How to keep 20 kids entertained at family party?!

[dreamingoaholiday]

We're having a family celebration this summer.

I've just counted up max kids coming and it could run to over 20, which is basically a kids party alongside the adults party isn't it 😁

They're a mix of ages, from pre-school to a couple of teenagers. The adults include a fair few older people.

We're holding it at my brother's house. His garden is fairly big, I'm hoping the sun shines and the kids can play out there - however he doesn't have DC and so there aren't any toys at his. He's being very generous with offering his house for the party, but I am slightly nervous about the potential for the beautiful borders to get trampled on!

What toys / activities should I bring / buy to keep the DC entertained in the garden?

Preferably not something that needs close supervision (so not a blow up pool, for example).

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Love this idea. With a prize at the end when they find everything on the list.

The bouncy castle hire places often hire out garden games as well.

Tents are a good idea, if anyone has beach tents they are good as they help to protect from the sun.

At parties I usually set up a small table with pre made (or bought) plain fairy cakes and rich tea biscuits, make a huge batch of icing sugar, have lots of different sprinkles and plenty of spoons and they can ice their own cupcakes.

The idea of multiple tents is a good one. We’ve done that with Duplo / dress up / books

Other Things that have worked well for us in the past:

• hobbycraft colour in castle or similar with a pile of pens (just takes a while to build first!)
• chalk for drawing on pavements / outside walls, just washes off
• piles of cardboard boxes and tape for endless creations
• beads and laces / elastic for jewellery making
• Dress up boxes
• small Beanbags and various bowls and hoops to try and throw into
• Water transfer tattoos
• Sandpit / sand and water table (even the older kids go for this)
• orbz with utensils

garden games are more for older kids or adults I think, as younger kids do them once then get bored. You need more open ended play. Avoid ball pits as they will just end up thrown everywhere!

Orbz can be dangerous if you have small kids still in the eating things stage. They need really close supervision as if they get swallowed they can expand and cause a blockage which is really dangerous. It's basically silica gel.

I would do:

multiple tents (definitely a dress up box in one)
a craft that involves stickers
giant cardboard boxes they can climb inside with crayons or textas - they can colour on the walls of the inside of the boxes
Does he have a piece of concrete for chalk drawing that you could also draw hotscotch on

A couple of remote control cars can be fun and a race track. The Dads will all become Uber competitive and take over but it will mean they can supervise 😎

I personally wouldn't
Kids go overboard on them
It gets everywhere

Personally I think people go overboard thinking kids must be entertained at parties. The fact that there are so many people, and so many other kids, should be entertainment enough.

I would not do anything big. Just bring a couple of balls/frisbees or the like.

No balls or frisbees! I want to keep the kids (and flying objects) off the borders and the veg patch as much as possible - hence providing entertainment for them in a different part of the garden.

And I don't think it's overboard to cater for the DC. They could all get on and have a wonderful time entertaining themselves. Or they might not. I would rather have some stuff prepared than regret not thinking it through.

At my friends wedding at a posh country mansion, they made a kids room, and the kids LOVED it! We hardly saw them! Perfect result: kids have a whale of a time and get to know each other and the parents get a little time off parenting and can actually enjoy the party.

Fair enough OP if that's what you think, I just think it's better for kids to learn to entertain themselves/each other in social situations rather than expect to have a load of stuff thrown at them. I don't think it's good for them.

Some of the DC are very young and/or have SEN and/or are not used to gardens where you need to keep off the flowers.

I am trying to organise a one-off very special family get together in the most hassle-free way possible (hence getting caterers in - never done that before).

What I'm not doing is providing a teachable moment for everyone else's DC at the expense of the adults at the party being able to enjoy themselves! Their parents can no doubt teach them social skills some other time - as I do with mine.

Also really don't want my DB's garden to get wrecked, which is a distinct possibility with 20 excited DC running about with nothing better to do!

Sorry, I am a bit grumpy today tbh.

I do agree in principle about it being good for DC to be able to entertain themselves.

But this is a large group of DC who don't know each other so I have no idea what the group dynamics will be. I want to make an effort to smooth their path and make it easy for them to have a nice time, given what a special and one off occasion it is.

I don't do this every time we have a gathering, honest! The DC are more usually left to get on with it!