Kids party at home

[MJ2.0]

I want to throw my kiddo a party for his birthday. I was thinking of doing at the new place since we’ll have tons of space.... but I’m not a SAHM or Pinterest-y, and I’m not super creative with that stuff. I also don’t want to spend tons of money at a facility (although that would be ideal since they handle all the party stuff and we just show up). What are EASY/SIMPLE party activities for a group of up to 10 kids ages 5-8/9? Remember that I am LAZY!!! Lol

[raeoflyte]

Summer party I'm assuming?  Kiddie pool, water shooters, bubble machine, sandwiches, and cake have always been hits at our house.  Cheap, the kids have fun.  Add in some adult beverages for the grown ups and it's a good time all around. 

We rented a bouncy house for a fall party where we couldn't really do the kiddie pool and water shooters for $125 and that was great too, just a little less cheap.  Mine are getting into nerf gun wars now.  I stocked up on 20 protective eye glasses at Christmas for $15 or something, so now in addition to kiddie pool, we did byo nerf gun.  I think we'll make that more of our fall party going forward.  

We've also done art parties in the winter.  A little more coordinating, but you can go as all-in with the pinterest as you want or not.  Get some cheap canvas' from michaels, paints for the kids, and then just a table/set up for them to paint.  A 2nd artsy craft is kind of nice.  We did paper unicorn puppets (easy), and another friend that did a similar party did pipe cleaner crafts--just give the kids a bunch of pipe cleaners.  

[geenamercile]

What is your DS into. Pretty much anything they can create or decorate is pretty easy because you just put the stuff out and let them go to town.

For YDD this year we did a make your own slime station. They sell add in kits on amazon cheap. The slime is just glue, borax acid, and water. Shaving cream if you want it fluffy. Fun thig is different ratios give you differnt type of slime.

Decorate your own cupcake or brownies are fun too.

[Apple]

My son had a party at home right around that age.  It was not a "fun time" in my life, so I did minimal, but it worked well.  This was also like 15 years ago, so sorry if anything is "lame" now, lol.

They had reign of the living room, "toy room", upstairs family (only room with a tv), and ate in the kitchen.  His bedroom was pretty much off-limits so he could put things he didn't want broken/messed with in there.

I blew up a bunch of balloons (no helium) and tossed them into the toy room.  I probably did 50 of them.  Toys were also left out (the marble run was popular).

I had a movie or cartoons going on in the family room (I used the projector to play it on the wall to make it different, but that's not necessary).  We had a big bean bag chair, a smaller one, a comfy chair and an ottoman for hanging out on.

I did not try to direct games or activities, it was more of just a 2 or 3 hour big play date, and they went through rooms and did what they wanted (a couple quieter kids broke up as a group together, and my son would go between them).

For food, I made hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill.  I made a cake and then let them have at the frosting and sprinkles themselves.  We also had a chocolate fountain my older brother had given us (one of those that used to sell for about $20-25 back then).  I set up a bunch of graham crackers, pretzels, and fruit (strawberries and bananas), and just let it flow.

I had no idea if it would be a success or not, we just invited his whole class (over half made it), but as one of the popular girls was leaving (so, the girl who is invited to everything, all the time), told him "This was the best birthday party I've ever been to!"  I think part of that was just the fact that they got to have fun the way they wanted, and outside of the time to eat, it was completely unstructured. 

So, don't feel like you have to put in a bunch of effort or be pinterest-y. I think if you just let them be kids and do their thing, they'll have fun.  It's probably a break for the kids who have fully structured lives anyway!

[Wisconsin Beth]

We've done a few at home.  I plan on 2 hours, parents can stay or go.  I know we decorated cupcakes one year.  As for the rest, I think we ended up with 4 or less kids and just let them play. 

[giramomma]

Pinata

Musical chairs

Pin the something on the something (whatever version of pin the tail on the donkey....One year it was pin the tires on the mystery machine)

Bingo (prizes are lollypop bouquets)

Find the x hidden in the house (paper dog bones for scooby theme, poke balls, for pokemon theme, etc)

One year, I had the kids put puzzles together in groups. They started without the picture, and then got it after x minutes. That was a HUGE hit.

Our usual MO is:

Quiet activities for arrival-first 15 minutes: coloring, word searches, guess how many things are in the jar, etc.

Then the rules

Outdoor play at a park a 2 minute walk away for 20-30 minutes..

Home.. A game or two (one hour is done at this point)

Then the pinata-which DH does and then I set up snacks and cakes while he does that (15 min)

Eating/gift opening (20-30 min)

Games till everyone goes.

One year I got desperate and so we played musical chairs.

DD1's birthday is in Nov, so sometimes we do crafts instead of outdoor play, mostly Christmas ornaments.

I spend about about $75 for kid parties at home. That's including food, prizes, etc.

ETA: We throw larger parties typically. When the kids are tweens, then they have freedom to have unstructured time..which for DS was like 2 hours of nerf gun fights with friends.. When the kids are 5-8, there's no way I'm letting 10 kids have unstructured time in and around our house for a couple of hours.

[bookkeeper]

Our house had a swimming pool, so that was an easy draw for kids birthday parties.  One of the most successful was the make your own pizza party.  I was feeling cheap so I bought a package of frozen bread dough, some sauce, cheese and a few toppings.  The kids loved making and baking their own pizzas.  We did have a double wall oven, to speed up the baking process.


I always took every invited kid home from the party at the time stated on the invitation.  I learned my lesson when a parent assumed I would watch after his kid for 5 to 6 hours after the party ended.  That's right, never came for the kid and we couldn't reach the parent.  Good times.  When you take every kid home, you know when the party will end!

[jelloshots4all]

I'll suggest a party favor instead of a bag of crap.  I have done this for both of my kids for years when they were young and their parents loved it.

Go to Walmart, Michaels, the Dollar Store and buy cheap tshirts.  Then buy tshirt paint.  We made tshirts ahead of time for the attendees as we had "bowling teams" at a bowling alley.  But you could decorate the front with MJ2.0 X bday, then let the kids "write" their names on the back and decorate the shirts,  They will have to dry after (hence why we made the shirts ahead of time).

But this "birthday favor" was worn by my kids friends for along time.  And they don't have to be perfect.  I would let my kids design the shirts and paint them ahead of time.  Their friends didn't care, just loved them.  I am NOT crafty at all!  But we had fun!

[Wisconsin Beth]

I know a couple of moms who did tye dye tshirts at their parties. 

Chalk if you've got lots of sidewalk/driveway space. 

Bubbles. 

If it's hot, a sprinkler on the lawn (MJ, I'm assuming you've got a house for the new place?  I don't remember for sure)

games like tic tac toe still amuse my kids and keep them entertained. 

Turning the kids loose with the Lego bin works too.  But I've got something like 30+ years of Legos so there's lots of bricks to just build with. 

[raeoflyte]

We almost never do a party favor.  For our Harry Potter halloween party everyone could take home a homemade wand, but that's about it.  I hate the bags of candy or plastic junk that somehow become a thing for my kids to fight and whine over after the parties ended no matter how awesome the party was.  Scratch that...I caved on dd last party because she really wanted to give them out and we did gloves, fortune cookies, and fruit snacks.  That kid always has bigger ideas than I have in mind. 

One friend did matching minecraft tshirts from walmart for all the kids as their party favor, and that was good.  Tie dye would be super fun.  You could probably get pillow cases that would work for it for $2-3 each to make it pretty on par with the crap bags.  

Better yet just don't do anything for a goody bag.  I swear other parents will appreciate it and most of the kids won't notice.  

[tractor]

Shaving cream is always a big hit 🙂 although it would be best used outdoors.

[MJ2.0]

Thanks, I love these ideas!

[alabamagal]

And just remember it’s the parents that try to outdo each other.

Kids will have fun with the simplest things!