My son's 4th birthday party is coming up in a few weeks. It's going to be in a rec center gym, with a bouncy house, and they will set up some mats, and have some soccer balls and kick balls around. It's a superhero themed party, but so far that pretty much means a batman cake and the kids can wear superhero costumes if they have them. In lieu of a goody bag, I'm going to have a craft table for decorating your own cape and mask, but that's not really a structured event; kids can just go over there with their parents when they want. We'll have a Batman pinata, but aside from pizza and cake, that's the only structured activity. I'm wondering if I need to have more planned activities? I searched on the web and found all these ideas for superhero themed games, but both my husband and I feel like the kids will be too excited to sit still for games. Any advice?
IME, 4 year old kids basically like to run around and be goof balls, so you should be good to go! LOL
At my son's 4th birthday party, the most popular event was a scavenger hunt. I hid clues in various places -- so each clue led to the next. As in, I'd put a piece of paper on the table and write "CHAIR" on it. On the chair was a piece of paper that said "DOOR." They went through a series of clues until they found the "treasure" (a bathtub full of small, cheap party favors). The kids LOVED this. At this age, they were just beginning to connect letters to sounds, so I could say, "This clue starts with a D. What sound does D make?" -- Parents loved that part. In general, though, it sounds like a great party. If the kids already know each other and are friends, you don't have to schedule too much.
Sounds like so much fun! I bet the kids will be so busy in the bouncy house that you wouldn't be able to get them out for games anyway :0). I think the craft table is a great idea!! Maybe add some color books/crayons or plain paper for them to draw also. I remember being so surprised at my oldest son's 5 year old party when one child didn't want to participate in any of the games (tape the tail on the donkey, toss the ball into the blow-up baseball guy, bowling >>all from Target >>everyone got a prize for their bucket (sandpails from the dollar store instead of a bag) so everyone was a winner)....he was just more sensitive then the rest (and that's OK!!). I realized then that I needed to have other options for those that might not want to do the group thing. :0)
I think it sounds good! My son's 5th birthday is next week (theme is Batman) and we're doing the bounce house thing too, with maybe a few games like musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey, etc. Kids can participate if they want. I'm also going to scatter around some Batman crayons that I found at the party store and blank paper, so if some kids want a quiet moment, they can color to their heart's content.
I've attended 4 birthday parties over the past few weeks and have found the real structured activities to be very stressful for both kids and their parents. Half the kids have no interest in doing them and just want to go back to free play.
Good luck!
I think it's enough. Kids that age don't need a lot to be entertained & kept happy. If you do too much, they'll just get overwhelmed & if you try to force organized activities at planned times, it stops being fun. Sounds like a great party!
NO -I am adamantly against a bunch of planned activities for kids! Kids need to play freely! They're at a gym with balls, mats and a bouncy house? What more do kids need? Especially if they're dressed in superhero costumes -they'll chase each other and play for hours if allowed. Just let them have fun. I've often noted in my posts to these types of questions that kids who attend our kids' birthday parties often say they're the best parties they've ever been to -and we have NO planned activities. We're at our house where they just play with the toys we have and run around and eat cake. I think so many kid have incredibly structures lives these days that they revel in a few hours of truly free time.
It sounds perfect. I attempted games at my son's 4th birthday and it didn't go over that well. Many kids had no interest and those who played often wound up in tears because they didn't "win". After two attempts we ditched the games and just let the kids play. They loved the pinata when we did it! Many kids had no interest in wearing the blindfold and it still worked great, we just let kids hit in order of youngest to oldest in case the older (stronger) kids got it open. Make sure the bags you pass out for collecting the pinata prizes have the kid's names on it, so there is no confusion when it's time to go. Sounds like a perfect party for 4year olds! Have fun!
You can always do some structured running games if you feel they are not able to entertain themselves. My boys liked red light/green light, ball tag, freeze tag, etc. When you put the search term "gym games" into a search engine you'll get tons of websites with ideas for such games for all different sizes of groups. But I think most likely they'll be able to entertain themselves.
I just did a very similar bday party for my 5 year-old. We had the inflatable bounce house & bounce slide and also soccer. It was at a soccer facility so they had coaches do soccer games with the kids. You might have a few ideas for soccer games handy just in case you feel things are too wild during the party. The kids LOVED them...most of the kids were 4 because it's the kids in my son's preschool class and he is just turning 5...so he missed the cutoff for Kindergarten. Anyway some of the games were like this:
Kids sit in a circle (on a soccer ball, keeps them sitting there for a second) and explain that you (or your husband) is the giant mouse. The soccer balls are pieces of cheese. They stand up and spread out, keeping their ball with them. So when you say go, they have to kick the pieces of cheese into the goal without you gobbling it up. I swear you can recycle that same idea into so many games...and they LOVE it! Have fun!
