XP - 3rd Birthday Party Question

KathrynMD

DD's birthday is in a month (yikes!)

I had originally planned to just have it at our house and let the kids play in the house and the playroom and run around like maniacs.  I'll probably have ~10-15 kids - most are around 3, a few older preschooler and maybe 1 or 2 young toddlers. 

I'm a little worried that they will either get bored or destructive, so I'm thinking of renting a bounce house for the afternoon. 

So. .. question #1 - do you think I NEED the bounce house or do think everyone will be fine just playing 

question #2 - do you think a bounce house in December is a bad idea? 

howleyshell

1.  If it's a 2 hour party I think you'll be fine with just playing.  Much more than that and you may have issues.

2.  Have a back up plan for the bounce house in case the weather is awful.  In our cold weather climate many have a plan B of putting the bounce house in the garage and running space heaters in there.  I wouldn't do a bounce house without a back up plan or the ability to cancel that morning if it's too cold.

I'm considering clearing the furniture out of our family room and putting our bounce house/slide inside......

 

 

n&bcarlson

We did a two hour party with about 10 kids and what I did was provide a few crafts that moms could do with the kids for the first hour (we did picture frames and fairy princess wands, plus a dress up station), then food and cake for the second hour.  We also did an egg hunt outside ("Dragon" eggs to fit the princess theme, filled with little goodies).  This was a great structured but active activity.  You could do it inside, maybe with chocolate coins, too (treasure hunt).  My DD doesn't like bounce houses, so we needed alternatives.

Around here (MA) there's no way a bounce house would work in the winter, but I know MD is a little more mild.  But you have to be willing to have people going in and out of the house a lot, so if it's muddy, or cold out, or there are lots of leaves on the ground to be dragged inside, this could be inconvenient. 

redfish08

Our DS LOVED the bounce house. But it was summertime. With our rental company, you could cancel within 24 hrs. Could that be an option for you if it's too cold? Otherwise, new toys in someone else's playroom always keeps kids happy.

KristinKD

I'm in a similar situation, damn winter birthdays! I reserved a bounce castle for DD2's birthday in two weeks so I'm hoping the weather stays nice enough for it. A day like today would be great! Of course the closer you get to winter the riskier it gets. You might see if you can reserve one and cancel it if necessary when you have a better idea of the forecast.

I think 10-15 kids is a lot to have just running around the house. If you don't end up getting a bounce castle, I'd probably mix a few games into their free play time, like freeze dance or musical chairs or a pinata, or have an easy craft like foam bookmarks or ornaments and foam stickers to decorate.

MrsLeanna

For DDs 3rd birthday we had a bounce house and a Tinkerbell character, it was a 3 hour party and I did not want all the kids in the house in the playroom. I felt that they would be destructive with DDs toys and it would not be fair to DD. I live in S. Fla so winter is not too much of an issue here and I wanted the party to be mainly outside. If weather is an issue for you, you could consider hiring a character ot clown to come entertain the kids for a while. 

Calliopi

We did the same thing last year.  No bounce house but had some craft projects, a pinata and pin the tail on the donkey.  It was a 2 hour party and with these, some playing, food and cake it took up the entire time no problem. You should be fine.