What to do at a 3 yo b-day party?

Mimisinger

Sun, Jun 07 2009, 8:13 pm

My son is turning 3 and is having his first friends party. We are having a bunch (read 12) kids over - around his age. What can I do with them? I was planning on pizza, cake, games and a craft. Can anyone help? What games can we do in a VERY small backyard or living room if it rains?

As for the craft, we were thinking of buying hats to decorate. What other ideas are out there? What games can we play?

The party is 2 hours long - help me fill that time!

(Note: it's not our minhag to make an upsherin, so that can't be factored into the two hours Smile

)

elf123

Sun, Jun 07 2009, 8:27 pm

I was going to say, I just made my 4-yr-old dd a birthday party for around the same number of kids, and the time went VERY fast...until I saw how long your party is! Mine was only 1 hour and 15 minutes, I picked that amount of time b/c I saw that's what the other mothers who had made parties before me did...2 hours is a lot of time to fill. I know it's only 45 minutes more, but with that many kids, they can start to get a little antsy after an hour. Can you possibly shorten it or is it too late now? Other than that, I can tell you that the activities you mentioned...craft, eating, cake etc. are exactly what I did. You can play a couple of quick/easy games, like pin the tail on the donkey type of thing...it doesn't have to be anything more exciting than that. Just the time would make me nervous. In terms of a specific craft, hats is fine, if you're looking for ideas go to any craft store and pick up something...they have "ready-made" type of sets or you can put something together depending on how much you want to spend. We did "snap" bracelets in girly colors with floral decals, it was easy and they loved it. Oh, I just thought of another game you can play...musical chairs, it works either outside or inside.

Mimisinger

Mon, Jun 08 2009, 4:10 am

Well, I've never made a party for little kids so I didn't know it should be shorter - I can't change that now, but the parents will be there. Any other ideas?

Btw, ds was invited to other parties that were 2 hours long as well and longer.

gryp

Mon, Jun 08 2009, 6:34 am

I did the pass the parcel game, and a simple arts and crafts. It worked out nicely. At the end I put out fruit platters and little cupcakes, and the kids eventually found all our toys and kept themselves busy for a long while. I didn't plan that part but I didn't mind.