Waldorf birthday party in 2 weeks, help!

[seahorsie]

I am hosting my daughter's 7th birthday party in 2 weeks (march 15). As always, due to unpredictable weather, we end up planning 2 parties, one for rain, one for sun. The one activity I have planned for either scenario so far is that a special guest juggler is coming to entertain the children (gift from aunt). Our budget is extremely tight - if it doesn't rain, I was thinking of having each child pot some flower seeds (we live in N. CA) to take home. Knitting & candlemaking have been done at other classmates' parties already this year. Any ideas for a simple, inexpensive craft? (age range is 5 to 7)

[zinemama]

A guest juggler plus seed planting sounds like quite enough to me. You've got to figure they'll spend a bunch of time just playing amongst themselves, then there's the cake which will take some time and planting those seeds - especially if they also put the dirt in the pots will also take time. Keep it simple with what you've already got planned.

[seahorsie]

I would love to rely on the seed planting, but if it's raining, we won't be able to do that. (it has to be done outdoors)

[zinemama]

Couldn't you just spread out one of those plastic tablecloths and do it indoors? Maybe a couple of kids at a time?

[Hannahsmummy]

At my daughters last birthday party, we did a garden theme. We had the kids paint little terra cotta pots that they took home with them along with a packet of seeds.
We did it indoors and just spread a disposable table cloth over the table.

We have also done a pizza party with the kids rolling out their own dough and topping their own.

[seahorsie]

If it were my home, I would not hesitate to try the potting indoors, but our landlady is already petrified that we will destroy her off-white wool carpeting. I don't want to have to worry about this happening.

[cera]

Originally Posted by zinemama

Couldn't you just spread out one of those plastic tablecloths and do it indoors? Maybe a couple of kids at a time?

I did this a few years ago and I did it indoors. It went really well actually. I did it in the kitchen at our table there was very little mess and what there was was quite easy to clean up. I also made the kids leave their plant in the kitchen until it was time to go.

[Bird Girl]

If you don't want to plant seeds indoors, I would try something textile-y, like perhaps making friendship bracelets. Five-to-seven-year-olds should be able to braid three or four strands of embroidery floss together, and the skeins themselves are often available for $.25 per color.

[Melaniee]

Do you have a garage? I had many a backyard party turn into a garage party when I was a child. LOL. You could pot in there. I love the idea of that, BTW!

I don't know if it qualifies for inexpensive, but another kind of candle-making (assuming you meant the dipped-candles) which I have done at a playgroup was this:
http://www.magiccabin.com/magiccabin...ch%20Result|P1

It's pretty light on the mess-factor. They'd have to really grind it into your carpet.

I used little cookie cutters I had bought locally (check the wilton's section of michael's or joann's. If you get joann's 40% off coupons that would be a good deal). Or they could cut it with scissors or something else household.

Or you could do beeswax modeling. Perhaps someone (you? another parent?) could tell a story while making something out of beeswax and the children could each have their own small piece, during, to create something on their own. If you buy the usual pieces, you could cut them into smaller ones to make it go further. And I have found the one big piece to be too much for my 7 yo to use at once, anyhow. I usually cut them into 1/2" strips.

ETA: If you already have the seeds and pots, what about having them color the pots with crayons and send them home with the seeds to plant on their own when it's not raining?