teens & preteens at wedding

jkepros

is anyone doing anything to entertain the kids at the wedding?  We are planning on doing little giftbags/activity books for the young kids, but what about the pre-teens/teens??  Minimum it seems like we'll have about this many kids:4 : 3 to 7 years old2 : 10-12 years old4 : 14-16 years old2 : 18-20 years old (not kids, but not 21 either)They are all more or less split boy/girl in each age group.What about board games?  A big puzzle?  Kareoke?  Wii?  Most of them won't previously know each other.  I slightly fear that if we have video games they will draw not only the kids, but might get hogged by the adults.  I was thinking about giving them a project, like a couple video cameras & blank tape to create a video diary of our reception: like say each kid gets to take turns taping and "interviewing" various guests.  We could give them the cameras, some tapes, a stopwatch, and list of potential questions and say that they have to "interview" each guest for 30 seconds or something like that.  Is that lame?  Or maybe give them some disposable cameras and a sacavenger hunt list of pics to take: "a guy with a mustache," "a woman wearing blue," "green shoes," etc.Any other good ideas??

terrax82

I'm a huge fan of the scavenger hunt idea - if not with a camera, just giving them a list with some small prizes if they complete it - maybe they have to turn the list in to the DJ and they get to request their favorite song if they complete it.

melpfaff

I don't think you should have to plan something for the older kids.    The kids over 12 hopefully will be able to entertain themselves at a wedding, or their parents should leave them home.  They actually might be more likely to dance and know group dances if you are doing them.

foolforfood

Honestly, I think you are overthinking this one.  It's just a wedding - don't overcomplicate things. Having 10 guests under the age of 16 does not mean you need to run a gymboree.  If parents choose to bring tots with them, it's tacitly understood that they will be babysitter for the night.  Also, I doubt parents will let their 3-7 year olds go run off to the "play area" w/out appropriate supervision.

Krystalynne21

The last wedding I was at had at least 5 kids between the ages of 4 and 10, and they were able to entertain themselves.  They were actually on the dance floor more than most of the adults! I don't really think you need to worry about anyone other than the youngest guests

tiffspff

I was going to put together little bags for guests 3-7, but they wound up not coming. I had a few young teenagers at mine and they spent the night on the dance floor. If you do coloring books for kids in the 3-7 age, or something along those lines, it's a nice gesture but it's not your job to entertain children all night.

kelmarfar

We have some of FI's teenaged cousins coming to the wedding and I have nothing planned for them.  For the smaller kids (there are 6 coming between 2 and 8), I made up a little bag with crayons/coloring books and a few small odds and ends that I picked up in the Michael's dollar bin.  I had also hit the jackpot at CVS at the end of summer and found a bunch of toys on clearance for 75% off, so I found some cute little things to put in the bags for less than $1 each.