childrens parties

[nightcrawler13]

for those of you with children, what does a good kids party entail?

[pehaw]

From whose point of view? Yours or theirs?

[nightcrawler13]

From whose point of view? Yours or theirs?

[Halcyon]

the parents!

kids are incredibly easy to please, but it's the parents opinion that i'm intrigued about...

[t8yman]

depends what you mean, home party or organised party? what age of kids?

we had a party for our lad yesterday, it was his seventh birthday, we went for an organised one at a local "wacky warehouse" type place. it was the best one we have been to/done tbh.

what exactly do you want to know?

[pehaw]

We've got three kids, 12, 10 and 5.

When the two eldest were younger we had parties at the house. They had 10 or 12 friends round and had a fairly traditional birthday party.

There was usually a bit of a theme to it - I can remember a scooby-doo one and a dr-who one. They played games like pass the parcel, musical statues, or out in the garden if the weather was good. They had a buffet-style tea with sandwiches and crisps and sausages and jelly and ice cream etc and were packed off home with a party bag (I really don't see the point in them though).

The best thing about this was that it seemed like the right thing to do (whatever that means) - you know, a proper birthday party. Plenty of preparation to do beforehand and tidying up to do afterwards but we felt we were giving the kids a good time.

As they got older they moved on to do things like taking some friends bowling or going to the cinema and having some fast-food tea somewhere. Again, the ubiquitous party bags made an appearance. These sort of things feel fairly hollow although there is none of the preparation or tidying to do.

The best one was a couple of years ago just before the eldest went up to secondary school. They decided they's like a joint Rock N Roll party (there birthdays are only a couple of wks apart). So we hired the local scout hut for an evening (was v cheap). They had about 50 friends each there and they ALL dressed up in 50s Rock N Roll style. Boys trying to look cool with greased hair and leather jackets, girls in Grease style get-up. It was great - by far the best they've had. It was the last time many of them would have been gathered together as quite a few were going off to different schools, the girls were getting a bit emotional at the end.

Anyway, i'd sum it up by saying when they are younger do parties at home with all the traditional games. When they get older let them choose.

[feral chile]

Depends on the kids. My oldest 3 had parties at home, where they just chilled and had a more traditional type party, birthday tea and music, some wandered off into the garden, some stayed inside the house.

My youngest and his friends tended to have more themed parties, activity outings when younger, then he got into Warhammer so his parties followed that theme with like-minded friends. So it was just finding somewhere with plenty of floor space, and providing refreshments, then leaving them to it.

Do you want to start organising children's parties/being a children's entertainer?

[nightcrawler13]

Do you want to start organising children's parties/being a children's entertainer?

[amy246]

I'll come in with a different perspective, i work in a children's soft play centre doing kids parties for a living lol! You have to be friendly and chirpy without annoyingly doing so or acting patronising to the kids. Always run though the ideas/running plan with the organiser/adult just in case they want anything changed. Be prepared for all eventualities and be able to think on your feet if things don't go to plan. With food and drink check for allergies/intollerances/fussy eaters/health freak parents and have possible alternatives (our party prize for musical bumps/statues is usually smarties however the other week a dairy intollerant kid won so i had to find some jelly tots). Have you got music for games/general dancing, some people think chart stuff is ok but esp with little ones it would be best getting pop party jr or similar (unless you have cool pirate music!) Bear in mind some kids will refuse to dance/take part in party games, try persuasion but half the time they just don't want to do it. Also depending on the age when doing party games and kids get 'out' there may be tears and sulking, handy to have parents nearby if this is the case. Thin that's it for now, but if you have any questions feel free to ask lol!

[pehaw]

i asked essentially because i wasnt sure what actually happens at parties for young young kids, and i wanted to make sure that the parents weren't going to feel like "what is this shit?"

spoken to a few parents, by the sounds of it they would be happy if i just played pass the parcel and let them dance for an hour...

i've made bandanas for each kids, each kid gets a sword, we play Captain Dan Says and let them try some hard tack and grog (lime juice) and then treat them with cupcakes. Play a few balloon games, X Marks The Spot (pin the tail), Pass The Treasure (parcel), Stormy Seas (kids have to pretend to swim about and then run back to the flag when sharks attack, ) sword limbo and introduce them to my (animatronic) talking parrot. Few other bits and bobs and then they get a GIANT pirate cupcake before i go....

as a parent, that sound good?

[feral chile]

Pirate Games

And more games

Edited May 15, 2011 by feral chile

[Steve P]

You may well need to change your plans depending on the age of the kids. Remember that attention spans will vary massively at that age, so makew sure nothing lasts too long. Your ideas sound really good though mate. For my little ones second birthday last week we called in Tiny Mites. It was a woman that came over and did loads of songs and nursery rhymes, and she had puppets and props to go with them, Beth loved it.

[nightcrawler13]

I think it sounds great and I think most kids in the 4-8 bracket would love it.

How much do you think people would be willing to pay you? Are you going to charge by the hour or per attendee?

[feral chile]

£100 for the first hour and £50 for each hour after....

that covers me for taxis, swords, cake materials, a few presents and candy and then obviously my pay on top

that sound reasonable?

thanking thee

ha! Well you were completely correct

it was supposed to be 8 kids between 2-8 and i ended up with 15 kids between 2-6, mostly between 2-4!

I've not really had to deal with toddlers since i was one myself, so didn't realize how shy they could be...

all of my games that involved singing and following my direct orders didn't work, but i quickly adapted and changed the party to dancing, sweets and toys

the kids loved it, the parents loved it and a few people took my number to book me for their kids parties

best of all was that I had fun, and got paid for it

[greenfairy43]

Have you been CRB'd? Not sure how it works for indivduals, but could be a reassuring selling point for parents.

[bunique]

Yeah, I'd recommend a CRB too! If there's a local Business Link they can give you advice about getting set up as a business if that's what you want to do.

Maybe the ladies here who work in Early Years can give you some ideas of what else works for the pre-schoolers so you can design some games they can join in with? Sounds like a bit of a money spinner though, nicely done!

[nightcrawler13]

Yarrrrrrr!

[nightcrawler13]

hoooookay

so i've invested £300 into magic tricks, bought a new costume, trawled the internet for wholesale website and bought Pass The Treasure prizes for the next 48 parties

need to get some decent photos and then someone i know who works for a printing company is going to make me a heapload of flyers to put around the city

got a party booked for two weeks time and another for the beginning of September. I'm really loving this, the more i spend on it the more interest i get, there will ALWAYS be kids, so as long as a youth eating virus doesnt appear then i have a source of income forever??

[nightcrawler13]

a question for parents...

currently I'm called Captain Dan, however I'm getting business cards and flyers printed out soon and considering using the name Captain Dantastic....

as a parent, who would be booking an entertainer, which name do you think is better?

currently getting quite a bit of work through google searches without advertising, but want to take it up a notch

[jump]

Captain Dan is easier to remember and you've already have started building a reputation with it so I'd say stick with it but the best ads you can get is good word of mouth so once you've done the routine try to make chit chat with the Mums and keep cards incase.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Not a parent but think I would go for Captain Dantastic. Definitely wouldn't go for Mr. Fumbles who I actually came across. A child's entertainer and someone who fumbles about doesn't quite cut the non pedo mustard in my books.

Strangely enough I had a friend e.mail me last night about going out to see a children's entertainer who was putting on a show for her mentally challenged clients. He was calling himself Dan the Man.

[The Nal]

All I know is - do not hire this guy.

[fred quimby]

Pirate Dan ?

[rexclark]

All I know is - do not hire this guy.

[Rufus Gwertigan]

a question for parents...

currently I'm called Captain Dan, however I'm getting business cards and flyers printed out soon and considering using the name Captain Dantastic....

as a parent, who would be booking an entertainer, which name do you think is better?

currently getting quite a bit of work through google searches without advertising, but want to take it up a notch

Edited September 29, 2011 by Rufus Gwertigan