Help! Desperate for ideas for DS's 4 yr b-day party

medola

Wed, Nov 28 2012, 8:47 am

My DS is turning 4 around Chanukah (but not on) and I was not really planning on throwing him a party until I saw that it seems all his classmates have a party - most both in class and out of school, on a Sunday.

We just moved so we don't really have any family friends of our own here to share in the simcha (actually one family friend will happen to be in town, plus my ILs but that's about it). Regardless, my son is very social bH and already has a lot of friends at school.

I am looking for ideas for a nice ~2 hr birthday party for a boy turning 4 - attended to by both boys and girls.

Something that won't break the bank, but I like to pull off a nice theme, activities or a craft/project. I basically need to fill 1.5 hrs of time because the last half hour is usually cake.

Oh, and we just moved to sunny Florida so b'H this is something we can do outside at the park or possibly in the function room at my condo (have to check we have one - pretty sure) or some activity place (bowling? mini golf? ??)

What have you done that's worked out nicely?
Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

Thanx!

Chippies

Wed, Nov 28 2012, 9:58 am

I will preface my post by saying that I have very little experience in this regard, other than going with my son to other kids' birthday parties. Would you want/expect parents to stay or would it be a drop off party? If parents stay, and the weather is nice, then just going to the park and maybe having a couple of games with a ball in mind is a lot of fun for kids. My son went to his friend's birthday party in a park in the summer. The birthday girl's parents had a veggie platter, a fruit platter and lots of chips, plus cake, and that was really enough. The kids didn't even want to play any organized games - they just all played in the park and then came to the bench for snacks and cake. It was probably the most fun my son ever had at a birthday party! But parents need to stay for supervision - otherwise it would just be too much for you.

If you want it to be a drop off party, then you can do something like invite a clown or a magician over to your home for a 30 minute show. I'd say that if you make it from 2pm to 4pm, then tell the entertainer to come at 2:30 (so just do play time informally until then, as everyone comes). Then have more playtime, and maybe have one simple art activity in mind (eg. give everyone paper and crayons and tell them to draw their favourite chanukah activity) and then everyone will sit around and eat snacks and then you'll bring out the cake. You really don't need to do much for that age. And it's a lot cheaper than renting space at minigolf (which I don't think the average 4 year old would be able to do for more than 10 minutes anyway). The only place that I would say would make sense to rent if you do have the money/inclination to do so, would be a gymnastic type place that does birthday parties. Where I live, it costs over $300 to do a party in a gym for one hour, but kids do have a great time and it's very organized that way because the staff at the gym take care of everything. Good luck!

Raisin

Wed, Nov 28 2012, 10:15 am

the good news is 4 year olds are very easy to please. what is done at other kids parties? Do they all hire magicians and the like? even if they do it is not necessary to do so if you are prepared to do a bit (not a lot) of work. Once your son is older you might find it necessary to hire gyms or bowling but 4 year olds are still discovering the simple pleasures of life.

If you do it outside you can do fun races, with simple prizes. You can order an inexpensive art activity from somewhere like oriental trading. Kids love pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey, - there are tons of party games websites.

baba

Wed, Nov 28 2012, 10:33 am

I just threw my 6 yo a party, very simple, nothing fancy and didnt cost much.

Basically, the first 15 min you dont have to plan anything, kids are still coming in, not everyone is on time. Then sit everyone down in a circle and open presents. This you can do in game form, like spinning a bottle to see who gets to give the next present. Then you have some time for something creative. With kids this little it doesnt need to be anything big. Maybe decorating cookies or something chanuka themed (like decorating a "sevivon" made out of a cd with a marble glued in the middle. Then you have time for a few games like musical chairs (and in this time someone else can clean up from the crafts and set the table for the cake, plus these are short so you can stop at any point when it's time for cake) and then you end with the cake, which you really do need half an hour for.

Hope this helps

cranberry

Wed, Nov 28 2012, 1:16 pm

When ds turned 5, the kids made a picture frame for the art project. Soon after everyone got there (all five of them), they all sat together and ds held a sign that said something like "DS's 5th birthday party." We took a picture with a digital camera.

For the art project, we bought cardboard picture frame mats from Michaels and then gave the kids different things to glue on. If I remember correctly (it was years ago) we did the project near the beginning. That way there was a better chance for the glue to dry before they went home. At some point during the party, either my husband or I printed out one picture per child. The kids got to each take home a hand-made picture frame with a picture of everyone at the party.