At home birthday party ideas for a 7 year old girl

[Anonymous]

My DD will be turning 7 soon. We have done the bounce place party in preschool and I am thinking of having a birthday party at home for her friends from school and some family friends. Those of you who have had parties at home (indoors), tell me about what was fun for the kids, what was not, how long did the party go, did you bring in someone. Looking for suggestions/ideas. Did you do themes? If yes, what was a hit and what was not? What kind of activities did you have?

Also, some friends who drive from far off will end up staying too. Since this will be a mix of family friends and school friends, will it be odd if some parents stay and the others are requested to drop off their kids. We are an immigrant family, so the family friends (parents) will most likely be talking in our language and I don't want the school friends' parents to feel out of sorts.

[Anonymous]

Lots of threads on DCUM with great ideas. Have you searched around?

What is your daughter interested in? How many kids will you have?

[Anonymous]

At that age, kids were having a lot of sleep-under. Kids came in their PJ's and brought a sleeping bag and pillow. They had dinner, cuddled in their sleeping bags for a movie, had cake, then were picked up later.

My DD had each child decorate a pillow case and they had a big pillow fight- super fun!

[Anonymous]

Mermaid Party....look on pinterest so many good ideas

[Anonymous]

OP here..Thanks for the ideas. Keep them coming..

I love the decorate a pillow case and pillow fight idea..sounds like fun.

To the PP who asked, my DD is still into princesses and baby dolls now. She also likes a show where the characters do hair styles.

[Anonymous]

I would still offer a drop-off party at 7-- the school parents will likely take you up on it.

Mine has gone to the same variation over and over again: a sleep-under where the girls show up in PJs, do some crafts, eat dinner, watch a movie and go home.

[Anonymous]

Best party we ever had and the one I planned least for (at last minute):

One of the pottery places (where you go in and paint and then they fire in their kilns) came to our home. They brought everything for the kids (I think we had 12 total, as someone dropped off a sibling!!) and took the materials back to the shop to fire. All the kids were in the same class at school, so we distributed the finished products there -- this was a 'sanctioned' invite as we invited all the girls in the class, so we had permission to do the distribution without hurt feelings, so to speak.

Before their arrival, I'd not really planned anything -- I can't remember where my head was but it was obviously somewhere other than planning this party! -- but the next thing I knew, a posse of incredibly excited little girls created the time of their lives dancing to the Wii in the basement (I threw some glow sticks into the room when I realized how much fun they were having

Cake and snacks followed the firing (very easy snacks including fruit)

Gift bags included a mix CD (this was obviously about 6 years ago) that we played throughout the party. They also included very cheap oversized T shirts that we got at AJ Moore or Michaels for $3 each. If I were doing it now, I'd have all the kids sign every shirt with fabric markers as an added plus. The T shirts were, of course, the smocks for painting the pottery.

Some parents stayed and had conversation and grown-up snacks; others dropped off.

We rented a long folding table and chairs for about $40; the pottery place as noted brought what they needed; and we were golden.

I smile just remembering it, both for how much fun and how easy it was and how much better (in some ways) than other parties I stressed about for MUCH longer.

Good luck OP!

[Anonymous]

My DD did a spa sleep under party for her 7th birthday at our house. The kids loved it. Wore pajamas, got mani/pedis and made yogurt/oatmeal face masks, ate, watched a movie, and went home. Party was 5-9pm. Parents were happy to have some free evening hours.

[Anonymous]

DD just had an in-home party for her 7th birthday two weeks ago. I tried to get her to go with a theme or something, and she just wanted "a regular birthday party"
Not having any clue what she meant by that (despite asking a million times), I just went old-school.
Pin the tale on the donkey
Scavenger hunt with a prize bucket at the end
Pinata
Relay races

It was *awesome* She loved it, and I even heard one of her friends tell his mom that it was "the best party ever!" at pick up.
Simple, easy, and super fun for everyone. And most of the kids had literally never had a scavenger hunt or played pin the tale on the donkey before, so they thought this was some unique new game!

[Anonymous]

My daughter recently attended her first sleep-under party for a friend who was turning 8. They decorated cookies, ate pizza and watched a movie.

The party ran from 4:30 - 7 pm on a Saturday. The girls were exhausted and starting to fight when I picked up my daughter. I can't imagine having a sleep-under party until 9 PM for 7 year-olds!

[Anonymous]

First off, immigrant family or not if you have guests in your home who only speak one language, please don't spend the entire time speaking another language. That's really rude.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you all for the ideas.

@14:19 oh no. I wouldn't be speaking my language only. What I meant was I can't prevent my extended family and friends with same background from speaking our language when they are more comfortable in it. I was thinking if most school parents did drop off and only a few school parents stayed, it would be awkward for them when a majority of the adults are speaking a different language (even if I am speaking English).

arghh. maybe I am over analyzing this..it is already getting stressful.

[Anonymous]

We’ve had a mobile spa come (we used about a girl) princesses come (princess parties by Heidi) and zoo to you. All done in our home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At that age, kids were having a lot of sleep-under. Kids came in their PJ's and brought a sleeping bag and pillow. They had dinner, cuddled in their sleeping bags for a movie, had cake, then were picked up later.

My DD had each child decorate a pillow case and they had a big pillow fight- super fun!

We did a morning pj party. They came in pj’s and we did sleepover/breakfast themed things (fruit loop necklaces, waffle relays w pancake flippers, each girl decorated a pillowcase).

Also did a Nancy drew party (there’s a junior series) that was so much fun

[Anonymous]

At that age, my dd had an art party. We bought bulk canvases when they were on sale at Michaels, aprons to decorate with fabric markers, and they decorated their own cupcakes. The kids were busy the whole time, creative, and happy. She had both girls and boys attend and they all liked the party.