oh god tell me what to do for DD's 8th birthday party at home that doesn't cost a fortune and lead to a nervous breakdown

[HerBeatitude]

She will be 8, she wants it at home, she will be inviting a whole load of other gruesome girly 8 year olds, they like High School Musical, Hannah Montana and JLS, she's talking about make your own pizza but my oven's not big enough, she's talking about dancing and putting on make up and nail varnish and I'm already wanting to flee the country.

Tell me what to do? How should I do this? I've got to the invitation stage and I'm stuck. I don't even know what to put on the invitation.

How about build your own wraps for something to eat? You can make a couple of fillings (chicken or beef) then provide a variety of bits like lettuce, cheese etc for them to make their own fajita type wrap?

Could do a chocolate fondue with fruit to dip in for pud?

Get a copy of the hannah montana film - pop corn etc while they watch it.

Then if still time after that do their nails and let them have a bop about!?

I'd limit number of girls to max of 8 - think I would have nervous breakdown if more than that in the house?

Come as their favourite character from HSM,HM etc. Could you have a "beauty bar" where you do nails and other glittery stuff??
Rope in in a couple of other mums to help.
We made bead necklaces/bracelets at my dd's last b'day.
Let them take control of the stereo,brace yourself and stock up on nurofen!
Good Luck.

Second limiting numbers or you will be driven insane. And by beauty bar I mean you at the kitchen table with a few pots of varnish.

For ds1's 8th birthday he had 5 friends round (max!) and they played football outside then watched a film - I got take out MacDonald's - so spent about £15 in total.

I like the beading idea for the girls - you can get packets of beads and beading thread pretty cheaply and put them out on the table and let them design their own necklaces/bracelets. Then a film and something to eat. And a 'disco' - basically draw the curtains and put the music on loud! We turned this into musical bumps with the boys which they loved - small packets of sweets for prizes!

Good luck - at that age they're OK playing by themselves mostly with just a couple of activities in between.

We had an "arty party" for my dd's last birthday- a pot of clay, some paints, decorate your own T-shirt (I bought £1 T-shirts from asda and a packet of fabric pens!) and various other ideas (there are load of art sites on the net) They had a ball! Yeah, it was a bit messy, but I made sure all the parents had a lovely batch of their child's artwork to take home . And I have to admit, I quite enjoyed all that smushing about with clay myself!

My only problem was it was supposed to be 2 hrs, but it wasn't nearly enough time to do all the things and eat and play a few games- ended up not getting round to half the things I had planned!

Ooh I like the idea of a beauty bar while they bop about.

And fajitas... yes, good one.

Am already feeling more cheerful

Her Beatitude - loved your post - so funny and can totally relate! Did you get your invites out and is all planned?

I am faced with the same for 10 year old in June and 8 year old in September - and it'll be at home - so am watching this thread.

Bead making sounds less messy (keep me away from paint!) and something edible also good - like idea of fondue. I should post the fondue recipe I made (which is on FB) to the cookery section as inspiration. (Actually I should be working - but this will only take 5 mins...).

Children of 8 still like games don't they? Disco with musical statues and bumps? Pass the parcel in a circle? Obviously to the music of JLS and Alexandra Burke etc...

Good luck.

I did an 8th birthday party for my son at home - few years ago now! Pass the parcel with forfeits in between the layers, chocolate game (you throw a six and then get to put on hat, scark, gloves etc then try to eat a big bar of choc with a knife and fork, meanwhile the dice is going aorund the circle and as soon as someone else gets a six they have a go.) Great fun! They will still do bumps and statues - and maybe a bit of kareoke.

My dds (9, 8, 5) like craft, we are about to do a craft party for the 6th birthday coming up.
Painting porcelain bowls or mugs (paints and porcelain from yellow moon website)
Clay modelling, probably candlesticks with night lights in them.
Sewing little animal or bug purses (kits from yellow moon (all my tomboy girls are surprisingly keen on sewing)
Icing biscuits (even teenagers like this)
You can do little pizzas, make or buy individual bases, they only take 10 mins in the oven, this would work even with a small oven. Each base can be about 15cm across.

There is a pub near us that lets us use the function room from 1-4 for free, we don't have to use their catering and they don't mind if the kids make a mess. Gives them space to run around and play etc then we can walk away at the end and leave the mess for someone else!

we are having my DD 5th b/day party here on sat - roughly between 15-20 kids coming, and my DD is hannah montana & HSM crazy, so we've got Hannah Montana Spotlight tour for the Wii Also got Just Dance for the wii, also brought Inflatable Guitars & Mics to play with, we've also done pass the parcel adn will do musical statues, os they can all have a good time, amongst just playing.

Food wise we're going to do Hotdogs, Chicken Nuggets & Pizza.

I have never heard of yellow moon before today ( so thanks Fennel )

I have just ordered loads of arty things ( they are really reasonable priced) for dd's 10th birthday as all her friends love art

and the food ideas MM sounds ideal, just got invites to sort out now

My DD has had 'at home parties' last year and this year - her 11th - and they were all still perfectly happy playing musical bumps/statues, pass the parcel with forfeits and silly games with balloons. And pin the tail on the dachshund (not the real one, I hasten to add). Music was ABBA gold which they all seemed to love (DD is soh not into HSM/Hannah Montana)

Food was mainly pizza/garlic bread - certainly not 'make your own', my kitchen isn't big enough for that many bodies. I thought all the healthy carrot sticks/cherry toms etc I'd put out were going to be left but they scoffed those after the pizza while nattering and waiting for their ice-cream (with sauces and sweeties).

I would do an "order in" pizza, so get them to choose and then do a delivery via dominos or similar, they LUUURRRV this

When you get knackered, you could paint their toenails and tell them they can't stand on them for ten minutes

Yellow moon is my favourite site for craft equipment for children, I have used it for quite a few parties (I don't take commission, honest )

i tried a children's theatre party play for dd's 9th with all her mates.
Great fun sending out invites and the build up to the day - they performed Princess and the Pea Soup in front of us all at the end, which was a blast!
And got the kit online for less than a tenner!