How many kids does a big party involve? 

Throwing a big party is all well and good, but what does ‘big’ actually mean? 

This can change depending on who you ask; for some parents, throwing a party for the whole class would be a big undertaking. For others, throwing a huge joint party with two distinct groups of friends is no problem at all. 

For the purposes of planning parties of different sizes, we’ll be talking about: 

• Regular-size parties with 10-20 guests
• Large kids parties where entire classes might be invited, from 20-40 guests
• Huge parties that might include school discos, with 50 guests and up

Regular-size parties (10-20 guests) 

For some kids, having between 10 and 20 guests at their party is the sweet spot. And as a parent, you might find that it takes much fewer children than you’d expect for the party to feel loud and exciting (especially once the sugary sweets are released!). 

Hosting at home

One of the benefits of having this size of party is that you could choose to host the celebration at your home or garden, saving on the cost of an external venue. 

Particularly in the warmer summer months, hosting the party at home in your garden could be a great way to keep a familiar feeling for the birthday child, while also enjoying fun and games with their friends. 

You would also have lots of time to decorate the house with birthday streamers and balloons before the party gets into full swing, as you’re not limited by the time restrictions of a hired venue. 

Keeping entertainment simple

If you’re only hosting up to 20 guests at your kids party, you don’t need to worry about offering a wide, diverse range of entertainment like you would at a much larger party. 

Instead, you’ll likely keep things fairly straightforward with entertainment that everybody can enjoy together – keeping the party vibes flowing all day long. 

Large kids parties (20-40 guests) 

Now things are getting bigger. As you approach the 40-guest mark, you need to start thinking about additional entertainment and considerations for a wide range of people. 

And it’s much easier to reach this number than you’d expect! Once you invite all of your child’s class from school, as well as a few close family friends or relations, the guestlist can balloon before you know it. 

To keep everybody engaged throughout the day, 40 guests is the maximum attendance that most of our parties cater for. 

Variety to keep kids on their toes 

As we covered when talking about how to entertain kids at a party, making the fun-factor of your party as strong as possible is all about keeping things moving with lots of varied activities. 

Particularly when you’re thinking about how to throw a party for the whole class, having several things for kids to do is important to maintain attention spans. This means that alongside your DNA Kids entertainer, you could include: 

• Face painting or dress-up, themed around the rest of the party (such as dinosaurs or Halloween monsters)
• Small prize games, like guessing the number of beans in a jar
• Simple crafting activities or a colouring station

Buffet food to keep energy high

When throwing your big party, thinking about what kind of food and drink would work is really important – especially when you have lots of mouths to feed. 

To keep things simple, putting on a simple buffet could be your best bet. As long as you check in with parents about any dietary restrictions beforehand, your guests are free to use the lunch portion of the day to load up on their favourite snacks. 

Include enough time for a rest alongside the tasty treats, and the kids will have plenty of energy to enjoy the second half of the day to its fullest!

Huge parties! (50+ guests)

We’re in huge party territory now. Your guestlist will often only exceed 50 people if you’re throwing a joint birthday party, or organising a school disco. 

When you get to this size, certain kids party staples become less important. You wouldn’t typically put together 50+ gift bags, for example, or hire a single entertainer to manage huge games with lots of moving parts. 

From our party package offering, most kids parties have a maximum attendance of 40 guests. However, our laser disco or UV glow party options can be ramped-up to cater to around 300 children!

Keep the focus on the birthday child 

When there are lots of kids or teenagers at your party, it can be easy for everybody to get lost in the craziness of it all. There’s a lot of energy in the room, and bigger personalities can outshine others. 

But no matter the age of the birthday child, make sure that they feel special throughout the day, For the bigger disco parties, this could involve a few different approaches: 

• Let them choose their favourite songs to be played throughout the party
• Have a break to bring out the cake and sing happy birthday (provided they’re not too old and embarrassed!) 
• Involve them in the planning! This could include picking food choices, or decorating the venue to their liking

Pick the perfect venue

If you’re looking to host more than 50 guests, your garden might not suffice. 

When researching possible venues, make sure that you factor in the number of guests who might turn up. This might increase the budget of your party slightly, but you want everyone to be comfortable and make sure there’s enough room for kids to run around and play without risk of bumping into each other. 

This could mean opting for a community centre or local sports facility. The benefit of these kinds of venues is that they’ll often have catering packages, and will be experienced in hosting large gatherings – perfect for your big kids party.