by Jessica Matthews
In the last newsletter we looked at potential venues in the Ryde area for your parties. Today I am putting together a few points about kids party games that are fun for all, cost effective and easy for you – basically WINNING all round!
Game 1- Pass the Parcel
Ava recently turned 4 so not at the age where all kids can accept not getting something, so I ensured all kids got one opening and in that opening was a small prize. I went to the party section at Kmart & got some racing cars for the boys, dress up jewellery for the girls, bubbles etc – all at bargain prices.
A few tips:
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Write a list as you wrap so you know what the prizes are and in what order (this is key if you have kids varying in ages and a mix of boys & girls).
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Have heaps of wrapping paper – you’ll be surprised how much you need. Places like the Reject Shop have 5m of brown paper for $2 and you could alternate this with a print – they even have some licensed prints!
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Buy a bag of freddos or mini twirls etc. to pair up with the race car or mini wand from Kmart. This means the kids get 2 prizes in their eyes.
Cost wise you’re looking at $3/12 pack of freddos (buy when on sale!!) & then $2/5 pack of cars or jewels etc. So for under $10 for a dozen kids you are sorted!
Game 2 – Pin the mask on batman, the tutu on the ballerina, the fireman on the firetruck!
For Ava’s birthday we did pin the tutu on the ballerina. I used the ballerina from her invitation and printed her on A3 paper ($1.75 for colour at Officeworks – any bigger & it costs too much!), then I printed some tutus – cut those out, wrote the kids names on them and away we went. I put on their mask ($2 from Kmart..how amazing is Kmart these days?!?!?!), turned them twice and helped them walk forward. The child who got the closest was the winner! In this game, we had just one winner – I was trying to teach kids about sharing and not always winning. I know, good one huh?
Game 3 – Craft Station or Lego Station
For Ava’s party we had a craft station – this depends on your skill set as to what you’d like to do here. For Ava’s party I bought some special fabric that you can colour in – it was a ballerina print. I sewed up a dozen little girls handbags and had special fabric markers so the kids could colour their own bags. The boys who came were 2 and 3 so they didn’t mind not doing this. For them we had some cheap bubble toys (again KMART!!).
You could have a Lego play area, craft station with colouring in things, sparkles, pom poms, paddle pop sticks etc. A great indoor option if needed for weather or location.
Game 4 – Piñata
Keep your eye out at Spotlight or the party shops for when these babies go on sale. That way instead of $25-35, you could pay $15-20 or visit Kmart (I should charge them for these mentions!) as they have an every day price of about $10 for theirs. They also sell a a ‘stick and mask’ pack for $2. In the weeks leading up to Ava’s party I kept my eyes peeled at the supermarket and bought packed chocolates/lollies when on sale.
TIP: Give the piñata a few adult pokes before you start as those babies are tough.. like real tough.. they are hard to break!!!
Game 5 – Musical Statues
Perfect game – you just need your phone (hey even free iTunes 30 sec samples are enough here!) and play – pause – winner, play – pause – winner until you’ve run out of little prizes or filled the time needed (I had some handmade beaded necklaces I made for the girls & race cars for the boys!).
Game 6 – Egg & Spoon Race
I got so lucky with this game because A) Ava’s birthday is end of Feb so what does that mean? It means Easter eggs have been out since 26th December so off I went to Riot and got a pack of 12 pastel coloured, spotted eggs and then to Woolies for a bag of m&m eggs (on sale of course) and in each egg I popped 6 of these little eggs.
At the party, out came the plastic spoons and tadah – we had ourselves a race. The best thing was kids got the plastic egg to take home with the little egg m&m’s. I believe places like Riot craft store and eBay stock these empty plastic eggs that you can fill year round so all is not lost if your party is in September ;p Worst case scenario, boil some eggs, dip in coloured water and boom, you have coloured eggs for the race instead.
Game 7 – Party Bags
I am not the mum who gives out a big bag of lollies to each kid, and given we had the piñata & the egg & spoon race, they already have a few treats. So I filled by party bag with the following:
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Kmart bubble stick $1 each
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Couple of Kmart party goods (slinky, bracelets, cars, rings etc) $1 each
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2 small chocolates (think mini Smartie pack, Freddo, Mini Twirl etc) 80c each
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I added a handmade necklace for the girls at Ava’s party but use your imagination as to what you could make, if you’re feeling crafty
I put all of this inside a brown bag with a handmade tag (designed & printed at home) saying thank you for coming to Ava’s party, attached with a ribbon – 80c each
FINAL TIP: Write lists. Lists are your best friend. Write a list for who is coming, list for games, list for what is needed for games etc.I hope some of these ideas have helped you or given you inspiration for fun, budget friendly party entertainment. Keep your eyes peeled for the next instalment of the party newsletter…what to feed people!
Happy party planning,
Jess x
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