Party! How little can I get away with? Party!

[Kif]

Right, I've booked a hall, and I've invited the crowds. 3.30- 5.30 apparently. Hour for fun hour for food. Some close relatives are in town, and this is our big chance for a get together.

I'm pregnant, throwing up, knackered - and fully aware of the madness that will be assorted 1-5year olds.

I have this fond semi-feral idea of putting a load of balls and balloons in the hall, shutting the door, and letting the kids make their own fun... and catering for the thing with a big ASDA run for squash, sausage rolls and fairy cakes.

How much more do I need to do to fall into 'decent little party' rather than 'I wish I hadn't bothered coming'? Fancy dress? Ruddy feckin games? pin the tail on the wotsit or apple bobbing.... [sound of imagination running dry].

Bouncy castle ? Parachute games ? Food won't take more than half an hour tbh.

If I were you, I would have a craft table (we got the kids to make their own party bags at ds's party). Then get the Dads, Uncles etc to do a few games. The novelty of having blokes around seems to keep the interest of most of the kids. We did some games that were a bit different to the norm but not too much work.
Port & Starboard, The Mummy Game, and sleeping lions all went down really well.Good Luck

Where are you, can you afford an entertainer? I could help if you're near

I'm south coast. How much would an entertainer be, do you think? Would an entertainer work for mixed age group? Numbers uncertain but not huge. Will be between 6 and 12 kids aged 1-5... yikes and about twenty adults .

I'd discounted a bouncy castle on the grounds that the birthday boy (1) will get jumped on. Is it possible to hire gymboree style soft play blocks?

Blokes.. [lightbulb moment] ..

Does hall have a playgroup (borrow toys?) or toy library may have some soft play stuff, Tumble Tots, Fittots and Gymboree do parties. Alternatively hire a ball pool just for little ones and run activities/games for older.

Ball pool - hmm.

Is a hired ball pool much better than a paddling pool filled with balls (which we already own from last summer)?

You might be able to get one bigger , with small slide etc and powered by blower.

Kif, we had a bouncy castle for DS 4th birthday, and that was for a dozen kids ages 1-6 (all parents present also). We had a ball pool as well, and a selection of other toys, and the smaller children went on the bouncy castle while the big boys sat on each other in the ball pool or chased each other round, and vice versa. This only required a small amount of adult management.

Another thing we did that worked well was a pinata (a proper one, not a pulina). All the adults had a go at it as well as the children and great fun was had by all.

did you find the fan on the bouncy castle noisy in a small hall?

It was outside - not sure how noisy it would be inside.

oh Kif if it's 6-12 (not many) 1-5yos (not old) I would just haul all the toys you can get to the hall with lots of balloons.

Take a trampoline, scooters, trike, pop-up tent etc.We have done this with great sucess before for younger ones.Maybe a bit of craft and a pass the parcel to round it off.