Help needed with DDs 5th birthday..please..

[clutteredup]

DD has only just started school so doesn't know a lot of children in her class - I know none of the parents.
We have decided to keep it small for that reason (and cost!!)I think we'll have 9 altogether including DD and DS 7, - so 4 extra girls and 3 boys.
I want to have it in our house, not huge, butcan't afford a hall or other venue.
DD wants a My Little Pony party, Scooby Doo for the boys, but I need to think of something to do with the children. I can do pass the parcel and musical statues but have run out of ideas. I think the girls would be happy to sit down and draw a bit or do some decorating but I'm a bit worried about the boys as I don't know them and if they are anything like DS when he was 4/5 I expect they will just want to run round and shout alot.
Help!!! TIA

treasure hunt

OK sounds good but is it possible in a small house and (dim icon here) how do you do a treasure hunt?

either leave clues around, or hide tokens (eg toy cars/uninflated balloons) for children to find and then exchange for booty.

Not so easy in a small house - you have to make sure everyone knows which rooms are out of bounds - works best when you can use the garden too.

thanks fvpp - anymore ideas? - there's really only one room that I'd not mind children running around in so it would be a bit of a short game if we can't use the garden

passing a balloon to each other by the knees?
orange from neck to neck?

split into teams
make sure everyone wins something

make or buy plain fairy cakes and let them decorate them with icing, sweets, etc - boys like that stuff too!

Let them loose with balloons, generally (good if the girls want to dance - the boys will just beat each other senseless play with the balloons)

LOL stealthsquiggle that's my fear really - maybe i should just not feed the family for a month and hire a hall for them to run about screaming in.
Thanks for the ideas both of you, I will have a go - perhaps keep it quite short and justfeed them a lot of e numbers before sending them home!!

LOL stealthsquiggle that's my fear really - maybe i should just not feed the family for a month and hire a hall for them to run about screaming in.
Thanks for the ideas both of you, I will have a go - perhaps keep it quite short and justfeed them a lot of e numbers before sending them home!!

Similar to the fairy cakes - what about those ginger bread men that the kids decorate themselves? My children spend hours on those (as do her friends who don't even eat gingerbread!).

Arts and crafts usually go down well so what about making fairy wands? They sell packs of them at party pieces. For the boys, they could decorate balloons with faces? Or getting little plastercast statues that they could paint?

Also, if you could ut up with the noise - at party pieces you could also buy bubble mats that the children jump on to burst the bubbles. My DD did that at a friend's party. She loved it!

Also, if you don't mind tiding up afterwards, I find that children are usually happy just playing... particularly at this age (and especially if you have got a garden they can use!).
HTH