5 year old boys party - without running around !

[sooey76]

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My son will be 5 in 5 weeks and has just started asking for a party. I was going to give it a miss this year as he broke his leg 11 weeks ago, and although he is out of plaster he cannot run or jump, however he has been through a lot (2 ops on it) so it would be nice for him. play areas are out of the question, too young for cinema, thought about more traditional party, but kids would all end up running around-so no good, even tried mcdonalds, but don't do parties at ours. Anyone have any ideas?

We've been to some parties recently in church halls where they have had magicians - they have worked really well for the age group. My nephew had one and they just had the party at home which also worked great. Another suggestion would be to make the party a bit shorter - most seem to be 2 hours but by making it 1 1/2 hours you kind of remove that nutty half hour at the end when they all go bonkers. If you've got food on the go that takes up half an hour and before you know it, the whole business is over.

Face-painting party at home? They'll all have to stay still for at least a few minutes! You can hire a professional face painter to do really great faces, or get a set of face-paints yourself & a library book on techniques & let your inner artist go wild
Or do 5 year olds find face painting too babyish? ( I don't know as my DS is only 3)

Or combine face-painting with other craft-type activities like play-doh and painting? By the time they've done all that & had the food it'll be time to go home.

Oh, I forgot, include Pass-the Parcel, that's a sitting down game.

Not much running around at my guys 5th (or 6th) party.

We tend to have parties at home, 1.5 hours. Arrive and have a few craft activities set up (ice biscuits, tattoos, colouring sheets and maybe plant a seed and decorate the pot, pin the eye patch on the pirate/horn on the dinosaur/omnitrix on Ben 10 type game), then altogether games (now we usually do musical bumps/statues which might not work, but I have one they LOVE called "don't eat tommy smartie" and there's pass the parcel, simon says etc). Then food, sometimes a wee hunt round the house (have a great one with matching cards) and then free play if there's time.

ok i am intrigued....how do you play "dont eat tommy smartie"?!

Pizza Hut?

DVD party - popcorn and other movies food (nachos, hot dogs, pop) and selection of DVDs - DS's pick?

why too young for the cinema? my ds has been going since he was 3 and would love a cinema party - you can have it on Saturday morning and go to the cheap kids club screening...then pizzahut/express afterwards...

there os a scalextric place near us that does parties

no running involved at all

My DS aged four loves cinema too, is it your DS that you don't think will enjoy it?

Could he manage bowling? Big hit with 5yos here.

Don't eat Tommy Smartie:

Get kids to sit in a circle. Take one kid out of the room. While she/he is out you pour a few smarties out onto a plate and get a child to choose one to be "Tommy Smartie". Bring child back into the room. Let him start eating smarties until he lifts "Tommy Smartie" when all the kids have to shout out loudly "DON'T EAT TOMMY SMARTIE!!!".

That's it. They love it. They all want to have a turn. They don't even get to eat many smarties if you just put a few on the plate each time. And because they all want a turn it takes AGES. Seriously, everyone should try it. I'm so thankful to my lovely friend for reminding me of this game. (at our Ben 10 party I believe the smartie was named Ben!). It was a 6 year old boy party (though friend did it at a 5 year old boy party).

Enjoy!

why no running aorund?

The OP said he broke his leg & can't run or jump.