I am planning my daughter's 5th birthday at Deanna Rose later this month. I have already reserved one of their party corrals which I will have for 2-1/2 hours. We are inviting the kids from her preschool class, so there could be as many as 11 other 5-year-olds there, but I doubt that everyone will be able to come. I am trying to figure out how to structure the party. It will be in the afternoon so we are just planning on serving cake - not doing an entire meal. We will want to do the cake and presents during the time that we have the corral. Should I do the cake and presents first so that I make sure we get that done while we have the corral? Or should we take the kids to do a couple of the activities - they will all get tickets to do the things that cost money like fishing, mining, feeding the goats, and pony rides - then have them come back for cake and presents, and then let them go look at some of the other exhibits? I also feel like I should have some sort of activity that the kids can do in the corral when they get there so that they aren't bored waiting for all of the kids to arrive. Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. This is the first kids birthday party I have planned that will include people besides family so I am new at this and I want it to go smoothly. Thanks!
I agree with doing an art project while you're waiting for them to show up. A visor is a great idea! I did some for my daughters party (golf themed) and they were a hit. I bought a boat load of them for cheap on Oriental trading Co. and they even came with tons of foam stickers. You could also get some extra foamies with a farm theme. Good luck!
start with the actual party...do the cake/gifts 1st. It'll be sooo much easier that way. & for an activity while the group is arriving, what about having each child sign/decorate the table cloth, or a banner for her room, or a tshirt for your BD child??? That way your daughter will have a keepsake!
Yep! I agree with Karen!
I've been to a party at D.Rose (years ago) and my advice would be to do the cake and presents first, then turn everyone loose. The farmstead has become so big and with so many little ones to keep track of, it could get challenging!
After cake and presents, go for the horse ride and the other activities. This way, if somebody wants to take their time mining (or whatever) they are on less of a "schedule" to try and find their way back to the corral in time.
Just my two cents! Hope it goes well, this is a super fun place for a party. I'll keep a happy thought for good weather!
I agree to do cake and presents first. You could have the kids decorate visors to use that day. You can get some cheap "foam" ones at the craft store with stickers and markers. Or decorating flip flops is fun...
I did some very cute farm cupcakes for a party there this fall. You can view them on my slideshow at
www.crumbscustomcupcakes.com
Best of Luck!!
Make sure you let the parents know you want them to stay. Especially at a place that big. I teach preschool and even tho my kids aren't in preschool, I've heard stories from other parents about parents dropping kids off and leaving and a place that size, you don't want that to happen, not with that age group. And you will have someone try (we call it "free childcare")
I also agree with the others, do the party stuff first then you can turn the kids loose with mom/dad and they can stay longer if they want.
Do have some bottled water and such available in the shelter for when they come back. Eating cake and opening presents doesn't take 2 1/2 hours, so have some water and maybe some pretzels for snacking when they are done using their tickets. At least until your time is up.
Don't forget to have fun too. Good luck and God Bless.
My daughter attended a party there about 2 years ago and they did the cake/gifts first. Then they gave each kid their tickets to do the activities, and we took our daughter around to the different things (she was only 2 at the time). We did some things as a group with others from the party, but also did some of the things on our own. So, if the other kids' parents will be there, you could break up in to smaller groups then. Good luck! It's a fun place for a party!
definately do the cake and presents first, then encourage the parents that are there to take their time and stay as long as they want. I would give each parent the tickets for the activities and let them take their kids as some kids will want to linger at the animals longer than others. You could do the hayride all together then branch off and do whatever activity their kids want to do and how long. That way if they aren't with your group the whole time they have the tickets to do the activities with their child and you won't feel like you are waiting for everyone all the time. We went to party there for a 2 year old and that worked out well for everyone. We are in the corral eating and visiting for the 1 1/2 hour time then we all went and did our own thing with the tickets. I will tell you my youngest son loves to fish so we were at the fishing pond for hours basically until the park closed. I doubt all the kids would stay that long and he would have been disappointed had he stayed with the group going and moving to something else every 5 minutes. He also lingered at the mining place for a long time as well. Some of the other kids left after a few hours so this leaves your party open for whatever works for each persons schedule as some probably won't stay all day but others will. Some may want to hang out along with what your kids do but others will go with what works for their kid the best.
Have fun and enjoy but you want to get the party stuff over first so families can take their time and no other time contraints as far as getting everything done with the corral time you have.
Maybe you could have an art activity? I saw a cute thing on pbs sprout about making bean bags with felt. (they could make animals that you pre-cut the shapes for ) and then have a bean bag toss. Or some other art project that is easy. One other thing I did was to get a roll of butcher block paper and some stickers and markers and rolled it over the table and the kids just drew on it while we waited for everyone to arrive and the festivities to start.
One thing you might consider is not opening the presents at the party. I don't know how many kids you will have at the party, but I know my kids get overwhelmed and after running around so much, then having cake...just an idea. We have done that for my daughter's last 3 parties and then it isn't rushed and she can enjoy it more.
