Organising 5 year olds birthday party

[Pinkrose19]

Hi! I need advice please, it’ll be my daughters 5th birthday party at the start of September and I’m planning to invite all of her new school friends. I’m currently on maternity leave so money is tight, I’m just wondering if what I have planned will be enough to entertain 30+ children! I’m wanting to hire two bouncy castles, organise some games, and food. Is this enough for a duration of 2-3 hours? The price of face painters and entertainment is out of our budget, but I don’t want there to be gaps between activities or have children get bored! Any help would be appreciated. Thank you! X

Sounds fine! If you wanted to have a quieter activity for when they need a rest, you could have a table set up for them to make/decorate cardboard crowns or similar. Buy the crowns on the internet & put out felt tips, stickers & stick on jewels.

My top tip is at the end of the party, stand by the door with birthday child & hand out the party bags as they actually leave. Otherwise it’s a nightmare getting rid of them all!

Defo limit to 2 hours tops !

I agree 2 hrs max.
Are you planning having games for some while others on bouncy castle?
Otherwise 15 on each is quite a lot.

I was thinking of doing some party games such as pass the parcel, musical statues etc. as well as a colouring station, doing stick on tattoos and having balloons around the room to play with! Does that sound okay? I’m hoping the whole 30 children won’t want to play on the bouncy castles at the same time if there are a few activities in the room to do!

I find that with kid’s parties the time goes sooooooo slowly. So I would absolutely limit it to 2 hours and plan as many different activities as possible to keep everyone from staring at you with expectation. Good luck.

Have you priced it up? What’s your budget? One bouncy castle is £100 plus near us plus food, party bags, decorations etc. it racks up fast!

I did a similar type of whole class party for my 5 year old a few months ago. One bouncy castle in a church hall. The other tip I'd give us to find a church hall that has a toddler group- for the price of some coffee and biscuit donations the lovely playgroup organisers let me borrow their ride ons etc. This plus the bouncy castle (plus a pass the parcel game, although that is stressful) gave them more than enough to do for the 2 hours. Good luck! A September reception party is a lovely opportunity for everyone to get to know each other.

How about these printable scavenger hunts? Pretty cheap. Print and hide the cards then each kid ticks them off as they find them. You could rehide them half way through. Kids can do them any time they are not in the bouncy castle etc. shop.nonscreenactivitiesforkids.com/collections/scavenger-hunts