NOW CLOSED Share your top party tips for children aged 3-6 with My Little Pony, and you could win a £100 Argos voucher.

[KatieBMumsnet]

We've been asked by the team at My Little Pony (www.mumsnet.com/microsites/my-little-pony) to find your top tips for kids' parties - specifically for children aged 3-6.

This could be anything - from using a theme, to party foods, venues, drinks, present etiquette, and cake or the all important (or not-at-all-important) party bags. So, do share your top tips and funny stories on this thread, and everyone who does so will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 Argos voucher.

Please note your tips and stories may appear in an email MNHQ will be sending out in April.

If you have a large garden,
hire a bouncy castle, have a piñata ready, stuffed and hanging. Also have a parcel- parcel and blow up football goal posts for games. Have your dh start a BBQ. And the kids play and entertain themselves. Stress-free and relaxing.
Also I label party bags for if you need to put different things in for children of different ages or girls/boys etc.
And at this age 3-6 it's much easier to just invite children of the family if you have them.

Go somewhere where it is all laid on for you, bar the cake. Take your own cake for candle blowing out, but get one of those rectangular tray bake cakes too and cut it up at home, wrap each piece in a napkin and put in a sandwich bag all ready for the party bags.

Party bag ideas - book sets - work out quite cheap. Packets of seeds, eg cress, sunflowers, mixed wild flowers. Bath pearls or sets of bath confetti especially when they are on 3/2 etc

Leave a crucial detail missing from the invitations, like the exact start time (put am/pm/lunchtime) so that parents need to RSVP to get details and you don't end up with no replies to invites and no idea who is coming until they turn up

We've used soft play centres fr our sons party but by far the most successful was last year.

We hired a bouncy castle, bought a load of pizzas, crisps and cartons of squash and let them run wild outside!

The special treat for the day was an ice cream van! £2.50 per child included an ice cream and bag of sweets!

My top tip is don't forget the adults. I have been to loads of parties where parents are expected to stay but not offered even a glass of water, while the kids feast like kings. We just get to stand there gazing at the giant buffet which the little sods never touch anyway and dribbling. Just plain rude, especially when you've travelled a long way.

Just had the best party for my 4 year old:

1. shared it with another 4 year old, half as much to do and halved the cost!
2. hired entertainers from our local bookshop who played games, read stories and did some craft stuff with them AND did the party bags for us - limited the numbers to 15 which was perfect
3. sat in the kitchen and quaffed wine tea and had a good gossip
4. bunged some easy food on the table using a party pack from a well known online service with royal connections

They all loved it and it lasted just 2 hours - perfect :)

Have a plan. Know what you are doing when. Keep it simple but fun.
Children that age are not bothered whether the cake cost more than anyone else's or that the gifts inthe goodie bag are from harrods
They want games, food, cake, balloons and a goodie bag.

If birthday anywhere Easter than Easter eggs are a great 'party bag'-just let them pick from an assortment as they leave-no need for cake/small toys and you can usually get special offers that work out at less than £1
Otherwise other 1 item 'party bags':
sports/general party= £1 ball/ skipping rope-pound shop good for these and a dip into a multi pack of sweets if you think they'll be upset without a sweet;
general party=multi pack books-sticker books go down best;
theme parties=1 larger item such as pirate hat or sword(only when leaving!)/animal toy/water pistol/princess tiara making kit/craft kit/dinosaur

All of the above are cheaper than lots of small items.

Always have way more stuff organised than you will have time to do.

Try to do as much dancing as you possibly can to burn off some of the mania.

Be fairly free with the rules (it is no fun being "out") so either provide something for those who are "out" to do or just let them join back in again.

Themes make it more fun to prepare (or maybe that is just me)

Books bought in large multi packs (eg The Book People) and then divided up make great party bag alternatives.

DD2 had a birthday party last Friday, my top tip is to not to stress over it all, half the time the children are just pleased to be all together and playing, we played traditional party games like pass the parcel, musical statues and dancing games and all of the children joined in. Our party was on a budget if under £50 with all food and we had plenty of change, our guests ranged from 2-7 and they didn't care less about what paper cups or plates they were using, they just wanted party food with

Pressed post too soon

They enjoyed the jelly and icecream, sandwiches and cake. I made small party bags up with a few sweets from our local chocolate factory, a piece of cake, some felt tips for the boys, bracelets for the girls and a few little toys like yo yo's, etc.

I think there is a lot of pressure to do huge lavish themed parties and it gets so stressful it stops being fun.

Yes, setting a budget and sticking to it is a must.

I don't do party bags. Instead I get cheap books (book people are great for this) and everyone gets to choose a book when they leave. Parents seem to like it!

Traditional party games work well - Hunt The Thimble has been a huge hit at our parties but you do have to show the children the thimble in advance as they won't know what it is....

Always have an extra game or activity up your sleeve to fill a gap or in case something goes pear-shaped.

Similarly, if you are giving out prizes always have some spares to avoid meltdown.

We do a lucky dip instead of a gift bag.

We've also tried to theme parties to the season- ds4 is 4 on Saturday and is having a party at a local farm park as they have baby animals ATM.

Craft tables are handy for quieter kids; baker ross do mask and party hats already cut out that can be decorated and worn. Prittstick, feathers, sequins... and a good vacuum cleaner afterwards!

Oh even if you are awaiting your new mobile number, DO NOT give your DH's for RSVP unless 'yeah someone is coming but I forgot who, quite a lot of peopple really but didn't write any down' is enough for your planning

Oh and work with what the kids have- as it's Easter and I know the Nursery is doing Easter Bonnets, we are gicing a small egg to any child that comes in their Easter bonnet.

Bright and fun but no extra work.

Go to gambado's (or other soft indoor play centre!)

If you really can't face that, end the party with a game of sleeping lions (or dead seals as it was called in my day!), children have to lie down and be perfectly still and silent. Last one down wins. Though I was also surprised that mum never heard me or saw me move

Accept all and any help that you are offered

Make sure that the party bags are age appropriate, common sense I know, but DS (then age 2) was once given a party popper!

Expect to have to chase invites.

If playing pass the parcel, remember to put a little prize in every layer to avoid meltdowns.

Remember to take lots of photo's, it's a lovely idea to use these for thank you cards.

Most importantly, stock up on to enjoy after the party

Start with a craft/ food activity decorating party bags/ cupcakes/biscuits are good as they can take them home.

Have a lucky dip for winners of party games, losers get a sweet or a sticker.

Put out about half as much food as you think you'll need as they won't eat much.

Make food time in the middle of the party.

Cut up a cake and put in party bags before the party use the one for candles for family and friends.

if your child is of school age then either have best friends only and arrange it outside of school or invite the whole class.

A group of 20 or so which is most of the class but not all will lead to some kids feeling sad/angry and may have unexpected repercussions for your child.

For our parties so far we've just invited a reasonably small number of children over to our house, and mostly just let them do what they want with the toys etc, maybe with one or two party games in between, till it's time for food. This seems to work well for 3-4 year olds and is very lazy easy!

We also did a homemade pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey (drawn on a big bit of lining paper, pipecleaner tail) which they enjoyed a lot.

Think it's been said but I do like to make up plates/boxes of food for each person - everyone then gets the same and it's much easier to organise in advance. I've done this for family parties (with adults too) and for kids only and works for both!

Also, don't bother trying to cut up cake on the day - use fairy cakes to put in party bags - that way it can be done in advance.

Never bother spending too much on party bags - my kids have always just loved a balloon, cake and some other piece of plastic tat (no nice way to put it!)

I'm sure I got this tip from MN (where else?!) but for little children, put a sweet in each balloon before blowing up so that when a balloon bursts, the child can be consoled with the sweet! Brill! :)

Stick to a budget and also don't go too big as your child may expect the same every year! My kids usually have just small, family 'parties' but they have been told that they can have a bigger party at certain ages - makes it special and keeps their expectations low! ;)

Have a theme. It makes choosing the plates/napkins/decorations/food/party bags etc much easier and brings everything together making the party seem more organised than it might actually be

Remember party bags don't have to be full of sweets - or indeed bags - the kids are sometimes more impressed if you save your cash and spend it on one, higher quality item. For example, at the last party Ds went to, they dispensed with the plastic tat and gave every boy a mini football. He was thrilled.

Remember it's supposed to be fun, it's only once a year and they are only little for a very short time. It won't be long until they're spotty and respond only in grunts and the last thing they will want is to run round pretending to be superheroes, make the most of it :)

Oh and remember a cake is just a cake. Sometimes it's better to buy one from the Supermarket than tie yourself in knots making a perfect castle/spiderman/fairy. Stress makes no-one fun.