Children are undoubtedly the life and soul of the home, and they always, always bring a special spark to any event. However, in recent years, many people have begun to organise their weddings to exclude children, primarily for wont of a relaxing day away, and the chance to enjoy time with other adults. The occurrence of such planning, on the other hand, has become quite polemic, and has the ability to cause problems between families, and between friends.
For a celebration that is to everyone’s tastes, where the little ones are present but without radically changing the atmosphere of the wedding with their mischief, we offer the key to entertaining children at your wedding in five easy steps.
- Hire nannies
- Organise a workshop
- Prepare special themed zones
- Create spaces for relaxation
- Provide a children’s pack
Hire nannies
The most overused option, but also the easiest, is to hire nannies or babysitters to look after young children at the wedding. With so many little ones flying around all over the place, it is necessary to get a specialist to entertain the children, and ensure that their parents are able to enjoy the day.
With these professionals, the children will be able to enjoy themselves immensely thanks to having games organised, and different scenarios prepared by the sitters. Above anything else, we recommend setting up a treasure hunt. There’s nothing quite like this activity to help develop a sense of adventure, and take advantage of the space offered up by the wedding reception.
Organise a workshop
The entertainment of children is vital to allow the parents to have a good time. Workshops completely fulfil this requirement, whilst also motivating children to be more creative, more imaginative, and more skilful. The best examples of a workshop you could have at your wedding include places to make cupcakes, biscuits, pasta and pizza, which also teaches children to follow recipes, combine ingredients, and improve their knowledge of maintaining a healthy and balanced diet.
However, DIY workshops are becoming more and more popular at weddings. Miniature construction sites, adorned with toys and building blocks are often welcome, and welcome both little boys and little girls, encouraging them to work in teams, eliminate gender stereotypes, and again develop their creativity. More artistic workshops, such as painting and sculpture also develop their vision.
Prepare special themed zones
Children often create their own little worlds, and this is particularly common at weddings when they are surrounded by other children their own age. To facilitate this kind of interaction, you can prepare playing zones with different themes, to accommodate the tastes of all little ones present – some can be dedicated to DIY, some to art, and some to sporty activities such as the use of hula hoops, rounders games, and Frisbees. You could also provide more advanced zones, such as a place with videogames and consoles for the older children, or even set up a miniature petting zoo complete with rabbits and guinea pigs (which are more appropriate for this younger age range).
At the same time, these little themed zones can act as small performance areas for the children. From tiny theatres to activities with entertainers like clowns, magicians, ballerinas, and even roller skaters for the brave amongst them!
Create spaces for relaxation
But not everything has to be a place to play, and it is a good idea to leave a space where the children can calm down and relax in comfort. They deserve a special environment which invites quiet; an example of what this could be includes a makeshift tepee full of pillows, blankets, and music, creating a magical atmosphere in the middle of nature. Here, there will be storybooks and tales to be told by the carers, and maybe even miniature plays performed with marionettes.
On the occasion that the children present are too small for this kind of activity, these zones can be adapted to become spaces that allow parents to care for their children, or a space for mothers to breastfeed in private should they so wish.
Provide a children’s pack
Almost all weddings offer a special gift for the children in attendance, although it is normally not anything too excessive. We speak here of typical party bags, full of small knick-knacks which help to entertain the children from the start of the reception to their journey home in the evening. However, here we propose a radical change – and the introduction of actual gifts for the children, amounting to real objects. These can be left on a table at the reception, and will allow them to be entertained for hours, independent of the rest of the wedding. The kind of items we suggest include bubble wands, puzzles, picture books to be coloured in, small toys (both mechanical and stuffed)… An authentic gift for their total enjoyment!
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