GREAT IDEAS FOR CHILDREN'S PARTIES

Here are some tips to help:

Have a quiet game set up so that as soon as a child/ children arrive they can join the game immediately.
This ensures that children are used to receiving instructions and involves all children in an organised activity lessening the chance of chaos. It also sets the tone for the rest of the party- a children's entertainer will thank you for this, too!

Have name labels for the children to wear and make sure adults have them on too.
This is a great way for children to learn each others names and for responsible adults to get the attention of a specific child. Many games can revolve around the children learning names, too.

If a child misbehaves deal with them very swiftly and very fairly.
Fairly obvious but frequently forgotten! Swift action stops one child's bad behavior snowballing into total chaos. Ensure it's the behavior of the child rather than the child that you don't approve of. Psychologists have also found that reward often works better than punishment, so reward good behavior with compliments. A more advanced system can be to reward well behaved children with points, the child with the most points gets some kind of reward at the end- it doesn't have to be a present such as sweets but can be something like helping you run a game, in other words, getting to feel important and responsible.

Apply these basic steps and you're likely to have a great children's party!

Have a good plan!

As far as possible, plan the children's party like a military operation! So you know what activities children are doing and when they are doing them, as well as who is helping run them. Plan for emergencies too!

Have a quiet time before the tea party.
This will help to calm the children down and lessen the chance of a food fight!
You can ask the children to sit down before the tea party and then you can send children off to their seats one by one. Make it obvious you are selecting the best behaved children to go first and the rest will hang on your every word!

Games for children's parties

Pass the parcel

This classic party game can keep children very entertained despite it's simplicity. There are a few simple ideas that make this game both more fun and last much longer.

(For those not familiar with this game: the children are sat in a circle and a gift, wrapped in many layers is passed by the children when the music plays. When music stops, the child holding the parcel removes one layer. This is repeated until one lucky child removes the last layer and gets the gift).

The basic game is fine- but add these elements and you have something much more fun:

-Add small gifts or sweets between some layers.
-When the music gets louder the parcel must be passed faster.
-When the music gets quieter the parcel must be passed slowly.
-When you say, the parcel must be passed the other direction.
-Have several parcels going at once!
-The child who gets to remove a layer of paper also has to do a forfeit.

With these elements you have taken a simple party game and created much more excitement and drama- try these ideas at your next children's party!

Relay races

If you have the space or the party is outside you have many more options. The relay race format where the children are split into two or more teams with an equal amount of children in each. The child at the front of each team has to run up to a point and back (for example) then joins the back of the line and the next child in line does the same. This continues until one team completes first.

Don't be put off by the competitive aspect or the simplicity of this format, for it may be used in many creative ways such as:

Under and over: The first child passes a balloon over their head to the person behind them, this child then passes the balloon underneath their legs.

Forfeit quiz: You ask a question giving three possible answers, A, B, or C only one is correct. The first child in each team must run to the marker A or B or C which they think is the correct answer.

If the child representing a team gets the correct answer, the team gets a point. If not, the child must perform some forfeit to get the point for their team.

This game can be adapted to less physically able children by reducing the amount of movement in the relay. This format can create a frenzy of shouting and excitement with the children- so have a quiet game to calm the children afterwards!

Balloon games


Games using balloons have a number of advantages- balloons are cheap, unlikely to hurt if they hit someone's head and unlikely to break a window!

Up up and away
The object here is for each child to keep their balloon in the air by bouncing on their head, no legs or hands are permitted. If you have a large group or a small room, run this as a relay race so only a few children are competing at any one time.

Sit
The object of this game is to burst a balloon by sitting on it. No arms or legs are permitted. This also makes a good forfeit. it's surprisingly difficult for a small child to burst a balloon in this way. A heavy child may do this faster!

Jumping Jacks

Line up the children as for a race, if there are lots of children, then run this as a relay race so only a few children at a time are jumping.
Each child starts with a balloon between their knees. The object is to jump from the starting point to the finish line as fast a possible without dropping the balloon. The balloon must remain between the legs without using hands. If a child drops their balloon, they must replace it before they start again.

Breezy balloons
This is best run as a relay race, unless you have only 5 or 6 children. Have one balloon for each time and one fan for each team.
The object is to use a cardboard fan to waft along the balloon to the finishing point. The balloon mustn't be touched at all. When the balloon reaches the finishing point it may be carried back to the next player in the relay team.

Stuff the sack
This games needs quite alot of balloons and each team needs an equal number of balloons of one colour. You also need a sack or box for each team (of equal size). the object is for each team to find all the balloons of the colour for their team and fill the sack (or box) with them.
There are two ways to run this, either you allow only a limited time and the team with the most correctly coloured balloons in their sack wins. You could also stop the game when the first team has collected and stored all their balloons.

The coloured balloons could be placed in boxes to start with for a more orderly game. If you want more chaos, then have all the balloons mixed up to start with!

If your birthday child has a particular interest or favourate film or hobby, it may be a good idea to use this as a basis for a themed party.

Party themes can be used to a smaller or larger
degree. The theme may just be reflected in colours used in the decorating or use of posters etc. The theme may could be used in everything from dress code to the food and entertainment- time, cost and dedication are your main limits!

Below I have listed some ideas for themes, this list is by no means exhaustive but will give you some ideas.

Art and Craft

A craft party has the advantage that the children go away with something they have made and it can engage children quite well without lots of expense. Consideration needs to go towards using non toxic and easily cleanable materials!

Some ideas: design a T shirt (using fabric paints/ pens etc), card making, mask making, potato printing, junk modeling.

Beach

The Beach theme is a good summer theme- you could ask children to turn up with goggles and arm bands and have beach games set up too.

Some ideas: have a sand pit with buckets and spades etc, volleyball with a balloon, have seaside sound effects.

Circus

This theme lends itself to many ideas, obviously there are lots of options for fancy dress. You could also offer a circus skills workshop or hire a clown.

Colour

Using a colour as a theme is fairly easy, ask children to dress in the themed colour and make the food this colour too. Coloured lights can add to the effect.

Dance/Disco

You could hire a children's DJ for this or you could actually have dance lessons for older children.
Some ideas: dance competition, making disco clothes from junk, karaoke.

Fairy/elves/wizards

This offers great dressing up opportunities and you can go to town with the decorating and food with tis theme!

Space

Fancy dress as spacemen/women is good, but why not have aliens and monsters too?! You can make some nice "space food" using colouring and silver foil!
Some ideas: space themed games, fireworks.

I am based in the UK on the border of Surrey and Hampshire and I combine story-telling, magic, balloon animals, games and FUN into an action packed show for children aged 4-7 years old.