This is our first real "friends" party. We're just going to have a bounce house and a few activities at our place. I'm wondering what sounds like the most sense to those with a little more experience. We can have the party from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm and include burgers and hotdogs on the grill. My SIL thought 3 hours was too much. We could have it from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and still include lunch. Or we could have it from 1:00 to 3:00 and just have cake and icecream or some other snack.
What do you think makes the most sense?
Hmmm, my only thought was bouncy house + full stomachs = bad. :)
I'd go 1-3 with cake and ice cream at the very end.
Three hours is perfect for that age group if you would like to serve a meal. If you go with two hours, the kids won't want to eat; they'll be having too much fun bouncing. So get the most out of the bounce house rental and do 3. Believe me, it will go by very, very quickly especially if you do cake and ice cream and open presents on top of it.
If you'd like to save some cash on the meal and just do cake/ice cream and bounce, I'd do 1-3 p.m.
I vote for 1:00 to 3:00. 7 year olds can be picky eaters, and you might have kids with food allergies coming to the party. In my opinion, when it comes to kids, less food = less whining, less mess, and less you having to be the waitress serving a crowd of impatient kids. Serve cake, juice boxes, and maybe popsicles. And then sit back, relax, and watch the kids entertain themselves!
If the grown-ups are going to stay, be sure to have beverages and a few snack items for them too. Have a great party!
11 to 2 is perfect. Three hours is the normal amount of time for a birthday party.
If you don't want to have to spend as much to feed them lunch, do it in the afternoon. But for a bounce house and a few activities, I can't see any less than three hours.
We've had 3 hours parties for my kids.
When my son was turning 6.
And it was fine.
It was from 10:00am-1:00pm.
We served lunch and cake etc.
The timing of it was perfect, and we had the party start at 10:00am because that was good for us. And I did not want a party to end later than 2:00. And most everyone said, they were glad our party started at 10:00am when their kids were still quite fresh and active and then by lunch time, at 11:30, the kids were hungry.
And, I did not want to "start" a party, AT lunch time. Kids play first. Then eat. Then cake etc. Its a natural progression.
It is your and your child's party. Not your SIL's.
So YOU decide, the time of it. Not her.
A 1:00 party start time, to me... would still assume, that "lunch" is being served. Not snacks.
You need to say, in the invites, if it is lunch or not. Snacks/cake and lunch or just snacks/cake will be served. SO that, the parents of the invited will know to give their kids lunch first or not, before... going to the party.
1-3
No lunch
Just cake and ice cream
Easy...
Updated
1-3
No lunch
Just cake and ice cream
Easy...
I would do 1-3 also and just provide cake and maybe a few light snacks that you can just leave out like grapes, pretzels, whatever. 3 hours is a long party.
If you have a bounce house it is unlikely the kids will want to do much else. i would have a few outdoor toys set up for the kids to use but expect that most of the action will be in that bounce for the entire two hours.
When you rent bounce houses you usually get to keep them for like 8 hours or something so I would just have his cousins (if he has some his own age) or his best friend hang out longer so he can have a buddy to use up the bounce time...b/c why let it go to waste! ;)
Also, it's possible that parents might come to pick up the kids but will end up socializing while the kids bounce for another 20-30 minutes and that would be okay too. I wouldn't rush it if you don't care, but I would have parents start coming at the 2 hour mark.
When my kids were little, I usually did include lunch but the kids didn't need much time to eat. They really wanted to get back to whatever activities were going on. I'd say 2 hours with no lunch served, maybe tack on half an hour if you do decide to serve food. Good luck!
Two hours. Doesn't matter which. If you have it from 1 to 3 parents will still expect lunch unless you include something like 'cake and ice cream will be served'. This is fine - they just need to know whether to feed the kids or not beforehand.
1-3 is great muchies set up but not a formal meal.
just curious, are there a limited amount of kids that can be in the bounce house? if so what will the other kids do while waiting their turn? that's always been something I've wondered about.
We had my daughter's first kid party in March when she turned 6. We made the party 11:30-2:30pm with lunch included. I let the girls play for an hour then we had pizza. After pizza we did a craft, the after the craft was cake and then they played until the got picked up. I think you'll be fine with 11am-2pm. I've been having kid parties for my son for 3 years since he first turned 6 and I've always had them last 3 hours.
Kids want to have unlimited play time. They don't want to stop for activities or crafts, they want to play.
They may not even want to do cake and ice cream....I do that very very last for this reason. If he opens gifts let him do it while the kids are eating the cake. That way he can do that and they are doing something to stay busy and sitting down.
Two hours with lunch sounds best. Give them something besides sugar to eat and makes the party more organized for less chaos!
I think if you do 11-2, that's fine! My kids love extra time with their friends. If I stayed, we would probably leave before the 3 hours was up - depending on my relationship with the family.
Our kids party is tomorrow evening from 7-10 (the only time we are able to privately rent the local pool). Only one parent is dropping their son off (every one else is staying) and I told her to come at 9pm in case he is done or if we end up finishing early, which I suspect will happen. But we'll see! For that time, we are having chips, pizza, sodas, water, and juice boxes. We also have a cake, obviously. So basically the food will be out for much of the time and people can eat when they want - even though I think a lot of people eat dinner before 7.
Really, just do what works for you.
11am - 2pm with lunch sounds great.
Definitely do the food. Also include some snacky items like chips & carrot sticks.
Three hours is great so you can let them have fun & eat.
