Party for a 4 year old

[warmmfeet]

Ok we are throwing our soon to be 4 year old a small party at our house. He's never had a party to been to many so his expectations are prob low! We can't afford to hire an entertainer or bouncy castle / hall. Want to make it fun as possible with games. Ideas I have are:

Treasure hunt (searching for tokens they can swap for sweets / choc coins)
Musical statues
Pass the parcel
Sleeping lions
Pin the Lego head on the Lego man or similar
General dancing and music, lights, bubbles
Set up a huge train track in one room
Food, cake etc

That's it - I'm out - I need more ideas please?! What did you do that the kids love?! How can we make it fun but not too expensive ?

Thank you x

How many kids is it?

Pass the parcel always goes down well, as does pin the tail on the donkey...

Buy paper bags to use for party bags, lots of stickers and have that as the first activity. Kids decorate their own bag. Write names on before they arrive

Then pop sweets in while they are eating.
Everything else you already have planned sounds brilliant.

Kids will be impressed by traffic light jellies as part of the food.

Sounds great. Musical bumps too maybe?

It is very tricky to make 4-year-olds sit and concentrate on games. If you have lots going I would recommend a couple of rounds of pass the parcel in smaller groups etc. How about a disco? Treasure hunt is a good idea.

I think that sounds plenty tbh. Chuck in some balloons and they'll just run round and play with them anyway!

Btw I remember asking ds2 what he wanted to play at his 4th birthday because his answer made me laugh - Monopoly!

Will most of them already be 4 or will a lot still be 3 (seems to make a big difference as to whether they participate in party games). What about a scavenger hunt some pics of characters that you can print out and blu tack around the room? Or maybe leave out some toys alongside the train track. How long are you entertaining them for?

Thanks everyone - so helpful. I think there will be about 10 kids, nearer to 4 than 3, some slightly older.

I was thinking to do it for 2.5 hours, 2 hours of play then an hour of food and cake? Does that sound ok?

Would I normally invite parents to stay at this age or leave it up to them?

I think most parents would stay. Most of my son's friends parties have been 2 hours. Feeding usually takes 5 mins! Mainly just lots of running around!

Make it 1.5 hours.

For your sanity.

It will feel like 15hours anyway.

Arrival,.have them go and play in the trains room.

Once all arrived, leave to okay until it looks to getting rowdy.... then bring them to another space for party games. So hopefully not too long.

Feed them sandwiches (ham/cheese), crisps and biscuits. Give them squash or water.

Do the cake and sing happy birthday.

Cut up cake and send them home.

Ok thanks. Will certainly follow that advice 😊