Ok so pleaaseee help me with my dd's first proper party (always had family ones before) shes going to be six but I have a problem also

[believeintheboogie]

I cant use my home so would need to hire somewhere, church hall etc. what can I do with 20 odd kids

DD wants to invite the whole class apart from the class "bully", Ive said this isnt fair, I dont want him there either really as he had been very cruel to dd but I think it would be incredibly cruel to invite everyone but him, how do i handle this.

Needs to be suitable for boys and girls.

Help me!

My six year old is inviting six children (one for each year of her life)

I think that throwing yourself into a party for 20 six year olds is perhaps a little adventurous if you've not had any before

Why not hire a soft play area or Brewster's Fayre or swimming pool or similar thing - it will probably be a very similar cost TBH but MINIMAL hassle for you

and yes of course you have to invite everyone, including the 'class bully'

it would be horrid to invite everyone except bully so either do selective or everyone.

wht is dd into? My dd had a cat party and once you have your theme is easy to collate stuff.

get a theme and ask for suggestions - you will get more than enough.

it would be horrid to invite everyone except bully so either do selective or everyone.

wht is dd into? My dd had a cat party and once you have your theme is easy to collate stuff.

get a theme and ask for suggestions - you will get more than enough.

has anyone tried organised parties like go karting, sports parties ect? or is six two young for things like that?

If you've got a local venue that advertises that sort of thing, ring them and find out

Swimming party would be a great idea because every child has to be accompanied by an adult so the bully would have his parent with him. Also bouncy castle parties are a good idea. The get really worn out without you having to do anything.

When ds was six I hired a local hall, which cost about £10 (a while ago mind you) and a bouncy castle and did the food myself. I invited the whole class and some others (35 odd I think) and it was fine and not that expensive. So I'd do that in your position.

Agree that you either do all or selective, you can't just ignore the 'bully' (if he is one)

And food: do MUCH less than you think, they hardly ever eat anything. Especially sandwiches. And if you go with a castle get one you can inflate and deflate just by pressing a button, then you can deflate it when you want them to eat. And get them to eat AFTER the bouncing!

trye, once you have a theme its so much easier to get something organised and pictured in your mind.

trye? should be true
we had a pirate party recently, for ds' 5th birthday - had around 24 kids and it was actually great fun. was my first "real" party-any others he'd had were "orgainsed" at soft plays etc

pirates and princesses?

Agree, would be better if you a a novice, to hold it somewhewre where the entertainment is provided.

Crowd control for 20 six year olds is not for the faint-hearted...

as long as you have enough adult helpers it should be ok though

Okay so hire a hall, invite them all and be oragined. This is the key. you must be organised. When I have parties for my kids (I have only ever had the small number at home), I do a timetable and pin it to the wall so that I know what has to happen at what time. This works as you can say, okay children in 2 minutes we are going to play xxx rather than trying to shout accross wound up children. I personally would go for a big hall and strctured (as much as is possible) games etc. This works much better as at a soft play etc they can get too high and people get hurt etc. I have done and been to loads of kids parties if you need games ideas etc./

pirates and princesses sounds a good idea, i thought about a craft party or such ( probably with smaller numbers) but was worried they would be bored with it?

We do a home party - dd had a disco for her last one...trick is to buy in wine so the parents stay. We normally have more adults than kids.

A pool party is also great....again the parents have to stay because of the adult to kid ratio needed. Unless you hate the parents in which case you can let them all swim while you "set up the food"

Anifrangapani how old was your dd for the disco?

I got loads of ideas from mumsnet for pirate party. For craft I got paper party bags and got them to decorate them with their name and pirate stickers, stick on jewels for the girls. Then whatever "booty" they got throughout the party went in the bag. It went down a treat.