NOW CLOSED: Tell Chad Valley your best children's party tips - you could win a £100 Argos voucher!

[NewGirlHelenMumsnet]

What has gone down spectacularly well at a children's party you've organised - and what flopped? What great things have you envied seen at parties you've been to with your child, or that other people have told you about?

So tips on games, party food, birthday cakes, best/worst themes, party bags, presents, places to go/avoid - we want your children's party know-how.

Add your tips to this thread and one winner will get an Argos voucher for £100.

We'll use a selection of your tips on an upcoming Chad Valley hub [technical speak] on Mumsnet.

Many thanks
MNHQ

[whomovedmychocolate]

Okay then, top tip number three expect wailing and gnashing of teeth (and that's just the adults) and you won't go far wrong.

[LizaTarbucksAuntie]

Best ever thing we did was a 'big draw' at the end whilst winding down for parents to arrive, chucked a roll of drawing paper and a whole load of felt tips etc on the floor, children dived onto it and we got some fab artwork.

Cue us looking a bit smug when all the parents turned up and the children were calm and orderly.

[jenniferturkington]

For really little ones do a 'teddy bears' picnic'. This can be done indoors, just put the plastic table cloth on the floor, parents sort out their own child's plate of food (so not a free for all!), children sit around the mat with their cuddly toy. This saves trying to work out where to seat a load of 2/3 year olds!

[asuwere]

So far, my kids have only ever had a small family thing at home for their birthdays. DS1 gets super excited about birthdays and he's loved this - he enjoys the preperation of making the cakes for it, also making 'tophats' (marshmallows dipped in chocolate with smartie on top) is great fun!

One tip which was my parent's rule and I'm copying it - as we have 3 children, instead of allowing a party each year, we're picking ages when they're allowed a party (eg. 5/6 - first year of primary, 10/11 - last year at primary etc) so long as you don't end up with all your kids getting parties the same year, it works well - spreads the cost and they still get fun as it should work that there should be a party most years, just maybe not theirs :)

[GoodnightNobody]

Food: keep it simple & do less than you think you need. Don't be adventurous. Keep the lingering parents happy by offering up healthy carrots/ cucumber/ grapes (cut up of course, choking won't help the party spirit) first.

Parents: Remember the parents throughout by plying them with decent wine beer coffee etc and bites to eat. They often get forgotten and you can use them to help you clean up at the end.

[paulaplumpbottom]

The kids never arrive at the same time at a party and if they scatter it can be a nightmare getting them organised again.
I always have a jar of jellybeans/skittles/m&ms that I gave counted ahead of time. I put paper and pen beside it and they guess how many are there as they come in. It requires little or no supervision and keeps them occupied the first few minutes. The winner gets the jar which they love.
I always invite older siblings. They are usually a much bigger help at my parties than the other parents. They love feeling a bit more responsible and the little ones respond to them better sometimes.
The best game we ever had was a cream pie throwing contest. My husband gamely sat in a chair outside while the kids threw whip cream filled tin pie plates at him. Messy but the kids are still talking about it three years on.
Everybody has a birthday party but why not talk your little one into skipping their birthday party and waiting till Halloween to have a party instead. The scope for creativity is huge and the Internet is full of amazing ideas!

[Shitemum]

Only have as many guests as the age of the birthday child. I.E. 3 at their 3rd birthday etc.

For older kids, around 7-9 I was pleasantly surprised at the big hit that 'Kim's game' was.
It's the one where you bring in a tray with lots of objects and everyone gets a couple of minutes to look and memorise then it's covered up and they have to write down all the items they can remember. Younger children can do it in teams with an older child or adult to write the items down.
There are lots of variations such as the kids taking it in turn to take the tray out and remove one object then come back in again and the first kid/team to remember what is missing gets a point.

[gorionine]

my tip: be prepared to the fact tat no matter how much time you have taken to organise the pefect [insert theme] party, there is a chance that they will prefer to throw water bomb at you rather than at the target you patiently designed and built.

Was a lot of fun though!

[MrsPlugThePlumber]

Don't be pressured into thinking that your child MUST have a sports centre/disco/bouncy castle/swimming pool/build a bear extravaganza.

Jelly and ice-cream, pin the tail on the donkey, musical bumps etc are equally as exciting for kids. Thrifty, good fun, and builds amazing memories too.

[NewbeeMummy]

DD is only 18 months so I'm very new to this but so far these are the tips I've picked up

Do NOT have pin on badges at a 1 year olds party - almost a trip to A&E when one tried to eat them.
An electric bubble blower is the best entertainment, the kids spend ages chasing them about.
Ideally hold your Birthday party at the local village fete, or failing that in the village hall.

[PuzzleRocks]

We hosted our first proper party today for DD1's 4th birthday. It was a pizza making party at Pizza Express. It sounds expensive but it was the venue, the food and the entertainment all in one price. To hire a hall, provide food, and sort out something to keep everyone would have ended up costing more.

The time slot 10am - 12pm meant that there were no tired or grumpy faces. And it meant that the afternoon was a relaxed family affair.
For the first hour and a half the restaurant was closed to the public so we had the run of the place.

13 children under 5 should have been a nightmare. On the contrary it was a delight because they had plenty to focus on. The pizza chef was ace; he really got the children engaged.

A huge bonus was there was no clearing up for me to do. Neither did I have to worry about sorting out food. The children made fairly large pizzas so all had leftovers and loved being able to take some of their creation home.


For music we made a playlist from my itunes account. I would rather grate my face than listen to two hours of barbie girl/macarena/the birdie song so we just chose some more upbeat songs from my existing music. The children were all jigging along so were happy enough and the adults present didn't get banging headaches.

I roped my sister and niece in to do face painting. This was very well received and a kit that makes up 50 faces cost less than £10.

[ChocolateCoveredlissielou]

do NOT put a sweet/chocolate in every layer of pass the parcel if you have over 10 children attending. it will take hours.....

[JustCallMeGrouchy]

my best tip is lET thm loose with ds3 giant building bricks best thing we brought .and funny enough even couple the dads joined in .(THINk giant lego bricks and mean giant)

[Lotstodo]

Rather than buy a large birthday cake and cut it, wrap it in serviettes while still trying to keep the party under control going, I bought large cup cakes and some chocolate icing pens and got each child to write their name on a cake and put it straight into their named party bag. For the birthday boy, after he had written his name on his cake, I put one age candle in it and then we sang happy birthday. It was a much better idea and the children loved the cup cakes that they had decorated.

[beautifulgirls]

Hire a hall, get an entertainer to keep them all amused for you and only worry about the food.

Buy ready cooked things like cocktail sausages, sausage rolls etc. Put out some healthy stuff so that the more fussy mums have a choice for their kids but realise that most of the kids are going to grab for crisps and biscuits/cakes. Strawberries and grapes usually a big hit too and healthy! Don't bother with sandwiches, they always get left over.

Buy the cheapest white plates and plastic cups you can find and use colored throw away table covers and coloured napkins to brighten the place up.

Don't forget the candles and matches, plus a knife to cut the cake.

Load up all the food onto platters or into bowls and pack up in boxes so all you have to do is set it out once there. Mix the platters so every child can reach a variety of different foods. Make sure there is enough choice if there are any vegetarians coming.

For parents forget making tea and coffee but put out a couple of cartons of fruit juice and some nice biscuits and tell them to help themselves.

Don't waste money on stuff you would throw out yourself for the party bags, put a couple of extra packs of sweets in instead. Pads/pens/pencils/erasers/bubbles/sweets are pretty much all that is needed, or consider a cheapish multipack of story books and give one book to each child instead of a party bag.

Don't forget the camera/videocam.

Take a pen and paper so you can note down contact numbers for parents who don't stay.

[AnnMumsnet]

Many thanks for everyone who has added a tip, story etc to this thread - for the edited highlights please click here - where there is an additional chance to win toys from Chad Valley .

The winner from this thread is BorntoYolk - she wins £100 of Argos vouchers. Congrats.