Winter bday games ideas for mixed-age group

[Kerileanne99]

Dd is having her first real bday party with kids. Ironically, when she attended part-time preschool she really didn't have people to invite- nor did she even want to. Now that we homeschool we are expecting 10-15 kids, parents, and siblings. Many will be from a small coop we attend, and the kids/families are incredibly supportive. This means we will have kids ranging in ages from 5-16:)

 

It is winter, but it IS Texas. I really, really wanted to have it outside my home but at Christmas time every feasible space for the time we need it was booked for holiday events. So it will be here, at my house. I am desperately hoping for clear weather. I specified a winter theme in the invitations and requested warm clothing. We have a large yard with a huge play structure and trampoline. We will open the garage as it is a climbing wall/monkey bars/swing/trapeze, etc., play place. We rented a bouncy castle and dd wanted a snocone machineðŸ˜

 

So, if weather holds the party will double as a coop winter party. I need a couple more games for mixed ages though! Here is what I have so far:

1)hubby is building two large painted castle facades out of plywood that will be forts later. I purchased 80 of those fake snowballs for a kids snowball fight.

2) I bought two XXL white sweatsuits and balloons. The kids will form two teams, put one member in the sweatsuit and race to stuff it with balloons to make 'snowmen' then decorate with scarves, hats, and the like.

3) I guess we could do some sort of snowball relay with the snowballs from the snocone machine as there WILL be extras?

 

Any ideas?

[Dmmetler]

Make houses with graham crackers in advance to decorate, or have a craft table with a lot of assorted materials to explore. Both can keep a range of kids busy for quite awhile.

 

The other thing I'd suggest is that it's amazing how much draw toys have even for the older ones. I've gotten to the point that if I'm going to have a large group I pull out the bin of Fisher Price figures and animals from the attic. It's surprising how many 12+ kids will play with them, especially in conjunction with blocks and legos. I think there's something about being around little kids that provides an excuse to play :). Sometimes less is more as far as keeping kids busy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2015 by dmmetler

[eternallytired]

What about a winter-themed craft:  a wooden or foam snowman to dress or a Christmas ornament to decorate?  A relay race where you have kids tow each other on snow shovels?  (Can you find them here?  We brought one down when we moved, since it's also handy for leaves!)  A winter gear relay where each kid has to put on an inordinate number of outdoor-wear items before stumbling to the other side to pass it all off to a teammate (snow pants, coat, huge boots, mittens, silly hat, scarf...).  And yes, never underestimate the delight of some free time to top things off.