Come and help me plan a fab party at home for DS2............

[guyFAwkesreQuiem]

it's his birthday on the 27th of this month, having a party at home for him on the 29th. This is the day before DS3's Christening, so there is a risk that poor DS2's birthday (and his party) will be totally overshadowed by the Christening..

So I want to make it as fun (and as cheap ) as possible.

The last party I did at home was 3yrs ago for DS1's 5th birthday and it was bloody awful (did a thread about it - 3 mothers that stayed did bugger all to help me and I gave up on the few games I'd got planned as I simply couldn't do it on my own).

This time I'm going to have at least one person there helping me (guaranteed). Quite possibly 2.

I don't have a huge space, and chances are it will be cold and wet so letting them all run riot in the garden (which I resorted to with DS1's party) is pretty much out of the question.

DS2 has already started giving me a list of food he wants, so now it's just a case of planning games/making it fun for them.....

Will probably (hopefully) have approx 6 four/five year olds, one 8yr old and 2 toddlers.

Come on please and help me make his party really special....(and memorable so it doesn't get forgotten with Christening excitement)

FAQ with those numbers (ie not many) you can have a theme and really go to town on it.

Eg pirates/under the sea/jungle/outer space

decorate room and table apporpriately (think yards of crepe paper and some cut out fish/planets/skulls and cross bones)

Most games can be adapted to a theme - flap a fish? flap a star; musical islands (good for pirates or sea) or musical planets; you get the idea.

With 8-9 kids you can even do things like Simon says and the bean game (runner bean/baked bean/strign bean - the kids will know).

Any good?

ooo I hadn't thought of doing a theme - I'm not very creative/artistic so those sort of things don't cross my mind (actually I usually panic if one of the DS's gets a party invite to a "themed" party which involved dressing up......)

Don't think I'll do pirates - we went to a pirate themed thing at the end of the summer holidays, and it seems quite popular.

ooo Under the sea/jungle/outer space - gosh DS2 would love all of those......which do you reckon would be the easiest to do?

I'm hopeless with party games - all I remember from my childhood (when every party was at home) is musical statues, pass the parcel, musical bumps (I think it is - the one where you have to sit down on the floor as quickly as possible when the music stops - last one to go down is out), musicial chairs (not really going to workk in my house lol) and ermm that's it

Buy a bubble machine and lots of cheap biscuits and icing pens.

Oh yes and when it gets overwhelming play dead fishes. Everyone has to lie on the floor and stay as still as possible, anyone that moves is out.

Under the sea is easiest as v easy to source party bag stuff (notebooks with sea creatures on/squishy sea creatures/dolphin eraser/fortune telling fish etc)

Also easy to dress room - unroll packs of green and blue crepe paper and cut into strips for swishy seaweed; stick cut out fish and other creatures on it.

Games: flap a fish with two teams and tissue paper fish and rolled up paper, round a beanbag and back

Musical islands - like chairs but using islands cut from scrap paper

Craft - make a jellyfish from half a paper plate and some tentacles of tissue paper and glitter

I went on my holiday and I took...(each person adds something) - never played this at a party but my kids love it and it might be good with this number

treasure hunt for tiny fish - or better, make and paint lots of different fish and cut in half, people have to find a matching half

Grandmas's footsteps always seems inordinately popular - could you have mermaid's footsteps (bit girly? how about Neptuen's footsteps)

lol @ party bags horror

They are a bit of a meisterwerk round here but that's only because I am an anal madwoman

Your way sounds much better