i'm having a sorta party for my daughter's 4th birthday, and while it's a loosely organized affair, i have no idea how to distract children. any ideas on how to keep them happy for a couple hours? besides the cake and ice cream, that is...they're going to be varying in ages and sex. so i have to get some pary favors for both. eek! my experience with throwing a party is pretty much getting a keg and putting out some chips and dip.
oh damn, i was just going to suggest the whole keg and chip thing. What about simple games like tag, hide and seek, and musical chairs?
too much interaction. though i'll probably let them play tag and such. maybe i'll do a little treasure hunt in the back yard. put some cool stuff out there and let them run for it. HA! i suck at this. i saw a kid's party mural painting kit at target that i'm eyeballing for the back yard.
put a hulla hoop in the middle of the yard and tell them they are allowed to run around it for as long as they want. i'm sure they will be excited. then tell them if they do it for 2 hours they can get some ice cream. i promise they will all be ready for a nap, and they will be happy when they go down. you could get a pinata (sp?) for the older kids too. if they are under 8 i promise they will be occupied for at least the time until the candy is gone. just make sure it is high enough that it takes at least 45 minutes to break. then all you have to do is sit in a lawn chair and watch them be entertained for a long time while you're sipping on a nice 40 of Killian's. just because the Irish rule.
I bet the kids will entertain themselves with very little help from grown ups.Thats been my experiance.They just dig each others company.
AHAHAH! good ideas, inferno. they'll probably work, too. hula hoops are at big lots, i'm going to get some, run the little ones through their paces like dogs at the circus. kai will have a BLAST.
Kids love face painting.......Pinatas are loads of fun too, you can get the kind that have a bunch of strings to pull for younger kids, only one string opens the trap door. (I always get the old-fashoined kind you have to hit with a stick, we're hard-core in Miami!)Musical chairs! Is it warm enough for a park where you live? I've been keeping parties at the park or beach lately, the house doesn't get trashed and the kids have a blast. Don't let the party run on for more than 2-3 hours, little kids get overwhelmed and cranky if it's longer. Save the cake and ice cream for last, right before they go home, and let their mommies deal with hte resulting sugar rush! Hang a big white sheet on the wall, give them markers or paints and let them write a birthday message or art for the birthday girl. But honestly, if you give them balloons and some noisemakers, they'll entertain themselves for hours!
I totally second brighids park suggestion. I have found it be a brillant way to get a bunch of kids together (and even adults) and to be able to relax to some degree and for everyone to run off their excess energy (probably the kids there I am referring to!) We take a bbq and cake and lolly bags for last for the reasons brighid says!! Totally nice to catch up with everyone and the kids think it is so very much fun.
I'll go along with the park idea also. We're lucky that Dakota was born July 1. We've had every one of his birthdays at the same park we got married in. This year we'll have to start planning activities though. He'll be four. They're not as happy to just play in the park as the littler ones are. Also, up until this time we've only invited family. We might invite a few friends this year. I know I want a pinata. But I'm not sure what else we'll do. I got a few months to worry about it. Let us know how your party goes. Maybe you'll come up with some ideas for me. Kathi
well, the problem is that we're having the party in the early evening, and the nights are still really cold here. i'm going to go with the mural mess idea, do it in the back yard...it's a combo birthday/housewarming party. so it's really a kid friendly grown up get together.
We're planning a messy art party for DD who turns five next month. A big industrial roll of paper (cheap stuff, like newsprint), some big bottles of cheap washable paints, some spray bottles, some squirt/sport bottles, sponges, paintbrushes, and let them go at it in the backyard. Maybe get some big cardboard boxes, too. gonna tell the grownups to bring a change of clothes for everyone, just in case. If it's rainy (which it is almost always nice in mid-April for DD's birthday) we can do it in our den, won't hurt the 50 year old linoleum floor any. Oh, we also decided to get a helium tank and a bunch of balloons. Helium-filled balloons are more fun than any $20 toy! We're going to blow up a whole bunch of them, and tie curly ribbons to them and just decorate our ceiling that way, leaving some of the ribbons long enough for kids to grab and play with them. mostly, the kids always play while the adults talk. Any sort of planned activity usually gets ignored in favor of doing other things, at least that has always been my experience. Stickers are always a big hit. One year we gave every guest a big inflatable beach ball, and that was lots of fun for everyone.
