How many 7 year old boys...

[elliott]

would you invite to a party at home in the winter?

Personally I wouldn't have loads of adults cos you will just end making tea for them and they will just chat. Just ask 2 to help and make sure they know why they are coming!
Could your DS's Dad help? A male influence is always good with boys!
Memory game sounds good, and quite calming.
Kids have loved the chocolate game here.

oh yes, dh will not just be 'helping' it will be a team effort!
So how do I make it 'structured'? What do you think of my plan below? Any further games ideas, especially ones that are easy to explain and set up?

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depends how big yr house and more to the point table is.

To my house - no more than 4. But we don't have much room. If we had a big through living room or large kitchen diner then maybe 8.

YY to games ideas.

Agree no adults, no need with that sort of number. Maybe Dh to serve food while you do games.

If you are at home (cooking facilities etc) you could do sthg a bit nicer than usual fare like pizza or fish fingers and oven chips (tho in fact I love kids' party food...)

Hot dogs and oven chips usually go down well and are easy to prepare whilst running the party. Then DIY ice cream sundaes with plenty of sauce and sprinkles.

no more than 10. have been to house parties where 20 odd kids have been invited and it ends in chaos!
plan everything, and it should go fine.

Agree with daftfunk about plan. I'm not a teacher, but I do a 'lesson plan' for our DS's parties at home.

I even put times on it eg

3.30-3.40- Stick the tail on the donkey
3.40-4.00- party tea

It helps getting through the event being able to have a countdown.(along with a glass of cava)

DH laughed his head off he first time he saw one of my plans, but he was grateful for it by the time 2 hours had passed.

Last year my DS who was 7 had a party at home in October and we had 10 - 8 boys and 2 girls and hired a bouncy castle for the garden. That was a great success and also kept them out of the house.......

This year he wants Laserquest or some such nonsense....and my little one who is turning 5 wants a playbarn - and they are both within a week of each other.....

Give them a challenge- which team can build the highest tower using only spaghetti and marshamallows.

annaje - yes we have that issue as well - ds2 turns 5 four days after ds1 turns 7! For the last 2 years we've done combined parties but this year they want separate ones. At least ds2's is not so complicated - a big sports centre type party.
House is big, so could feasibly shift most games indoors apart from running races. Kitchen/diner also big enough for 8-10 round the table I think.
Will stick to cold food though as will find it way too stressful even cooking sausages on the day!
Thanks for all tips. Will probably be back nearer the time panicking!

eliott hot food is actually lot easier tho.

Just shovel a load of fish fingers or sausages in the oven. The only reason not to do it at a churchhall is not knowing how well the oven works etc.

DIY ice cream sundaes is a great idea

Do you have a garden?

Torches (50p each in woolworths). Hide things to find in garden. Anytime past 7pm is dark really now.

elliot - get the proper german hotdogs that you heat up in a pan of hot water

Eek, that'll teach me to go searching through old threads - found this

My biggest fear is that I won't be able to control them or they will refuse to do the games....