My family lives abroad and is planning my daughter's 6th birthday party. We need to invite all of the kids in her kindergarten - 29! - and they will likely all come. Our resources are tight - we would like to do the party in our home. Outdoors is not possible - it rains here all winter. If anyone has any ideas for games or tips for organizing the party (preventing anarchy!) I would love it. I will also be 8 months pregnant at the time of the party - eek! My husband, his parents, and nieces are going to help out big time, so I at least have manpower. So I'm looking for tips on throwing a simple but fun party that will entertain a horde of 4-6 year olds :o)
Thanks as always!
The party was a huge success! Thanks for all the suggestions - we prepared a huge list of games and just basically went through the list. My husband worked SO HARD and it paid off. All the kids had a blast, and other parents in the neighborhood are still talking about the great party.
You need activity stations, or "centers" as kids call them at school. Each grownup can man a station and the kids can rotate around in small groups every 15 or 20 minutes.
There can be a dress up area, a coloring area, pin the tail on the donkey, story time, lego or building area, ect....
serve only cake ( ice cream maybe ) plus put a schedule , I always make 2 hours party, but 29 kids are to many so problably you will need a little more time..and lots of crafts tables to keep them busy, you can google some birthday games apropiatte for the age of the kids( I don't understand why you NEED to invite the all classroom) believe me I had a party with 8 girls,( 7 y old ) and you get really handfull..
decorate sugar cookies
Make sure that the adults you have to help are used to working with children and will be ABLE to keep them in line. And are you having the parents stay?? This young I will bet that you do have parents staying...how much room do you have? You should definitley do 'centers' like a PP said. You need to do this because a line of 29 kids to play a game like pin the tail is too long to wait.
I really think you should consider inviting only the girls. Esp since your are pregnant. 29 is a LOT of kids. esp for an indoor party.
I also recommend breaking the kids up into smaller groups and do a 'round robin' type thing. No matter what theme you go with, have multiple games/activities planned and then let each group do them (group A will do a science thing, group B can decorate a pre-baked cookie, and group C can do somehting else. After 15-20 minutes, or whatever time you think the activity will take, then rotate.
We've done Pirate parties (each kid got an eye patch, bandana and a plastic hook or knife), we did a scavenger hunt that led them from clue to clue etc, to finally find a treasure chest.
We've done a Harry Potter party. We basically followed the line of the first book. Each kid got to go to Gringots to get their gold gallions, then onto Ollivanders get get a wand, then to Florish and Blots to get their spell books. Then onto school and each kid was sorted and given a badge for their new house. We did a potions class (we made 2 science experiments - one was drinkable, the other they got to take home). We did a charms class, and defense against the darks arts (this was a ghost pinata). This year we did a Minute to Win It pary.
I always find it easier to pick a theme and then the ideas seem to come pretty easily. Also, there is so much info on the web that when you pick a theme, just good "sports party" or whatever the idea is.
Have fun but for the it is easiest when I have too much planned so there is very little down time. With too many kids and down time, it can be hectic.
Enjoy!!!
We did a very successful party for my daughter (we live overseas) too. She is 6, we had about 20 kids and their parents. We had it at home and it was going to be outside (but it rained, so we moved it inside. We hired a clown which cost us about $60 (depends where you live). The clown did games, a hula show and facepainting. Otherwise, we had hotdogs and a cake. Everyone was happy and all I had to do was serve the food and clean up after. Now, there are clowns here who also do magic and puppet shows, etc. and they cost MUCH more, but the kids liked the games just as well. Also, I will tell you what was a surprise hit at both my kids' parties this year -- icecream and Hershey's chocolate syrup! No one knows about the Hershey's chocolate syrup where we live and it is somewhat relatively expensive. But, for a birthday party -- not expensive at all.
We've had a couple at-home parties for my daughter, who is now 7. It's not as hard as you think.
It's really just one big play date. Plan a few group games and you're all set. Here are some we've used:
Musical chairs and hot potato are always big hits.
We did a variation of 'pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey' where my daughter drew a picture of herself in a party dress, and we cut out paper triangles (party hats) to play "pin-the-party-hat-on-the-birthday-girl'. As the kids arrived, we directed them to a table with some crayons and stickers for them to decorate their own party hat. Make sure they put their names on it, and when it comes time to play, you can tell whose hat got pinned where.
We had the party in my basement. I got a bunch of glow bracelets, and at one point we gave them out to the kids, put on some dance music, turned out the lights and let them jump around and dance. The loved it!!!
Another fun idea is 'pass the present.' Get a small trinket toy, put it into a small box, and wrap it in several layers of wrapping paper. Similar to hot potato, have the kids sit in a circle, pass the present around while music plays, and whoever has it when the music stops unwraps a layer. The person who unwraps the last layer gets the toy inside!
Have fun!
We always do our parties at home. I love using these two websites to get ideas, themes and organization tips.Basically people explain what they did for their parties at home. Maybe they will have some info useful for you too.
http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/party_ideas.html
http://www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com/
I don't know if this would work with the number of kids you might have, but we did a movie theme party for my daughter one year. We got cheap wallets and purses from the dollar store for each child as the party favor, and put 'Rachel' money in each one (clip art of a dollar bill with a picture of my daughter where Washington's head would be). Then the kids spent their Rachel dollars to buy snacks and drinks to eat during the movie. Then they all sat down to watch (a kid friendly movie, of course). Then we had cake and ice cream after the movie was over and opened the gifts. It was a lot of fun, and it kept the kids entertained the whole time without running around the house, but we didn't have a lot of prep to deal with either.
Here are some cheap and easy ideas
*Bingo
*Craft tables-maybe they could decorate a cheap picture frame or something
*Coloring contest-you can print free coloring sheets online then hang them all up and vote on the best one and offer a prize
*Decorate your own cupcake
*Make & bake your own personal pizza (if you plan on serving lunch)
*Balloon race-they have to race across the room w/a balloon squeezed between the knees
*Musical chairs
*Scavenger hunt (make a "treasure chest" at the end with costume jewelry, candy, and small prizes for all to share)
*Have the kids make their own bracelets to take home-cheapo beads purchased in bulk are pretty economical
I hope this helps! Good luck to you!
We LOVE pin the tale on the donkey and it is easier using sticky notes with each child's name on it and an arrow pointing to the right spot.
We have done a few pinatas with the pull string, but you have to physically help the kids or a kid will pull a bunch at once. I'd skip this.
Spoon races, pass the hulu hoop only using your neck, bingo, and crafts since you have help.
One party had a grandma read a story that tied into the theme. It was a hit because she was dramatic and wore funny, gardening type clothes and a huge hat.
