Planning a party where the principal guests are going to be toddlers, and making sure that the little guests are both entertained and also not being destructive is a considerable challenge; one that would make a formal dinner party seem like child’s play to organize and conduct.
Some little thought applied can make it quite easy for the person in charge to make sure that the little children they’re in charge of have a great time, and that they are themselves not feeling worn and harassed and hassled by the end of it all.
Prepare before hand by making sure you have lots of little gifts[baby gifts] to give out as first, second and third prizes and then several more to take care of those that didn’t win! You make the games simple and theme them to reflect the festive season, so that the toddlers enjoy them even more:
Christmas stocking: You can use an actual Christmas stocking for this one and fill it with a dozen or so commonly used items such as a pencil and eraser, small toys small book, a candy bar etc.
Then the child is asked to put her or his hand into the stocking and guess what the contents are. The child who identifies best by feeling; and guesses correctly the highest number of items contained in the stocking wins!
Dancing to carols: The kids will have a blast dancing to popular Christmas carols and probably will end up learning a few in the bargain. Play the music and then let the children dance, jump and gyrate to their hearts content. When the music stops, they must as well. Anyone that moves is out! Continue the elimination until such time as you have a winner.
Simon/Santa Says: This one, as the name suggests, involves all the children at once, and the person in charge can tell the children to do a series of fun things that will keep them engaged for a long time: Santa says ‘turn around’ and everyone turns around.
‘Touch your toes’ is then said, but is not preceded by Santa says, so those that that did touch their toes are out. The last one to remain not out of course is the winner!
Make sure that every child is engaged and having a good time and remember to have a bunch of extra gifts because children don’t take kindly to getting out and when they see that a friend has a shiny new toy, they want one too!
