How many activities at a 5 yr. birthday party

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

Hi ladies!

I'm planning dd's fifth birthday party and am wondering how many and what kinds of activities you typically plan for such an event. We've got a dinosaur fiesta (so, dinos and Mexican stuff) theme, and I'm planning to make a pinata. Other than that, any ideas? The party's scheduled for two hours, though I do anticipate it going longer than that. Still, I'd like to keep all the planned activities in that time-frame. The age range will be from 3 to 6, with about 15-20 kids (I think). And, finally, of course, SUPER budget is the key here.

Then there's also the issue of goodie bags. I hate them, and I've seen some serious debates 'round here about them. I think I'd like to take the middle road and have some sort of craft activity that can be the goodie instead of doing a whole bag.

Thanks for any input. Can't believe she's five!

[emma00]

I'm kinda type "A" when it comes to parties - so keep that in mind with respect to your personality and personal style.

I run a pretty tight schedule for my kids' b-day parties. I don't like any down time as I don't cope well with a bunch of kids running around my house like a bunch of crazies. I plan an activity for every 15 - 20 minutes of the party (depending on the activity)

I usually include 2 crafts - (could be painting a little dinosaur, shoebox / clay diorama with little plastic dinosaures; decorating a sombrero; etc.)

2 or 3 non-crafts - limbo dance is always popular, the fishing game (also popular, but not cheap); b-day bingo (5 is a bit young) the memory game (put a bunch of stuff on a tray; let them look at the tray; take tray away and remove one item; bring it back; see who can remember what was removed); variations on the cake walk (I usually have a prize for each kid - so not cheap); treasure hunt.

20 -30 minutes for lunch / cake (the memory game is good at this point to keep them occupied while they are waiting for food.)

15 - 20 minutes for prezzie opening. (I have them sit in a circle. I like each child to have the chance to give their present to the b-day kid and see him / her open it. To choose the gift giving order, I call out different months of the year and see who has a birthday in that month.)

A typical party for me would look like:

craft
non-craft
non-craft
craft
lunch / cake
non-craft (if I needed filler)
presents

I hope you and your daughter enjoy her party.

[AndVeeGeeMakes3]

Nifty! I may be a little less Type A, but that schedule is definitely helpful! Thanks.

[Girlprof]

On the goody bag issue, I can't stand them but feel peer pressure to do them. Here have been some successful compromises:

Mylar balloons ($1 each at the dollar store)

Bouncy balls (this was for a 2 year old party, but the older sibs were also really happy)

Dog bone shaped cookies for dog themed party (you could do dinosaurs - this is very cheap. I did spring for fancy cellophane wrappers).

Last year for DS, turning 6, we had a spy party and I at least found fun stuff to give out: fake moustaches, plastic fedoras, plastic sunglasses, they colored their own cardboard neckties.

[porcelina]

A recent 3-yr old party I went to went like this:

1. Arrive and decorate your name on a pre-cut out animal shape (these were later stapled to gift bags)
2. Bird house painting activity - each child got small birdhouse to paint
3. Scavenger hunt - read a clue, kids had to figure out where to get next clue, then finally got prize of goodie bag at end (prize was goody bag of snacks, including pretzels, dried fruit)
4. Lunch
5. Free-play
6. Cake
7. Play at play-scape (party at a public park)

Birdhouse activity was great, though I imagine not low budget. You could find something smaller at Michael's to paint, though. The scavenger hunt was great fun and very low budget. You can also teach little lessons, work from your party theme, etc.

[ollyoxenfree]

I've found parties that have too many organized activities are overwhelming for that age, particularly if you have a couple of kids who don't transition from one activity to another well.

I'd have one organized craft that takes about 20 to 30 minutes, and a couple of organized games (the scavenger hunt sounds like fun) that take about 20 minutes each. Food and presents will each take about 20 minutes. That leaves about 15 minutes "free time", which is probably going to be used up moving from games to crafts to lunch/cake to pinata time (or however you plan it).

We usually had a take-home craft instead of a goody bag. Some ideas:

- paint a flower pot and plant a flower
- decorate a frame and fill it with a digital photo of everyone at the party (printed off by dad during cake time)

For more traditional "loot bag"-like ideas:
- Amazing Race party with coloured team bandanas and water bottles as the take-home
- painted ceramic trivet (this was at a ceramics workshop though)
- little popcorn bucket, big sunglasses and feather boa (at a Hollywood movie star party)

Happy birthday to your 5 y.o.!

[madskye]

For DD's birthday we did a pizza party. So, no crafts but the order was:

-Pin the topping on the pizza game
-Decorate their own mini pizzas with sauce, cheese, and toppings
while the pizza cooked
-throw the beanbag game (my neighbor has a wooden clown with holes that you throw the beanbags through, like a carny game)
--eat pizza, run around for a bit, and then cake time.

I made aprons with their names on them in puffy paint for favors and had chef hats. Last year, I made decorated sugar cookies on lollipop sticks--both were pretty easy and inexpensive favors.

[Drummer's Wife]

At DS's 5th birthday party we didn't do much for organized activities. He had a pinata, and of course we had cake and ice cream. I'm trying to think of what else we did - I do remember that I completely forgot about pin the tail on the donkey, and so my kids did it later on that evening.

Anyhow, the kids mostly ran around and played with balloons. They drank root beer floats, had little sandwiches and chips and cheese and crackers and such, and hung out. The 2-3 hours went pretty fast, actually, so I was okay with not having planned out a bunch of activities. For sure no one was bored, as they all didn't want to go home when the party was over.

Anyhow, lots of great ideas on this thread - I'll probably steal some for a future party.

[odenata]

For my daughter's fourth, we bought flower pots for the kids to decorate and had nasturtium seeds for them to plant. Went over really well.

This year, we had a pinata, gave the kids small bags to collect the candy in, and that was the goody bag. Had finger foods, cake, and present opening as well. No real organized activities other than that - just playing in the backyard. Everyone had a great time.

[earthmama369]

Oh gosh. There are very few wrong ways to set up a kid's birthday party. We've had such a great time at themed, activity-filled parties, and we've had an equally great time at parties where all the kids ran around outside for two hours with a break for cake somewhere in the middle.

We tend to go with jam-packed, frugal parties. For example, at ds's third birthday last year, we had a ton of friends and family over, put out snack food for grazing, and ran with a "messy clean pirate" theme at ds's request. A large cardboard box, a box of stickers, and some markers made a decorate-your-own-castle activity. One turtle pool was filled with ooblek (cornstarch and water). Another was filled with water. Kids could decorate their own pirate bandannas with fabric markers and then use them to hold their loot from the treasure chest pinata. And the end of the party saw a huge shaving cream and mud fight that involved everyone except my grandmas. It was a ton of fun, but the actual overhead was very low. Well under $100 for a party for more than 30 people that lasted all afternoon.

[Alison's Mom]

For DD's 5th bday party last fall, we had about 10 kids from age 3-5 and did two games - pin the tail on the donkey (no prizes given), and a fishing game, where DH went behind the sofa, and the kids would drop a metre stick with a string and clothes pin attached, and DH would pin a very small prize (we got 25 cent little animals) to it.

We had food and cake, but also some free play time, which was OK with only 10 kids - I wouldn't have done this with 30!

The loot bags were a package of markers from Ikea that were a marker on one end and a stamp on the other end plus a sheet of stickers for each kid. I hate when the kids bring home all sorts of junky crap in their loot bags, so was trying to figure out non offensive items - pencils, erasers, etc are good too. I used left over fabric to create a little pouch instead of using a plastic bag. One year, I got a bunch of small fabric drawstring bags made so they were reusable.