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By Ashley from Portland, OR
Wow! 40! I hope these are not all children! One thing you could try is to contact 2 or 3 of the older children, especially if they are girls, and ask them to help organize games for the littler ones. I am sure that they would have lots of ideas; I once had a party with 3 to 11 year olds, and the games took care of themselves as the big girls organized the smaller ones into all sorts of games like Duck Duck Goose, Flying Dutchman, and so on.
Another time, when I had a dress up box of clothing, the big kids organized the little ones into dress up costumes, we took pictures, and then they played for a bit.
For a large group of 6 year olds, I once did some easy crafts. I believe we made critters with little cut out pieces of wood, colored them with markers, glued on eyes, and stuck magnets on the back. Have a look at craft stores like Michaels for the makings for such things. Foam pieces work well for this too. 2 years olds might need a lot of help, so this is where your big kids come in!
I have 7 children and have had many simple birthday parties through the years. If you do not have something to entertain children they get bored and sometimes fight. Enlist the help of the older children or parents to run some of the games. That way 2 or 3 games can be going at once and the children can move from one place to another. If you allow about 30 to 40 minutes for games, it is plenty of time. All of the games mentioned in other posts are alot of fun. One of our favorites is to have two children put on adult size garden gloves and then try to unwrap a stick of gum. You want to see who can do it faster. Have some small prizes to give out when they participate so that everyone gets something. Make it memorable and simply fun.
We made crowns for my son's second birthday. I got a kit with glue on "jewels" but it would be just as easy to get the craft supplies separately, or even just use crayons or markers. You can make "kingly" crowns for the boys and "tiaras" for the girls. Lots of fun!
The games sound good too and you will be surprised at how easily the kids amuse themselves. If the weather is nice, that will be helpful (and might even be possible as this week is going to be dry and sunny). As a backup, have a new release movie on reserve to end the party if you run out of stuff to do. Food, cake and presents do take up a lot of time as well.
Good luck!
Play group games like hot potato (maybe with a yo gabba gabba toy as the potato and music from the show), musical chairs, duck duck goose (say "yo yo yo yo Gabba!"), bingo is always fun with groups, too. If you are having goodie bags to give to the kids, give them each a paper lunch bag and they can decorate their own bag to take their candy home in.
Pin the tail on the donkey. You can use a character from Yo Gabba Gabba and pin on his nose or mouth. An easy pinata is made from a cardboard box covered in wrapping paper or construction paper. Just poke holes into it before you wrap it and string a rope through.
Hope I helped!
They could decorate their cupcakes. You could check out some craft ideas on some kids craft websites. Look for "ice cream in a ziploc bag", that's fun and then they could add topping and have a ziploc bag sundae. Just make sure they wear mittens when they're making the ice cream. It gets super-cold. If the kids all know each other it might be fun to just let them run around, they'll find plenty to do, and the 12 year olds can help keep an eye on everyone.
Cute cake!
What are some fun activities i could do at my girl-boy party (I'm turning 14)?