PANIC - Birthday party games for 3yr old???

kkaldau · Postby **kkaldau** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 7:01 pm

Hi, my wife and I have decided to take the plunge and host our 3yr old daughter's birthday party ourselves. Any suggestions for games/non professional entertainment that works for a group of 25 kids (all 3-5yrs)?

In previous years, we relied on professional help for our older son (Its a kids thing, Little Gym etc) but thought it would be fun to host ourselves - until last night with 4 days to go!!!

Any game ideas we can look up on youtube or the internet that keep the crowd entertained would be much appreciated!!!

Many thanks, kristof

TJ74 · Postby **TJ74** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 7:40 pm

Pass the parcel (with a sweet in each layer so that everyone 'wins' something), musical statues, musical chairs/islands, relay race/obstacle course, treasure hunt (there does not have to be a 'winner' for any of these - at this age, they mostly just enjoy playing them).

Thinking back to when we used to do parties for our children at this age: for a 1.5 hour party, we used to have a craft for the first 30 minutes or so as everyone arrived (for example decorating their own plain paper party bags with stickers/pens), 30 minutes of games and then 30 minutes for food and a bit of dancing to music if there was time left over.

Hope that helps!

Bunnypigeon1 · Postby **Bunnypigeon1** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 7:44 pm

25 kids is quite a lot for games- you can either divide them
Into little groups to play the traditional games, or the ones we've used before with that number of children are things like frozen statues, run to the picture (where you have different pictures set up around the room and when you say the name they have to run to it with the last to get there being out). Musical chairs could also work, pop the balloon (where they tie balloons around their ankles and try and pop each other's balloons) and duck duck moose. You could also do a table with arts and crafts on it, for the down time between games. It all really depends on how much space you have.

popmama · Postby **popmama** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 8:19 pm

Hi,
We hosted my children's parties at home until they were school aged.
What we did was remove any small or very special toys, if you are at home they will go through everything and everywhere unless you close the stair gate (we did).

I had areas with toys out but then planned games like musical status and musical bumps, however children that age don't like to be 'sent out' so I gave them a treat (sweet/lolly) to sit out. A dancing competition worked well too.

We also played pin the tail on the donkey (or dinosaur or unicorn depending on the theme).I also laid out some colouring and stickers for the children who like to sit and do that. I also made cakes and got the children to decorate with icing and sweets and then put the cakes on labelled paper plates to take home. I always found that for pre-schoolers there are always some children who don't want to join in with organised games so it is good to have other activities.I also labelled all the childrens so I knew their name and I recruited some helpful mum/dad friends and gave them jobs. I enjoyed planning the parties but on the days it was quite intense and a definately need a large G'N'T when all the guest had left!

Good luck!