Aside from adding adult friends and family members to your wedding guest list list, you’ll more than likely have children to consider. Whether you invite one or several to celebrate with you at your wedding venue, this article has been created to help give you tips and ideas on how to keep children entertained at a wedding, from day in to night.
The secret to having a stress-free wedding reception where both kids and parents are happy is to be well prepared and provide lots of kid-friendly fun. It is worth forewarning friends who are planning on bringing their children that you’re intending on keeping them entertained as they’ll more than likely need to share supervision responsibility at some point in the day or you’ll need to have parental permission for a professional entertainer to look after them.
Some of the best ways to ensure everyone is having the best time they can possibly have are very simple and won’t stretch that all-important wedding budget to the max.
Kids love nothing more than putting their creativity to work so setting up a mini area for art and craft activities will go down a treat. Have a table full of crayons, colouring books, playdough and stickers and set them tasks to design cards or draw pictures of the happy the couple (and maybe reward them with a few sweeties later on in the day!)
Top tip:
Consider buying activity colouring books for children to draw on and interact with while the meal is being served. They make the perfect children’s wedding favour.
One of the easiest and probably cheapest ways to keep the little ones happy is to reserve an area or room in your venue for games and DVDs. From their favourite board games such as Operation and Monopoly to a selection of Wii or Xbox games they can all play together, it’ll keep them entertained for hours.
Add big comfy pillows later on in the evening and let them settle into a nice cosy environment to watch a movie before being taken home to bed.
If your wedding venue allows it, setting up an energy burning treasure hunt during your drinks reception could make for a great team building and super-fun experience. A variation on this theme is a photo scavenger hunt – give them a goodie-bag with a disposable camera and a long list of photos they need to snap by the end of the day.
If you’re lucky enough to have nice weather and an outside drinks reception, set up some lawn games and/or sporty activities to get the adrenaline pumping. Things like hopscotch, giant jenga, even croquet and swing ball are games that are easy for anyone to play and will burn off that little bit of energy.
There is nothing more boring for kids than to sit and listen to adults talking (sometimes even adults find it boring!) If you’ve got enough children coming to the day, consider setting up a kid’s table or a separate area for the kids to eat so they don’t have to wait on the adults and can engage with people their own age.
If there aren’t enough children to warrant a separate table, why not provide an activity pack for them on the table with their parents? Most children take 10 minutes to scoff their food before jumping on to their next activity – this will give them something to do whilst the adults are finishing their starters.
Things to include in a children’s wedding activity pack:
colouring books with crayons or coloured pencils, puzzles, bubbles, jigsaws, dot-to-dot, I-spy, mini magic tricks, sticker books.
If your budget can stretch, keep them laughing and enjoying themselves with a professional entertainer such as a balloon modeler, puppet show, face painter or a clown.
Do research the different option available here, as there are lots of bad entertainers out there. You’re safer hiring a full time entertainer who specialises in weddings, as different performing situations require different skills. Also makes sure it is age appropriate as the older kids will lose interest if it is aimed at a younger audience.
These are professional childminders who will entertain and supervise children for the entirety of the wedding, meaning parents can relax knowing their children are being well looked after and having a fun time.
Probably a slightly pricier option but one that will guarantee a stress-free wedding day.
