Birthday party ideas for 9 yr old DD - I need some inspiration please

[Monstermuncher]

DD will soon turn 9 and wants a birthday party at home. Its a difficult age as she and her friends are getting a bit too old for pass the parcel etc but I am a bit clueless as to how we can entertain them. She had the option to do something outside of the home - cinema etc but she wants to be in the house which will save us ££ at least. What have you done for your DDs of similar age? We have a reasonable amount of space and a garden if the weather is kind.

Make their own pizza and a dvd with snacks?

Is she crafty? could you get some kid and make somethings?

Thenmaybe older type party games, wink murder, eating chocolate with knife and fork and things. They are very popular at Brownies which is that age range

dd1 is 8 next week
I've order a few bits from Baker Ross - ceramic pens and plain mugs etc

we'll also decorate cakes (went down a storm last year) and do an early easter egg hunt.

Thanks for the replies - these are great (I just had to google wink murder though as I haven't come across that before).

• cupcake decorating party? You bake most of the cakes beforehand, they just do the fun decorating bits! (Or they bake a token few cupcakes themselves if you want them to have the whole experience.) Or ditto with biscuits. (Have good fail safe recipes - pm me if interested). Doesn't work with more than 10 dc and even then need about 3 helpers.

• Just Dance party on the Wii thing (sort out dance numbers and partnerships beforehand and award prizes etc) - glitter ball - disco theme

• Treasure hunt in and around house and garden, or around local park or mixture of the two (takes a lot of prep to do it properly but always goes down well - there are lots of ideas on line if you need inspiration)

• Party with usual sort of games but adapting them for older girls ie pass the parcel has dares in between each layer, quizzes, puzzle solving, dexterity tests etc - dressing up can involve cardboard cut outs like these or alternatively make your own (not difficult to do) and photos to keep etc

• If you are brave, the cinema/makeover/sleepover/popcorn type pj party (again depends on numbers) there are some quite nice (tasteful) faux beauty products available for tweens (glittery nails, temporary butterfly tatoos etc see here for example - not blingy stuff

• silly science type party where dc make their own volcanoes/lava lamps and lots of similar experiments ... loads of ideas on-line here

HTH! Good luck!

[also goes off to Google winkmurder]

This booklet also good for science experiments here

I love the idea of a science party! Slingclutter you are a ruddy genius

My pleasure Monstermuncher

Hope you have a blast not literally !!!