel with PRESENTS in each layer? A proper present rather than just a sweet or a sticker? When I was a child (older than this I suppose) we used to have a forfeit in each wrapper (hop round the circle, do a hand stand, etc, and if you did it you got a sweet and if you didn't try then you didn't get anything).
I would probably fix the parcel winner - makes the purchase easier. Otherwise how about a pack of felts and a colouring book? Would fit quite a wide range.

A treasure hunt works well (obviously the 1.5yo will be too small, but from about 2.5yo), one idea I just heard about was a cheap fishing net for each child then hide little bugs/ladybirds around the garden and they have to collect a certain number. You could do this with loads of different thing (bucket and shells if you have recently been away etc).

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Sleeping Lions before tea to calm them all down. They have to lie on the floor, you are the judge, whoever moves is out and the person who spends longest motionless on the floor gets a prize
This can go on for several minutes!
Otherwise I'd make sure the dressing-up box was available, that's always good for this age group
And any plastic food/kitchen stuff for "picnics"