Activities for kids at reception..ideas please?

crystalharward · February 2010

So I will have about 15 kids at the reception and it is indoors. I want the parents to be able to have a good time and dance so on, so I am trying to think of things to occupy the kids. I am thinking about hiring a balloon artist and someone to paint the kids faces but Im not so sure about it.What do you think? I also thought I could just put a table in a corner of the room with crayons and coloring books etc..any other ideas??

danieliza1127 · February 2010

The balloon artist and face painter just sounds like a carnival to me. I don't think you need to go that over the top. Whenever I've seen kids at weddings, they run around and play together and dance. You don't need too much to occupy them. Also parents will bring their own things to occupy the kids usually.

We did wedding coloring/activity books with packs of crayons attached and just put them up front near the guest book at the reception so if the kids wanted one they could take one. We didn't set up separate kids tables. The template for the book is in my married bio, scroll to the bottom and click on My Templates.

trix1223 · February 2010

Face paint in the same room as the girl with the lovely WHITE dress is a recipe for disaster. One kid running up and hugging you and your dress will have stains that won't come out.

Kids don't want "activities". They want to be doing what everyone else is doing, which is eating, drinking (soda of course), and dancing. First of all, will a balloon artist keep their attention for 4 hours? Nope. It's a couple of minutes at the most before they run off. Face painting? Ditto. After the 5 minutes it takes to put a butterfly on their cheek, then what?

And when you were little, would you have preferred to sit at a table and color or go out and run/twirl/dance around the dance floor?

Have some coloring books if you think it will help, but expect the kidlets to be out on the floor like your other guests.

pandasquishy · February 2010

I don't think kids need activities at all. They're going to eat with their parents, probably have some soda as a treat, and they're going to want to dance. Kids love to dance! At the most you might consider getting some coloring books, but I agree with Trix 100%.

Pirata13 · February 2010

We will also have several small children and are not doing anything special. My cousin's 1 year old TORE IT UP dancing at my uncle's wedding. I agree with PP who said they will most likely play together and dance, and that they really do like to be doing what everyone else is doing. I like danieliza's suggestion of having coloring books available, but not set at the tables.

Roxyroodle · February 2010

We are going to set one table for kids its going to be covered in paper with crayons (markers get messy really fast)

The only other thing we are doing is I think I'm going to put some carrots/ celery and ranch dip/hummus dip on the kids table that way they can munch while waiting to get food or what ever

Most kids are going to want to be doing what the grown ups are I would skip all the other stuff.

microkelly · February 2010

I went to a wedding where there were a bunch of kids and they had tons of glow in the dark stuff (necklaces ect.) The kids absolutely LOVED it.

LarissaAnn · February 2010

I've face painted at very formal affairs, but I discourage it for weddings because of the face paint + wedding gown issue. Any other clothes I wouldn't worry so much, but your wedding gown... eeek!

Be careful also with balloon twisters, unless all the kids present will be 3+. Broken balloons are a choking hazard, and they WILL break once the kids start playing with them. Unless the parents are watching their kids like hawks, which is what you're trying to avoid, I wouldn't have a balloon artist if any of the kids will be younger than 3.

If you DO want to go the entertainment route, I suggest temporary glitter tattoos. Not "lick-n-stick," these are custom done for the kids with a skin-safe medical adhesive and FDA-compliant, cosmetic grade glitter. They don't get on clothes, but aren't for faces either. Parents *can* get them off with baby oil or alcohol if they choose, or they can last up to 10 days if properly cared for. You can look in my body art blog to see what I'm talking about; just go back a ways.

If you want a referral for an Oregon artist who will do these, email me through my blog and I'll see what I can do to hook you up.

Teresa792 · February 2010

There's some cute wedding theme activities for kids at this place:
http://elegantlabels.com/busytoysforkids.html

Activities for kids at reception..ideas please?

Re: Activities for kids at reception..ideas please?

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