Childrens Party Ideas & Tips
If you're planning a childrens party and looking for childrens party ideas and tips - especially if it's the first time - here are some useful childrens party ideas and tips to ensure a trouble free day. The following are links to sections on this page:
Ideas on budgeting for the party
Catering ideas
Find a venue ideas
Entertainment ideas
Theming ideas
Presents for the children
Selecting on selecting suppliers
Working with children – Health & Safety
Enthusiasm
Ideas on Budgeting For The Party
How much have you got to spend?
You can’t get away from it but your event budget pretty much makes
or breaks any sizeable party. Bearing this in mind it is worth remembering
that the government recently upped their TAX FREE hospitality spend from
£75 to £150 per head. If you have been given the responsibility
of organising an event it might be worth pushing for the maximum budget
possible!
How much do you need?
As a rough guide, if you use professional party planners, £50 a
head based on parties over 200 children, will buy you event theming and
a good variety of entertainers, shows and rides. For approximately £40
a head you should be able to secure an interesting central London venue
day-time slot and basic children’s catering.
Smaller parties can often be hosted in-house i.e. your canteen or a boardroom.
Based on about 50 children your budget would need to rise to £60
a head for a fully themed party but you can quite easily get away with
a simpler party and just hire a good entertainer @ £250 - £400
for 2 hours.
Volunteers
A company event can often generate a greater feel-good factor if the
team get involved. Use professional entertainers and set designers as
much as possible but there are activities that are ideal for volunteers
to get stuck into, such as:
- Running Arts & Crafts activities
- Santa Claus or elves if a Christmas party
- Face-painting (use water-based paints only)
- Cookie baking & decorating
- Lucky dips
- Simple balloon modelling (books can teach you all you need!)
Volunteers are also great for signing guests in and generally supervising
exits, staircases or looking after Santa and present giving. It is always
fun to get your volunteers to dress the same so that guests know who to
approach. In our experience people don’t need much persuading to
don a pair of fairy wings!
Childrens Party Catering Ideas
At any party your guests will take it for granted that some form of catering
is provided. However in our experience a lot of food can go to waste if
the party falls outside meal times. On the other hand beware that adults
often eat the children’s food if there is nothing provided for them.
Ideally look to providing lots of drinks for the children in an easily
disposable way. If you have water-coolers in your building why not fill
them with squash for a quick, easy solution. Children go for snacky finger
food at parties and they like to graze. Meal times are not really a good
idea. Have a buffet available throughout & offer old favourites presented
in a fun, colourful way. Cold food is by far the easiest and cheapest
option.
- Iced fairy cakes
- Sausages (very popular!)
- Fruit kebabs (use small, blunt sticks)
- Crisps
- Mini shaped sandwiches
- Shaped, iced biscuits
As a general guide try to avoid all nuts and offer vegetarian options.
Venues often offer catering included but this is not always the most
cost effective option. Your company’s own caterers might be able
to help out or you can ask your party planners to take care of it. It
is worth asking if you can book the venue on a dry hire basis and bring
in your own food.
Presenting the children’s food in colourful food boxes is cheapest
& easy. Otherwise kiddie tableware, cloths, plates, bowls and cups
can be bought in party shops such London’s Non-Stop Party Shop or
mail-order from Party Pieces.
It is a good idea to provide tea & coffee and a snack for parents
too. For a Christmas event mince pies are a good choice. Otherwise order
double the number of kid’s food as adults often eat more than kids
at parties!
Find A Venue Ideas
Again if you are using a party planner they can usually recommend a suitable
venue for you. If you are going it alone here are some basic tips to help
you find a suitable venue.
Smaller Parties
If your party is only for say up to 100 children and you want a central
venue then a Hotel is often a good option. Hotels have large comfortable
conference rooms and you can get a good deal on a day-time slot provided
you are all out by 5pm, which is when they might start setting up for
an evening function. Many London Hotels have unusual and interesting spaces.
Look in the Harden’s guide for something near you.
Other interesting options for smaller numbers include a Thames River
boat, the Cutty Sark, the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden, the Aquarium
or one of London’s many Museums.
Middle size Parties
For 100 – 300 children marquees run by events companies are a good
bet. These are available summer and winter and can be in pretty and interesting
locations such as London Zoo or the Royal Hospital Gardens in Kensington.
Larger Parties
Some events marquees will be able to cater for large parties of up to
1000 children, but remember to ask for venue size in terms of seated not
standing room, as children’s parties require children to move about
and room for rides may be required.
If you’re in London, City or Canary Wharf conferencing venues are
also ideal for large parties as they are used to big numbers and over
Christmas they often get into the festive spirit with some themed decorations.
Our tops picks are The Brewery in the City and Cabot Hall in the heart
of Canary Wharf.
Entertainment Ideas
This is where budget does determine all. If you are on a limited budget
you are advised to pick out the most important aspects of children’s
entertainment before worrying about the look of the event. In an ideal
world you want a party planner to conjure up that WOW factor fairytale,
but this is not always possible on a limited budget.
In our experience ‘core’ party elements at a large party
are:
- Santa (if a Christmas party & in a grotto if possible)
- Good walk-about entertainment to rove the venue
- Age specific “doing” activities
- Age specific “physical” activities
- Ongoing shows on a main stage
- A main show to close the event
At a smaller party you can get away without physical activities and rides
but it is important to consider the age group you are catering for. A
really good entertainer can happily amuse a group of up to 30 children
provided the ages are not too diverse.
Theming Ideas
Whether you have the money or not, a party theme really adds that special
touch to any children’s event. For example you can ask children
to come in fancy dress. A childrens party theme can add inspiration to decorations and
stimulate fun party food ideas. A really fun idea is to generate excitement
before the event by sending out themed invitations. For example why not
send out personalised chocolate bars for a Chocolate Factory Party or
treasure maps for a Pirate theme.
A good party planner will be able to use set design, sound and light,
shows, games and walkabout characters to ‘make believe’ the
party is taking place in a magical world. If using a party planner do
check that all the entertainment complements the theming and the look.
In an ideal world entertainers have worked together before, which allows
for ‘special moments’ of impromptu interaction between characters,
and gives a ‘theatre performance’ feel.
Present Ideas For the Children
If you decide you'd like to give presents to the children, then one option is to make a trip to Toys-R-Us or somewhere similar. Unfortunately, this is time consuming and it can be hard to find age-appropriate presents all within a similar budget. Then you've got to get them home and gift-wrap them all. This again takes a significant amount of time and the novelty wears off very quickly!
The alternative is to use Abbey Distributors. For a fixed budget, starting at just £3.00 plus VAT per child, you can order superb value, age-appropriate presents and have them gift wrapped and delivered, ready for Santa to hand out. Most customers say the whole process is done in less than 30 minutes! www.childrenspartytoys.co.uk. You can even order online.
Ideas on Selecting Suppliers
Entertainers
How can you find good entertainers for your event?
If you are going through an agency or are using party planners you can
ask to see video of parties and ask for references. You should also check
the profile of the type of entertainer they supply. For example can you
expect energetic, versatile entertainers who visibly enjoy working with
children and will adapt their entertainment programme to your requirements,
or are you booking a set ‘act’ which might be inflexible.
If you are looking to book an independent entertainer, it’s best
to go by referral. It might be worth sending a group e-mail to your colleagues
to ask for recommendations.
Rides and equipment
If you are looking to hire bouncy castles or fairground rides you can
certainly expect to see images of what you are booking before the event.
Any physical play equipment you hire must come with an operator and for
a children’s event it is worth checking that you are getting a child-friendly
minder with your ride. You can request clean-shaven, non-smoker with experience
of children’s parties. Crechendo recommend Funtime Hire for their
reliability and friendly staff.
You may need to hire children’s tables and chairs for you party
and Crechendo recommend the Non-stop party shop. Please note though that
tables have rough wooden tops and you need to provide tablecloths.
General note on suppliers
One vital question to ask any supplier or party planner is what contingencies
they have in place for when things go wrong – because they do!
Entertainers might get sick or be detained on a broken train. Will you
get a replacement? Delivery vans might break down. How will the supplier
deal with this? Have you been given an out of office hours contact number?
Is there a duty manager looking after your booking or an event manager
who will co-ordinate your event on the day?
Working With Children – Health & Safety
It is important to know that when you are hosting a children’s
party you are taking on legal responsibility for their safety.
If you are using an agency or party planner do ask to see their public
liability insurance details and request a risk assessment for the event
for your own insurance. At a larger event the advantage of using a party
planner is that they will look after all these aspects in regard to entertainment,
rides, catering and venue. If you are going it alone, set up a health
and safety file with sections for each aspects of the party such as venue,
entertainers, rides, food, first aid etc and make sure you have insurance
details and risk assessments for each supplier.
It is required to provide first aid for any event involving children.
This could be your company’s own first-aider or Crechendo recommend
booking St John’s Ambulance staff for a donation of £50 -
£100 per person.
Enthusiasm
An informal but vital ingredient. Do not book your party with anyone
who is not 100% enthusiastic about your party regardless of budget. Children’s
entertainment is an emotive product and any party planner, agent, caterer,
hire company or entertainer worth considering will have a passion for
what they do.
These tips have been provided by Boo
Productions.
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