Hellobee Boards

We had a bounce house. It was awesome, the kids (and adults!) loved it, and no further entertainment was needed.

We had a party for my 5 year old son and we did have a Jedi and Princess Leia (we got 2 for the price of 1). One good thing about having characters is they basically are the entertainment so you don't have to plan a lot of activities. I had a Scooby too party when my DD was 5 and it was a ton of work planning a scavenger hunt. I second the bounce house idea, then maybe an easy craft and a piñata.

For my daughter's 3rd birthday we had a petting zoo at our neighborhood park. All the kids loved it and the one I got was really organized and only let 5 kids in at a time and each animal was handed to the kid and they held it on their lap to pet. We had kids from 2-8 and no one wanted to leave the pen! It was such a hit that I'd totally hire it again for her next birthday.

We have been to the petting zoo birthday parties too and they are super awesome....

However my daughter's absolute favorite party that she has ever attended was a "make your own mud pie" birthday. The mom got a bunch of big spoons from the thrift store, aluminum pie plates, a bag of dirt, and some grass/ flowers from her yard. The other "activity" was just to play with the little girl's outside toys. I think there were some balloons too. Super casual but my kiddo talks about it ALL THE TIME. I think kids don't expect a ton and the elaborate stuff is more for the parents at that age (although no judgement for those that like to go over the top since I definitely love to have fancy parties for my daughter!)

My friend hired a face painter for her daughters bday. The kids loved it.

It depends on the number of kids, I think. Prior to this year we had smaller parties (6-8 friends plus their grow ups) at home. I tried to just have something "extra" out to play with - a water table full of water balloons, battery powered bubble blowers or ribbon wands that double as a favor, sidewalk chalk, etc. I've also set out really simple crafts that kids can do as they please (crowns or fairy wings to decorate with stickers or stick on gems, for example) - something that requires just a few moments attention span and little to no adult supervision. That way kids can do it if they're interested, or they can just run around.

This year the trend has been to invite the whole class, so we've been to mostly venue parties. We just went to one where Elsa came - she sang, painted faces, made "snow" to throw around, read a story, did a coronation ceremony where everyone got a crown....it was pretty full on. some of the kids were enthralled, some flitted back and forth between whatever Elsa was doing and the play structure, and some ignored her entirely. I think that in a backyard rather than a play space, she would have gotten even more attention from the kids, and kept the party flowing nicely. If you have a big group, I'd consider an entertainer like this, maybe? Just because I have no clue what I'd do with 15 or 20 kids in my backyard, and I don't want to have to take on the "cruise director" role to keep so many kids occupied and out of trouble - my swing set can only handle 5-6 kids, max.

I have considered the bouncy house idea, but on my own property I would be worried about liability with a big group/school friends. I'd probably only do it with very close friends.

We did water themed parties for the last two years (age 3 and 4). For age 3, we had two baby pools - one was an Intex one that had a little slide in it and the other was a plastic walmart baby pool that we put pit balls into. We had a play house and some cars out back and that was enough to keep them occupied. At age 4, we had a big backyard "pool" party. It was so much fun, we couldn't get the kids out of the pools to eat dinner.

I personally have never had a party at my home, so take what I am writing with a grain of salt, but I have noticed that kids behave better when there are a few party game stations set up, rather than letting it be a free for all of just playing with toys.

You could do an obstacle course, my son and his friend loved them.

We had a fourth birthday party at our house - we had a bouncy house, but of course, it rained... We got one with a cover but it leaked, so we cleaned it with as many towels as possible... The kids still jumped in it! We also had ALL of our outdoor toys out on display - and we had a ton of toys/crafts set up inside too. Our house was destroyed, haha.