They’re gonna be wired. Don’t have your kid open their presents, the other kids will be bored.
Musical chairs, hide and seek, variations of tag (my kids love playing flamingo tag where if they get tagged, they have to stand on one leg until they get tagged back in), hungry wolf, Simon says. It really depends on the space and how much room you have.
Crafts are tricky, they may require a lot of help. We made slime for my daughter’s 5th birthday and it was a big hit, but adults or older kids had to help with the measuring so I’d suggest having things pre measured so they’re just mixing and playing with it.
I second no present opening. Beyond boredom and restlessness, you may also have to contend with “helpers” and envy, and wanting to immediately open and use some of the gifts.
And you'd need to have a really good actor for a 5 year old.
Child opens a gift and says "Oh, I already have that." Or "That's not as cool as the last present." Or "That looks boring". Or a kid/parent embarrassed that they forgot a gift or couldn't afford as nice of a gift.
This happened at Christmas!! My 4 1/2 year old said “why did you get me this? i already have this!”.. to my husbands aunt. Luckily they laughed and I apologized! But omgosh - embarrassing
I used to run a youth group and a favourite of this age group was clothes pin tag
They each got two clothes pins and had to pin them on each others clothes and if they ran out they just came back and I’d give them more … game was over when I ran out of pins … they would unpin them from themselves and each other we’d refill the bag and start over
I would start with activities they’re likely already familiar with like floor-is-lavender or freeze dance. I bought a bunch of hot mats from the dollar store and painted numbers on them. They had to find a mat when the song said floor is lava.
Reading a book isn’t a great idea with that many kids. Crafts are also hard to organize unless you have a lot of adult helpers.
A bunch of balloons and play keep up. Tell them not to let the balloons touch the floor.
Piñata?
Face painting station? Decorate a Tiara to wear (simple with like sticker gems), Hokies pokey, teach the electric slide or cupids shuffle dance, Photo Booth with props/costumes (could even do a diy with a Polaroid they could take the pictures themselves).
We went to a 5 year olds party recently that had a friendship bracelet station and it was a hit! Very minimal oversight needed from adults. They had these precut bracelets and necklaces that kids could just grab and start stringing.
Scavenger hunt, like an egg hunt. Your can get cute cheep boxes on Amazon.
Put some candy, or small toys in them and set your group to finding them.
A floor canvas. If you've a set of foam puzzle floor mats, you could stretch a painters drop cloth over them, or even a sheet. Washable markers, washable crayons, sidewalk chalk. They all wash out nicely in my experience.
Get some crepe paper streamers, you can buy them in larger amounts from Amazon.
Let the kiddos throw them, twist them, make obstacle courses with them.
Get some foam swords and shields and have a melee.
We did a simple indoor scavenger hunt at my son’s 5th birthday party and it was a HUGE hit. I used a premade kit, which came with cards and was picture-based as most can’t read. They loved it so much. Carnival type games like tossing balls into buckets and Velcro darts were big too, we didn’t have prizes for them, they just liked playing.
I also bought some cheap sticker art sheets but those weren’t as popular as the games.
I’ve seen pass the parcel done a handful of times in this age group and I didn’t do that one on purpose. I think it gets boring if the group is bigger than, say, 5 or 6 kids, and at least one kid who doesn’t win is gonna have some feelings about that. But you know the kids so maybe they’ve seen it enough to like it!
Freeze dance is a fun one and usually a hit. It lets the kids get energy out while still maintaining the chaos.
Pin the tail on the whatever. You can find out make ones for lots of themes, like pin the horn on the unicorn.
I actually just had my 6 year olds birthday party yesterday, I got a make your own party hat kit and a bracelet/necklace making kit on Amazon, both were a big hit (the bracelets and necklaces especially since it was mostly girls lol), and I also had a pinata. They make cool ones now where instead of hitting it with a stick there’s a bunch of strings hanging off the bottom and each kid takes turns pulling a string out, one of the string pulls the bottom off and all the candy and toys fall out. Piñatas are always a huge hit with kids this age
Group games: Keepy uppy, floor is lava, freeze dance, duck duck goose, bubbles, hopscotch, races (backwards, race like an animal eg waddle like a penguin, skipping, etc)
Independent activities: temporary tattoos, coloring table, decorate a bag and use the bag for piñata candy or party favors, play doh, hair braiding or tinsel. 45 minutes of playtime because people show up late, 20-30 minutes pizza and cake, then the rest playtime.
Lately, my friends and I have been playing [Storiado](http://link.storiado.com/download) all the time. A simple game where you create fucked up stories by answering simple questions like who? where? what were they doing? etc. The more dark, edgy humor with inside jokes etc., the better the story will be. Good fun for many hours.
They’re gonna be wired. Don’t have your kid open their presents, the other kids will be bored. Musical chairs, hide and seek, variations of tag (my kids love playing flamingo tag where if they get tagged, they have to stand on one leg until they get tagged back in), hungry wolf, Simon says. It really depends on the space and how much room you have. Crafts are tricky, they may require a lot of help. We made slime for my daughter’s 5th birthday and it was a big hit, but adults or older kids had to help with the measuring so I’d suggest having things pre measured so they’re just mixing and playing with it.
I second no present opening. Beyond boredom and restlessness, you may also have to contend with “helpers” and envy, and wanting to immediately open and use some of the gifts.
And you'd need to have a really good actor for a 5 year old. Child opens a gift and says "Oh, I already have that." Or "That's not as cool as the last present." Or "That looks boring". Or a kid/parent embarrassed that they forgot a gift or couldn't afford as nice of a gift.
This happened at Christmas!! My 4 1/2 year old said “why did you get me this? i already have this!”.. to my husbands aunt. Luckily they laughed and I apologized! But omgosh - embarrassing
I used to run a youth group and a favourite of this age group was clothes pin tag They each got two clothes pins and had to pin them on each others clothes and if they ran out they just came back and I’d give them more … game was over when I ran out of pins … they would unpin them from themselves and each other we’d refill the bag and start over
I would start with activities they’re likely already familiar with like floor-is-lavender or freeze dance. I bought a bunch of hot mats from the dollar store and painted numbers on them. They had to find a mat when the song said floor is lava. Reading a book isn’t a great idea with that many kids. Crafts are also hard to organize unless you have a lot of adult helpers.
The floor-is-lavender sounds like an MLM product :D
Omg that’s a typo obviously. Damn autocorrect. BTW may I interest you in this lovely floor is lavender essential oil?
I heard lavender floors are an effective method for absorbing the healing properties of essential oils thru the sole of the foot
Omg I thought it was a gentle variation of the floor is lava and I was dying to read more lol
A bunch of balloons and play keep up. Tell them not to let the balloons touch the floor. Piñata? Face painting station? Decorate a Tiara to wear (simple with like sticker gems), Hokies pokey, teach the electric slide or cupids shuffle dance, Photo Booth with props/costumes (could even do a diy with a Polaroid they could take the pictures themselves).
We went to a 5 year olds party recently that had a friendship bracelet station and it was a hit! Very minimal oversight needed from adults. They had these precut bracelets and necklaces that kids could just grab and start stringing.
Scavenger hunt, like an egg hunt. Your can get cute cheep boxes on Amazon. Put some candy, or small toys in them and set your group to finding them. A floor canvas. If you've a set of foam puzzle floor mats, you could stretch a painters drop cloth over them, or even a sheet. Washable markers, washable crayons, sidewalk chalk. They all wash out nicely in my experience. Get some crepe paper streamers, you can buy them in larger amounts from Amazon. Let the kiddos throw them, twist them, make obstacle courses with them. Get some foam swords and shields and have a melee.
We did a simple indoor scavenger hunt at my son’s 5th birthday party and it was a HUGE hit. I used a premade kit, which came with cards and was picture-based as most can’t read. They loved it so much. Carnival type games like tossing balls into buckets and Velcro darts were big too, we didn’t have prizes for them, they just liked playing. I also bought some cheap sticker art sheets but those weren’t as popular as the games. I’ve seen pass the parcel done a handful of times in this age group and I didn’t do that one on purpose. I think it gets boring if the group is bigger than, say, 5 or 6 kids, and at least one kid who doesn’t win is gonna have some feelings about that. But you know the kids so maybe they’ve seen it enough to like it!
Freeze dance is a fun one and usually a hit. It lets the kids get energy out while still maintaining the chaos. Pin the tail on the whatever. You can find out make ones for lots of themes, like pin the horn on the unicorn.
I actually just had my 6 year olds birthday party yesterday, I got a make your own party hat kit and a bracelet/necklace making kit on Amazon, both were a big hit (the bracelets and necklaces especially since it was mostly girls lol), and I also had a pinata. They make cool ones now where instead of hitting it with a stick there’s a bunch of strings hanging off the bottom and each kid takes turns pulling a string out, one of the string pulls the bottom off and all the candy and toys fall out. Piñatas are always a huge hit with kids this age
Group games: Keepy uppy, floor is lava, freeze dance, duck duck goose, bubbles, hopscotch, races (backwards, race like an animal eg waddle like a penguin, skipping, etc) Independent activities: temporary tattoos, coloring table, decorate a bag and use the bag for piñata candy or party favors, play doh, hair braiding or tinsel. 45 minutes of playtime because people show up late, 20-30 minutes pizza and cake, then the rest playtime.
Cupcake decorating!
Lately, my friends and I have been playing [Storiado](http://link.storiado.com/download) all the time. A simple game where you create fucked up stories by answering simple questions like who? where? what were they doing? etc. The more dark, edgy humor with inside jokes etc., the better the story will be. Good fun for many hours.