Kids Activities – Page 2

My Top 7 Tips for a Successful Birthday Party!

How to organise a stress-free birthday party

I’ve always been adamant that I wasn’t going to get caught up in the whole Birthday party thing; inviting the entire class and spending a fortune. However, I don’t mind paying a bit more for a small group to do something special.

Last year we didn’t have a party when our daughter turned 5. It was her first year at the school, her birthday is in September and we didn’t know enough people to invite. So, we had a quiet family party and spent the day with one of her closest friends. However, after attending a plethora of parties this year there was no way we were going to get away with it this year.

I’ve had a party at the house once and if I’m honest it cost nearly as much, was stressful and I was left to clear up the mess at the end. Plus our house is tiny.

1.) Find the right venue!

This year we decided to go sledging at the Hemel Snow Centre near St Albans. It’s not cheap at £19.95 per child, but after I booked I had a nosy at other venues, mostly soft play and it was only about £3 cheaper a head and you didn’t get a warm buffet.

However, the sledging party included:

45 minutes sledging
2 party hosts
Hot Buffet
Visit from the Snow Cat
Party room for an hour
Invitations
4 Adults can join in

Plus, for an additional £30 you can have waterproof clothing for all the kids, which I think the parents appreciated. All we really needed was a pair of wellies or snow boots.

2.) Get down and boogie

I was a bit nervous about what we were going to do in the party room with 10 hyper kids for an hour. However, the time flew by, by the time they ate we only had about 30 minutes to fill. You can bring your own music as they have a docking station but do bare in mind the new Iphone 5s don’t work.

Prior to the party I put a little birthday party playlist together of songs that I thought would get them dancing. I did check out a few kids party albums, but they really did make my ears bleed.

Top 10 songs for Children’s Party

Get the Party Started – Spacer
Firework – Katy Perry
Dancing Queen – Abba
What Makes you Beautiful – One Direction
I like to Move It – Madagascar
Dance With Me Tonight – Olly Murs
Gangnam Style – PSY
Mama Mia – Abba
Call My Name – Cheryl
YMCA – Village People

3.) Kids Musical Party Games

As an ex-teacher the thought of children running riot with no structure terrified me. However, I didn’t want to go down the road of bringing loads of equipment to play games, wanting to keep it as simple as possible. As I had the Ipod with us I decided on musical games. As soon as I thought they were going a bit ‘doolally’ we gathered them together and played a quick game of Musical Bumps.

However, I’d also planned:

Musical Chairs
Musical Statues
Limbo

Don’t forget to bring prizes for the winner. I opted for little bags of gold coins that cost .45p each.

4.) Don’t forget the cake!

I know some parents are hell bent on baking their own cakes for their kid’s birthday parties, I applaud them and I’m sure the look on their faces is worth it. However, as I’m domestically challenged, if I baked a cake for my daughter I’d definitely remember the look of sheer disappointment on her face. I’m a strong believer of paying the professionals and knowing ones limitations.

In St Albans, we are blessed as we have the lovely Lucy from Heavens a Cupcake who is incredibly talented. All I said to her was that it was a sledging party and I needed 12 cupcakes. Aren’t they gorgeous! She makes all the toppings by hand and they not only look amazing they taste amazing as well.

5.) Say no to Party Bags!

As I’ve mentioned before I’m not a huge fan of party bags. I hate seeing parents waste money on bags full of plastic tat that ends up in the recycling bin when the kids aren’t looking. I originally was going to just give out books. I bought a 10 pack of Horrid Henry Books for Early Readers from the Book People for £9.99 but then had a wobble as I thought the kids may be disappointed as they would be expecting a party bag.

So, I popped to the Mr. Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe in St Albans and bought little bags of traditional sweets (£1 each) for the kids. In the end each party bag cost just under £2 which I think is reasonable. Do consider buying an extra one just in case.

6.) Phone a friend

I was absolutely blessed that the parents that came to help out, were not only friends but they’re also the type of people to jump in and help at any point. They could tell I was a little befuddled so jumped right in setting up the room whilst the rest of us were traipsing up and down the hill. Thanks ladies!

7.) Thank you cards

I’m a big stickler for thank you cards, but we all know that it can be incredibly stressful and frustrating to get an early writer to write 10 thank you cards. I tend to cheat, I use services like Photobox, where I can upload my own photo and create our own thank you card using the post card option. Each child then ends up with a photo to remember the day by.

Did I miss anything? If so, please do leave a comment below.

Disclosure: The Wellies were courtesy of Start Rite Shoes for review purposes but aren’t they gorgeous. I want a pair for myself.

How to beat the heat!

Summer Activity Camps for Kids Near St Albans

Even though we love to moan about the weather in the UK we have to admit that we’ve had a pretty good summer so far.

When we had the mini heat wave a few weeks ago, it was challenging trying to think of things to keep my daughter cool during the first part of the school holidays. You couldn’t pay me enough to go to the local Splash Park as it’s always heaving and I’d end up having an altercation with another parent! We’re lucky as we have access to the local Dive Club Swimming pool.

But what about ice-skating or sledging?

Bet you didn’t think of that.

Two weeks ago we were invited to the SnoZone in Milton Keyes which is an indoor ski slope, which always intrigues me being Canadian. The Snozone is less than an hour from St Albans. This is the first time that the SnoZone is offering Summer Fun Activities, to keep kids active and entertained. There is a great balance of on and off the slopes activities (e.g wacky races, dodgeball, sledging, ultimate Frisbee, dance classes, junk music, arts & crafts) for kids aged 5+.

As you can see our daughter had a great time and so did her pal.

Children can do either a half day (£24.99) or full day (£34.99) which includes snacks and refreshments. Parents can drop kids off, sit in the cafe and watch or possibly hit the slopes themselves. All you’ll need is some warm clothing and water proof gloves.

My daughters pink padded jacket with reflective piping was courtesy of Aldi’s Back to School Range

How to play cards with kids

I come from a long line of card players. Some of my first memories of my Grandfather was playing cards. He was a dreadful cheat. This is how he used to babysit us. I learned how to play cribbage from a very early age and so did many of my 22 cousins!

We’ve recently started introduce our 5 year old to a variety of card games. Snap, Go Fish, Memory and Old Maid. Have you ever tried playing cards with a 5 year old especially when it requires them to hold a mittful of cards? She is forever dropping them all over the floor and becomes increasingly frustrated. Bless!

But then I discovered, thanks to the net, this handy little trick. It’s pure genius.

It’s so simple. Just using a clothes peg, then they can hold the peg. Problem solved!

Do you have any other tips when playing games with kids? Please do leave them in the comments.

If you’d like to learn how to play Go Fish here are the rules.

Activities for Kids Over Easter 2013, near St Albans, Herts

Just having my pre school holiday panic! We don’t have any built in playmates for our 5 year old except the cats and us and we can only take so much so I do try and arrange a few things for her over half-term. As an only child we really like her to socialize with other kids and to be active.

On my travels around the net I found the following activities and thought you may find them useful. We haven’t signed her up to all of them we do like to set aside a couple of days to chill.

Westminster Lodge is running Activity Camps over the holidays. It’s a bargain at £20 a day!

Ashridge Easter Egg trail – We are huge fans of Ashridge Forest and have been on the Easter Egg Trail before. We have plans to go on the Sunday possibly followed by lunch at The Red Lion in Lower Dagnall.

Butterfly World Looks like they have lots on. I like the sound of Easter Art on Easter Sunday

Stockwood Discovery Centre (Luton) another one of our favourites, also looks like they have a lot on during the holidays. It’s free to get in but then you just pay a couple of quid for craft activities. If it’s a nice day bring a picnic and a blanket, alternatively there is a cafe.

Down in the Woods – I’m absolutely gutted that I’ve already booked our daughter into something on the 2nd of April as I love the sound of their play scheme. Children spend either a full day or half a day the in the woods playing woodland games, camp building, natural crafts and cooking on an open fire. (scroll down the page for the description)

Fine Art 4 Kids – Are running a series of 2 hour workshops for kids. They learn about an artist then make their own work of art. I’m still undecided as I’m not sure if it’s too old for our daughter.

I’d really like to find something that involves dance or drama. If you of anything please do leave a comment below!

We’re going on a Raindrop Hunt!

It rains 1 day out of 3 in the UK. I know I’ve researched it. So we have to make the most of it. Last week, when it had just stopped raining, I armed my 5 year old daughter with my camera phone and we went for a walk in search of rain drops.

It was brilliant, however, it took fricking ages to get to Sainsbury’s.

What do you do with your kids in the rain? Would love some inspiration.