3 year old birthday party, does this sound like a good plan?

[DebiTheScot]

I haven't hosted or been to many toddler birthday parties so thought I'd just run my thoughts past you lot to see if this sounds like a good plan.

DS1 will be 3 and he's having a party in our house with about 10 children aged between 2 and 5. Our house isn't very big so I'm hoping to be out in the garden.
I was thinking to let them all just play in the garden on the swing, slide, sandpit etc for a bit and then get them to plant sunflower seeds in little pots and decorate a bit of paper to wrap round the pot so they know which is theirs. Then more playing and food.

Should I do things like pass the parcel and other party games or is just letting them play fine?

Also the party bags are just going to be a plastic cup with some sweets, a small pack of crayons and a balloon inside the cup. Costing me just over £1 each. Am I being tight or is that ok? They'll have their sunflower pots to take home too.

No idea what I'll do if it rains so fingers crossed it won't.

it sounds lovely! I dont think the party cups sound cheap at all. You should really have a plan in case it rains though. And I always plan games with young childrens parties. I just think it helps give some sense of order in the chaos, mixed with just freeplay.

yes I am a bit concerned about the weather man telling us it's going to be sunny for the next few days. Means it's bound to break at the weekend and be wet on Sunday.

maybe I should get some party game prizes then too.

Sounds fine to me. I'e doing something very similar next week for ds1's 3rd birthday (but only 5 children).

We're going to do pass the parcel because 2 of the little ones coming really like it (don't think I'd attempt it with 10 children though), and maybe something like an indoor chocolate hunt.

Party bags will be cake, choc buttons, crayons, small book, balloon.

Sounds fine to me too. We had about 10 for ds1's 3rd b'day and they just played (it was November, so not outdoors). I had pass the parcel ready but we never got round to doing it. We sat them all down round a big low coffee table for the tea and that was about it. And the party bags sound fine too.

We just had a shared party for DSs 3rd. Pass the parcel goes down well ( particularly if little packets of chocolate buttons in each layer, a bit of an improvement from my childhood). Prepare less food than you would expect them to eat.

We didn't bother with party bags, just had a little toy car for each child.

sounds lovely - party cups good idea. from a parents point of view so much better than having to dispose of party plastic tat discreetly! (you know what i mean -
i personally found that not having games worked well for us, but did bring my kids toys out onto lawn - like lego, bricks, farm etc and leaving on rugs in different places so that the kids could choose something quietly if they wanted - it kept them quite busy. The important thing to focus on is that parties are usually fairly short. by the time you've done a bit of playing, pass the parcel, eaten some tea and a bit more playing it should hopefully all be over! always remember to put an end time on invites!!