Looking for opinions on what most people do for 6yo birthdays.

[flier]

DS will be 6 this summer. He hasn't got any one best friend as such but is friendly with most of his classmates, so wants an entire class party which is what he had last year.

I think it is time to scale back the party but don't know what best to do. Was thinking that if we had say just 6 boys invited to our house for a dvd and food, but wondered what the "done" thing was at this age, generally.

We had 7 of DS friends to the house for his party and a few Ben 10 themed games that went down a treat. But really the kids were just happy hanging out together and playing with the birthday presents and generally being hyper. But definitely couldnt have coped with more than 7 at the one time

When dd1 was 6 we had a Harry Potter party in the house (Feb)for about ten children.

When dd2 was 6 we had a Wizard of Oz party in the garden (April), again for about 10.

The idea I have in mind at the moment is to have around 7 boys round. Ben 10 sort of theme as alot of them seem to be into that, then a treasure hunt in the park near us then back to the house for a Ben 10 dvd and some food.

Do you think a dvd would be ok at a birthday party?

I'd be shocked if they sat down to watch it, flier. Maybe on for 2 minutes while waiting for food. Party games and free play to fill the time, otherwise.

For 6th birthday:
DS: had a party at soft play centre of about 12 guests, plus some relatives.
DD: had a day out at an animal centre (just family)

thanks lljkk

ds had a big party with a magician and 27 guests, but that was to make up for missing out on 5th birthday, due to arrival of his sister.

dd's 6th was a dressing up party with bouncy castle in the garden.

i favour dressing up parties and lots of physical activity

thanks slarty.

Am beginning to think we should just do what we did last year - hire a local hall and have whole class party with an activity and lots of party games.

ds1 had a class party at a soft play centre for his 6th. It was his first proper party and as we were new to the school he hadn't had chance to make best friends, we went for easiest option and they all had a great time.

Not sure how successful a dvd would be, some children just aren't interested in watching them even though they're really into the characters, saying that, my ds1 would love it.

thanks niche

DS2 was 6 this year and had a sports party at a local leisure centre with about 15 kids, mostly boys.

He has this year been to: soft play parties, football parties, swimming parties; usually for about 15 or so kids. No whole class ones, that seemed to be last year.

Also no girls' parties which seems a bit . He invited 4 girls, 3 came but only 1 really joined in . DD went to lots of boys' parties at this age.

My other 2 at 6: DS1 had his last joint do with DD so very big in a hall; DD also had big themed party in the hall for 20+ kids.

First year in P1 (reception did whole class parties).

Sorry bracket wandered off.

First year in P1 (reception) did whole class parties.

thanks clary and bumsrush

Ds will be 6 in a few weeks - most of the parties he'ds been to this year have involved all the boys in his class. We're heading up the park with 20 water pistols for his

For ds' 6th birthday he had a few friends to the house. They made their own pizzas and, while the pizzas were cooking, they painted plates. I had worked out the timings so that there wasn't too much opportunity to get really wild in my very small house but got a bit confused part-way through and ended up with 30 minutes of wild boys making lots of noise and mess before they got collected!!!

I asked ds to choose who he wanted but gave him a limit otherwise he'd have wanted about 50 people here!!

dd had a bouncy castle in the garden for a Princess and Knight theme. Pinata in shape of a dragon and some castle themed games.

thanks again everyone.

I like the pizza idea, as that is something we do quite alot at home and DS loves making his own. I'm not so sure that he and his friends would sit quietly and paint plates though . I'll have a think on that one.

I'm often suprised by the things that small children enjoy!! It wasn't a very long activity, probably lasted about 15 minutes. One boy decided to paint a power ranger and that was it, they all painted power rangers!!! Plate kits cost under £2 each and they took them home as their party-bag filler.