Birthday party reception age help!

[Lalanbaba]

Hi there,
DD will be 5 in November.
First birthday party and I am out of my depth.
She just started reception and we don't know any parents well. She went to nursery at a different town, but she seems to be doing well.
I would like to invite all the class, albeit I know not all of them will come. Total 35 kids including some from previous nursery.
For different reasons the 2 local soft plays/venues are a no go. One fully booked, other I don't think is big enough for like 20 children and a parent for each (very small venue)
So the idea is hire the local village hall. We live in a rural location.
But then what?
Food is ok, I can sort, rolls with a variety of fillings, Crisps, biscuits, carrot sticks (for decoration let be honest), minisausage rolls, etc. And obviously cake!
Lots of squash, water and coffee and tea for adults. Do you feed the parents?
What worries me is entertaining them.
Would a bouncy castle and soft play be enough?
Better 2 bouncy castles?
Do we need music? Or the squealing would suffice?
Arrrrg, no other birthday invitations so far so I can see what is normal.
What you put in a party bag? I know my kid would love a book, but is ok to give this away?
Thanks if you have read till here. I need some ideas.

I’d forgotten I actually did a colouring table too and balloons but they all popped within the first 10 minutes 🤣
I agree re the tea and coffee for the parents, I did that too as I always like a cup of tea and it doesn’t really cost anything to do.

one thing I didn’t do was party bags so I wouldn’t stress over numbers which was good as I had a mum reply the day before, I just wrapped up the actual birthday cake with sweets and they all had the snap bands etc so as long as they are fed and watered set your own rules and just go with it.

There’s almost always a glass of wine/fizz on offer at DDs classmates parties and we always offer one too. I’ve never had anyone drink much more than one or two but it gives it a bit more of a fun feel for the parents. We live in inner London, state primary

I'm sorry but I think alcohol is just not appropriate at a 5 year old's birthday party.

For my daughters 5th birthday, we hired a hall. We had an entertainer that did a mini disco and games, and we also had a face painter. Didn't really been the face painter but it was nice.
Food we made sandwiches, fruit kebabs and gave out bags of crisps and penguin bars.
We also had some party food, crisps and drinks for adults ( not many though)
Party bag was a lollipop, balloon, bag of haribo and a book ( you can get 10 for £10 from The Works)

Oh and yes there is often a glass of fizz for the parents, I'm in Essex though....always a bit extra 🤣

Central-ish London here and I think I’ve only been to 1 party that didn’t serve alcohol and that was because it was 10-11.30am 🤣

Mine is only 2, but every party we have been to the cake has been eaten at the party, there has been food and drink for the adults (selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks), and finger foods for the toddlers (also in London).

Thanks for all the suggestions.
I really think is bigger issue than it really is.
I don't think serving alcohol is a good idea here.
I expect 90% of grown up having to drive!

Don’t worry, we don’t give it to the five year olds (unless they’ve been REALLY good)

Instead of a traditional bouncy castle which we found too many kids got on at one time bunched up on, bumped into each other and got hurt we found much better to get an assault course one with a big slide at the end. There was more for the kids to do on it and it keeps them moving so they go through it then run round to the start.
do yourself a favour and buy yourself an electric balloon pump you will get years of use for it of it and they are not expensive on Amazon or eBay.
Inflatable swords or animals always went down well and very cheap on eBay.
Food we made a little box for each child with sandwich, Pom bears, sweet treat etc to save wastage.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6876511/#:~:text=Parents%20who%20abuse%20alcohol%20typically,emotional%20development%20in%20their%20children.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/18/even-moderate-drinking-by-parents-can-upset-children-study

But don't worry its fiiiine.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-parenting-alcohol-idUSKBN1Z225A

I’ve done a lot of parties now.
I’ve worked out that the whole class ones are successful if you do the following..

• BIG hall
• fun run style bouncy castle (or two small bouncy castles) or they keep crashing and loads of injuries
• blow up a tonne of balloons and just throw them in. They will go crazy hitting each other.
• dont bother with crafts aside from pens and paper (it’s messy and they don’t get used)
• buy Mac Donald style card lunchbox’s from Amazon (you can recycle/reuse them) make the food up in advance: don’t bother with fruit/veg it just get wasted. Chuck in packet foods pre prepped and just add cooked pizza/sausage rolls for the table. (Don’t stress about sandwiches. Label up allergy kids lunchboxes.
• sing happy birthday and feed the cake for pudding then no waste/no need for party bags.
• skip party bags and just hand out the £1 large sweet bags or choc bars.
• buy fruit shoots of similar not open squash glasses they just get spilt. Obvs water is ok in these.
• get paper table covers - you can just whip them off.
• take bin bags, knife, dettol wipes and paper towels.
• feed adults biscuits - buy adult size water or cans etc. (I usually take my small coffee machine and paper cups but realise not everyone has this)

hope this helps x x

I meant to add. Buy minimum extra party bag stuff. Random siblings will turn up but you don’t have to cater for them.
Unless you have a bit extra to offer them food wise. I’ve had to take a random sibling to a party before but didn’t expect food or a party bag.
Unless they have actually asked you if it’s ok to bring them and you don’t mind. (Bloody rude when they don’t ask!)

Personally I don’t do alcohol. At this age it isn’t drop and run and I want the adults to be responsible for their own kids.
Plus most drive.
Plus they are usually like 10/11 am!

@Goldencup I don’t believe one glass of wine falls into any of the problematic behaviours your material covers. However, this is OP’s thread about her party, so let’s not derail it further.

My top tips for parties are to be absolutely clear on the invitations as to whether siblings are invited or not and if you are expecting the parents to stay.

Hi how do you arrange tea/ coffee for parents? I am celebrating my daughter’s birthday next week.. have booked a hall and entertainer, will be taking care of kids food but don’t know what to do about adults..please help

We just used kettle and instant coffee and tea bags. Milk available (got semi and oat) and sugar cubes.
We bought disposable cups with lids.
I did not made any though, it was available in the kitchen and parents help themselves.
Last minute purchase of diet coke and lemonade cans was very welcome as they all disappeared.
I left biscuits next to these but parents didn't really ate much.

Thank you so much for the reply..it’s really helpful..now I got an idea 🙂