It can be a daunting task organising a party for your child… the costs quickly escalate and there are those expectations to meet. My child’s main party concern is: will there be enough sweets? (Answer: never enough!)

I wanted to share with you a recent children’s party from one of our venues… it was low cost and the children loved it. And as Chichester Community Development Trust reinvests any surplus made by its venues, it also supported the local community. What more could you ask for?

Here are CCDT’s top tips for organising a children’s party in Chichester based on Rebecca’s (aged 6) Alice in Wonderland party for 40 children:

1. Venue 

Both our venues are light airy and very cost effective – starting at just £12.50 an hour. The venue that was chosen in this case was the Community Hall at Roussillon Park, which is £15 an hour (an extra discount is applied if you are a resident of Roussillon or Graylingwell Park). The venue was booked for 2 hours.

Cost: £30

2. Theme

Rebecca wanted an Alice in Wonderland theme. The tables and chairs are provided with the hire of the room and the table decorations were bought from Amazon and other online retailers. Posters were put on the walls (printed at Rebecca’s dad’s work!) and ‘drink me’ and ‘eat me’ labels were homemade, and balloons went up!

Cost: £15

3. Activities

Various activities were set up around the venue:

• Activity 1: The queen of hearts loves jam tarts! The children made their own jam tarts. They rolled out pre-prepared pastry, cut out circles, and spooned in the jam. They also could personalise the top with a shape or letter so they knew it was theirs! The tarts were then cooked in the Community Hall kitchen and were served as pudding along with sandwiches and jelly.

 

• Activity 2: Pin the tail on the Cheshire cat – A large picture of the Cheshire cat was pinned to the wall and the children were blindfolded and all had a go, with a prize for the winner

 

• Activity 3: An activity/assault course was made that got the children to crawl through play tunnels, up and over the chairs, under the table and search through buckets all the time looking for clues to find Alice!

Cost: £10.00

4. Party games

The crowd-pleasing party games were all there: musical statues (music can be included in the hire for £25), sleeping White Rabbits, Mad Hatter’s footsteps.

Cost: £2 in sweet prizes

5. Mad Hatter’s tea party

The children tucked into home-made heart-shaped sandwiches, snacks, jelly and the delicious jam tarts.

Cost: £20

6. Party bags

Rebecca’s parents bought plastic cellophane party bags and filled them with sweets from the cash and carry. The children were delighted with their booty!

Cost: £5

When everything is added up, the total cost of this children’s party was £82, so only £2.05 a head including party bags, which is pretty cost-effective I think. Most importantly, the birthday girl and her friends had a wonderful time.

In the summer months, children’s party organisers have also hired bouncy castles: this works at either venue as they both have nearby outdoor space.

Good luck organising your child’s party. If you would like to hire one of our venues for a children’s party, please download the booking form. We look forward to hearing from you!