tips for all-class bday party?

[♥ms.pacman♥]

next weekend DD (turning 4) will be having her bday party at a science museum downtown. Unlike DS, she wanted to invite her entire class, and it looks like we will have a decent turnout (over a dozen kids had already RSVP'ed). Yay! I am so excited for her.

This will be our very first all-class party, and at a venue as well (DS's had his at same venue but it was mostly family & family friends..only 2 of his classmates came..so not a ton of people plus most the kids were 5 and older). Any general tips?? the theme is science/ rainbow (colors). The party is from 12:30-2pm, they will do an activity and we will be getting the museum catering service to provide pizza, and we will bring fruit, juice, water, etc. We will buying cupcakes to give out but DD wants to make an Elsa cake (haha ..not sure how the transportation will work on that one). As for goodie bags, since there will be so many kids., we plan to just get dollar store stuff and give fruit snack packs and stuff. a couple of kids will be bringing siblings (2 and under)..i will have gift bag for them too, but not sure they can participate in the activity which was marked as 4+ (it involves clay).

i should probably ask but i assumed we would do activity first and hten they would provide pizza.dh was wondering since he felt bad making kids wait till ~1pm to have pizza. the museum is a 45 minute drive for most. i don't think my kids would care as long as there were snacks etc, but i don't know. sorry this is rambling. when we had DS's it seemed like it just went by so fast and with so many people coming i just want to avoid any major snafus!

[mom2binsd]

I would not do goodie bags for the siblings who are that little.

For the goodie bags for the 4 year olds, I'd keep it simple, maybe candy or fruit snacks and crayons, or a ball, honestly my kids loved when they got to take a balloon home better than any dollar store junk. I'm not sure on the timing, maybe some of the kids will have eaten anyway and I think the activity should be first..

[SnuggleBuggles]

I would not do goodie bags for the siblings who are that little.

For the goodie bags for the 4 year olds, I'd keep it simple, maybe candy or fruit snacks and crayons, or a ball, honestly my kids loved when they got to take a balloon home better than any dollar store junk. I'm not sure on the timing, maybe some of the kids will have eaten anyway and I think the activity should be first..

:yeahthat:

I'm not opposed to goodie bags for little siblings but it'd be totally ok to give them less of a goodie bag if you do one. I hate $ store "stuff"; we usually keep it for a few weeks then I chuck it. Like disposable and/ or consumable. Like pp- a ball or a balloon. A bag of goldfish (fruit snacks are banned here :)) and a sheet of stickers. A cookie. It'd be fun to work the rainbow theme, maybe. A fun wand with ribbons would be cool or a prism- the museum might sell them.

The schedule is likely set by the museum based on what else is going on there (other parties...) but you can certainly ask about switching it up. I think snacks til pizza time are fine. Buy the tiniest water bottles you can find or ask them if they can provide pitchers of water- even easier.

We always make our own cakes and I have a handy cake transporter box. Still kind of a pain but not too bad.

1.5 hours is fast so it should be easy and fun! I like parties short and simple. :) Have fun! SOrry to nit pick your ideas, btw! Years of birthdays have me a bit twitchy about goodie bags.

Do your guests know about the age restriction? If not, you should tell them. First I would talk to the museum though to see what they say about participation. Our gymnastics' parties require 4+ and are very strict about it, for example.

[AngB]

Could you do the Elsa cake at home with just family maybe? I personally would not mess a cake at a party that's at a museum when you are only going to have 1.5 hours and be doing an activity plus eating lunch. (Last year we did a party for DS1 on a Saturday at Purina farms and just did provided/bought cupcakes with the kids, the next day was his actual birthday and we did his Paw Patrol bday cake at home, it would have been a huge hassle and mess to deal with it at the bday party.)

Will they be taking their clay item/activity home? I would assume that's the favor and maybe give them a cookie or whatever and call it done. I try to leave goody bags in the car and then throw the stuff away as soon as the kids forget. Balls, coloring books, balloons are big hits with my kids.

[HannaAddict]

We always do goodie bags for siblings that are younger that we know are coming and have age appropriate items, maybe bubbles and chalk or kid crayons. I would skip Elsa and do it for an at home celebration if my child could be convinced of that! Sounds fun and our whole class parties are always a blast! The more the merrier around here. :)

[Mopey]

I think the order is fine and people will probably give their kids snacks beforehand. Agree to check with the museum about the age/activity. As for the goody bags....we just came home from a party and it is all candy and crap. Not that it's not fun but it's a waste IMHO. For Mopey's birthday in a couple of weeks I am giving bags with a book (I have a little Scholastic problem and they had a 15 books for $20 deal in January :bag), some stickers, temp tattoos and a cookie favor (since that's my work/specialty) - the venue provides a balloon to each kid too. There will be about 15 kids. Miss Mopey wants a rainbow butterfly cake so she will have it - but we just have super short cab ride and it's my job so she gets to have it (we will have cupcakes at home on her actual birthday....anyone know where I can find Frozen figurines?!?!). So my preference as a mom has always been more useful goody bags (she's loved a small beach ball, sunnies, girly bracelet and temp tattoos). HTH!! And have fun!! :cheerleader1: