need ideas on what fun games i can entertain kids with at my 6 yo bday party at the local boys club and party favors that wont make me go broke. kids with food allergies... how do i accomodate them?
well lots of great ideas came in to me thank you very much for that. the party is not until the 16th of may so we have some time
Don't know how soon the party is, but if you have some lead time you should try Oriental Trading Company. It's mail order so you have to plan ahead a bit, but I think they're less expensive than dollar stores.
My kids can't get enough of those old fashioned blow-up punching balls (cheap, cheap at a party store). It's noisy and best suited for outdoors, but fun! Other old fashioned crowd pleasers include those little parachutting soldiers, small slinkys or silly putty... Tried but true stuff!
I discovered that 6 year olds are happy to make their own party favors! You can go to Micheals and get some little crafty things that they can make and take home - that can be part of the activity. If you have a theme you can find a craft that goes along with it. Pin the tale on the Donkey goes well (I think they have that at iparty or you can make one), little contests are good to - who can jump on one foot the longest etc. Musical chairs is another good one. You can get a big bag of random candy and have that as prizes. Just make sure everyone gets some! Have fun with it - 6 year olds are easier to please than we think. Parents sometimes get hung up on how they have to have the biggest and the best. Sometimes the old favorites are just what a party needs. TWISTER is another idea that just came to me - you could easily make up a twister "board" Good luck
Go to the library and get books on the old style party games. Great ideas and also the "rules" of things like potato races and 3-legged races, relays, and so on. You can adapt them to a theme if you want, but it's not necessary. Most kids have never played these old games so they they you are so cool for inventing them! Make sure that not everything is based on athletic ability or speed, so that the same kid doesn't "win" all the time. Mix it up. The old "memory" game is fun when you need to quiet them down - you put a bunch of random items on a tray, cover it with a towel or scarf, remove the cover when you put in on a table in front of them. Let them study for about 45 seconds, then cover it and remove it. They can write down the items they remember. If they are all under 6, you have to make the items simple. Or, you can remove one item and then return the tray to their view - they have to guess what is missing. It makes them concentrate and settle down.
You could use paper bags from the grocery store, cut them into vests (instructions on line or in older party-theme books), and then have them decorate the unprinted side. This becomes their uniform for team games, or their party favor. They can deocrate with markers, stick-on foam shapes, and so on. Give goody bags with extra craft items thrown in - just what's left from the bags you bought. You can get stuff at the dollar stores or use coupons in Sunday's paper for places like Michael's or AC Moore.
If you pre-make cupcakes by pouring batter into flat-bottomed ice cream cones, then the kids can frost and decorate their own dessert. You can separate out the toppings and decoration items so there is a nut-free table.
I used to buy stuff from a cheap place like Oriental Trading, use them for party favors, and give out some of the rest at Halloween. Parents enjoyed something that wasn't candy! Or I mixed a toy and some candy in a bag, and gave out the bags.
Hi T.,
We just had my daughter's 6th birthday party and what we did for favors was make homemade CDs with some of my daughter's favorite songs on them. We got the cheaper CD-Rs with cases and some AVERY CD labels and made up a label for the CD that simply said "Thank you for coming to my birthday party-I hope you had fun" and then we just made a case for the CD cover from regular paper and included the songs and a picture of our daughter...you could get real creative if you wanted. It works out to be really cheap and all the kids and Moms loved it because it wasn't all those little toys you usually get from the dollar store that you end up throwing away anyways.
Good luck!
For party favors - I would go into the Family Dollar store and just see what they happen to have on hand. You'll probably find something they'd like that is economical.
Make the party favor the entertainment - whether it be painting t-shirts (AC Moore or Micheals have them on sale this week) or getting small paper maiche boxes the children paint - fill with mardi gras coins for pirate booty.
One year I used my 40% craft coupons - three weeks in a row I picked up a large pack of Model Magic for $10.00. The boys created fun things and took them home. Once my son came home with 3 small containers of playdough - it was great! This year my son wants a fancy-dress-tea-party-costume-party (adaptation of a Mo Willems book) - so I went to Ocean State Job lot and got each child a demi-tass cup for a $1 and a small Chinese teapot for $2. We'll have dress up clothes out to play with too (my old dressy clothes, old Halloween costumes, hats, ties, etc). You really don't have to spend a lot of money hiring entertainment - esp. at 6 years old.
hi Terri,
we just had our daughter's birthday party and of course, it rained so all the kids were inside my home. when I read the forecast, I went out and bought a ton of playing cards, both poker and kids, like memory, go fish, etc.. cards are inexpensive, found everywhere (try Christmas Tree Shops, Walmart, Marshalls)and keep kids busy. also, you can get a few board games and the winners can take them home as prizes.
as a parent, I'd rather have my child come home from a party with a deck of cards vs candy.
GOOD LUCK!!
Try the dollar store. There are usually good things there. As far as the allergies go, find out what the allergies are and maybe ask the parents for help in making the cake since they'll probably have ideas. Good luck!
I despise goodie bags but everyone, kids AND parents seem to expect them. My son just turned 6 and for "goodies" we handed out a coloring book (power rangers) and crayons. No candy, other food or plastic toys that don't work. The coloring books were from the Dollar Tree and the crayons from Christmas Tree Shops. It was plenty and the kids were all excited. Some sat down and started coloring. Good Luck.
i have kids with food allergies and when they go to a birthday party I send them with their own cupcake. Most paretns will do that so dont owrry about the cake too much. For favors we went to the local candy store and got everyone a fancy lollypop(about 1.00 each ) and that ws the favor. the kids loved them and I didnt have to worry about goody bags(which are a huge pain) good luck and have fun!
stay away from the junkie food and candy-most moms throw them out any how.
last year i gave out plastic cereal bowls with attached straws and little cereal boxes. each kid's names were painted on them.
my son also just went to a party (he is 7) and he recieved a pirate themed sack and frisbee and loved it. it never occured to him to ask for junkie candy.
another recent party the mom went to the dollar store and picked up super hero placemats and waterbottles.
I really do enjoy shopping for this type of thing at the dollar store. You could do a type of theme, 6 year olds would love a deck of playing cards, pad of paper and pen/pencil to keep score, maybe even some of those fun pads. With summer coming up you could also do sidewalk chalk or even those cheap sunglasses.
I like to have them deocrate a hat, those foam visors are fun and you can find foam stickies too at the dollar stores. Throw in a package of markes and the budding artists with have a blast.
I love to make up games. Obstacle courses, I took bowls of different sizes and had them stand behind the line to see if they could get them in, relay race (they have to go to the end and back with a ball first under their chin, then between their legs, hopping on one foot, then you can even take suggestions as to what they think should come next.) Hula Hoops, jump through, or as part of the obstacle course. Boys just love to run around. Freeze Tag is fun.
Food allergies, take the time to ask the parents what the allergies are. Good snacks can be pretzles, goldfish, and fruit of course, even those gummy fruit snacks tend to be allergy safe. But it is hard to say not knowing exactly what allergies you are dealing with.
I never spend a ton on parties and we always have a blast.
Good luck and enjoy!!
The egg amd spoon race is always a big hit. You can use big cooking spoons and leftover eggs from Easter, musical chairs, freeze dance (play some music, then shut it off and the kids have to stop where they are), you can do some scientific exploring (put some spaghetti and oil in a baggie and place it inside a box or some other package and let the kids guess what it is, you can also use dried beans, marbles, jello and other items.
Party favors can be whatever you want. If you have a dollar store nearby, you can sometimes get a bat and ball set, jacks, matchbox cars. What I like to do is wrap a present as the party favor. If I have all different ones, I tell the kids that they can't open them until they get into the car. Keep it simple. Another option is to have a make and take, like a flower pot that they can paint for mom, a birdhouse or a piggy bank - these too are at the dollar store or your local craft store.
Dependent on the type of allergy, you can offer jello cups in place of ice cream for dairy allergies for kids that have egg allergies, check with their parent if they can have the cake or not - they may know of an alternative. Water is a great beverage to have or juice boxes or kool aid that you make yourself.
Hope that helps.
Hopefully the parents will tell you ahead of time and if it's not too expensive, you can plan ahead. Most parents of kids w/allergies who used to come to my son's parties would send something.
For the goodie bags, I loved making those. One year I bought plastic pencil cases and filled them with a ruler, stencil, fun pencils and baseball cards. I was never big on candy. Another year filled bags with stuff from the local hardware store. You can get good things in the bins near the registers such as mini flashlights, mini tape measurers, etc. I miss those days (my son is 21 now).
My youngest has allergies so I always pack him something when we go to any kind of family party unless we go to my sister's because her son has similar allergies I wouldn't expect a friend or family member to make something special I my only suggestion is make sure label any food you have at the party w/ whats in it and make sure that both kids and parents know so that the kids can aviod it if they need to. Hope you all have a blast.
