Children's parties

Pass the Parcel was always popular and Kick the Can if you are outside - much more fun than ordinary hide and seek but you need a garden with lots of hiding places.

Chocolate krispies made with cornflakes are easy to make and we used to have cheese straws and small sandwiches.

merlotgran Many thanks for the suggestions.What exactly is Kick the Can ? We do have a reasonable sized garden and hope to get outside for some of the time.My cousin makes delicious cheese straws.I will get her busy

Puppies and Kittens was always popular. It's a sort of treasure hunt. Hide lots of small packets of Smarties or other "treasures" all around the house and/or garden, some in more obvious places than others. Divide the children into two teams – Puppies and Kittens – appoint a team leader for each and give him or her a bag. The children then race around looking for the treasures. When they find one, they must call their team leader by barking or miaowing because only the team leader is allowed to pick up the treasure and put it in the bag. This is a completely frantic and very noisy game that kids love. You divide the treasure among the children afterwards.

BTW I suggest you avoid peanut butter sandwiches unless you know for certain that none of the guests has a nut allergy.

The Farmer Wants a wife ( a bit sexist and old-fashioned I know but who cares)
Children circle round with the 'farmer' in the middle, singing, 'the farmer wants a wife, the farmer wants a wife, ee-i-aadio, the farmer wants a wife.
Framer chooses wife, who joins him in the middle.
Then, the wife wants a child.
The child wants a nurse.
The nurse wants a dog.
The dog wants a bark.

Repeat ad nauseam till all the children have had a go.

The Hokey Cokey.

A-Hunting we will go (also politically incorrect)
Children form two lines facing each other, join hands. Lines move forwards and back, singing 'A-hunting we will go, a-hunting we will go,we'll catch a fox and put him in a box, and never let him go'.
After the lines have moved forwards and back, the two children at the top form an arch, the others pass under the arch and cast off, come back round to the arch leaving a new top couple. Repeat ad infinitum.
Have fun - we always had old-fashioned parties for our children and they loved them

Picking up peas with straws (dried ones!) Two or three teams in a line with a chair at each end with two bowls, one with dried peas and one empty. Each person has to run up and suck a pea on the end of the straw and move it to other bowl. When all peas moved, that team is the winner.

Also the balloon one with teams. Teams in a row. Person at front has balloon under chin. Has to pass it to next person on team - chin to chin without dropping it. - and so on. When it gets to the end the the person at the end runs to the front and the whole thing starts again until original person back at front. Sound complicated but it is not and is very funny as people try not to drop the balloon. I have seen it done with adults as well and it was hilarious.

Janeainsworth I think the dog wants a bone not a bark. And then don't "we all pat the bone" though heaven alone knows why.

absent What a brilliant game!We shall certainly play that.I can see it will be popular for a variety of reasons.
Yes,I will have to be careful with food.All my children are nut allergy sufferers although fortunately the grandchildren don't seem to be.We have to avoid gelatine as well as some of the guests will be Muslim.This cuts out quite a few sweets.

janeainsworth and wisewoman Many thanks. I can see we will have to have an extended party time as they will want to play them again and again.

Is" a hunting we will go "the same as "oranges and lemons?"Something about "here comes a chopper to chop off your head !!" and finishing with a kind of tug-of war.Great fun! Thanks for jolting my memory everybody.

Gorki yes it's the same
Absent of course you're right!!

If your garden is suitable how about Hide and Seek? Pin the tail on the donkey.

We used to have squares of cake dipped in chocolate and then in coconut, we loved it. Jam buns, traffic light biscuits. Can you still get those waxed paper containers with a frilly edge to make the jelly in? Or perhaps animal jelly moulds. I have a lion one which is ancient.

Paper hats made out of newspaper folded into pointy shapes (I wonder if I can still remember how to make them?)

Sounds like good fun, enjoy

Oranges and lemons {here come the chopper to cut off your head...great}

Twiglets are a must . Cake should look retro as well. cowboy scene?

Movedalot I like the sound of the cake !Do they do the dipping themselves? Not sure what traffic light biscuits are but I will look out for some.
I have a Mr. Happy mould somewhere and the Mr. Men are still quite popular.
Thanks

LullyDully Oh Yes! Mustn't forget the Twiglets. I was quite apprehensive about this party but now I am really looking forward to it.
I used to make cake forts,football pitches and hedgehogs for mine.Simple but looked effective.

No, you do the dipping the day before! That is unless you want chocolate covered children, it is quite messy!

Traffic light bics, basic biscuit mix, cut out rounds or ovals, cut out 3 small rounds in half of them, bake. Put blobs of red jam, lemon, curd and something green on whole ones then put holey ones on top. Dust with icing sugar.

You must have butterfly cakes! I still make them.

And vodka jellies for the adults!

How about wink wink murderer we have had some great laughs at parties.

Everyone sits in a circle, and a leader goes and picks two people while everyone is closing their eyes. The people that are picked are the winkers, but only the leader knows that.

When the leader announces, everyone can open their eyes and look around at other people. The winker's objectives are to 'kill' everyone in the room. They do this by making eye contact with someone and winking at them.

If you are winked at, you have to wait five seconds, then "die", dramatically or not.

Everyone else has to look around and try and identify the "killers". When both killers are identified, the game is over.

Yes,I still make butterfly cakes too.
I will have a go at the traffic lights.They don't seem too difficult.
Oh yes ! I haven't thought about the adults yet.

The winking game will be hilarious with 6 year olds. I can't wait to try it !

Iced gem biscuits and those ring biscuits with icing on. Chocolate fingers.

Those first two are still my son's favourite biscuits even though he is 36 !

Games that involve hoops and balls can be popular with boys and girls.

What's that team game where you have to roll the ball through people's legs?

Football.