What child doesn’t love making mess? Encourage the mayhem and fun at your pre-schooler’s next birthday party by hosting a ‘messy party’! Here’s how …

• Entertainment at a messy party could include:

  • Stick up a very wide roll of paper on the garage wall and provide house-painting brushes and rollers so the children can create a giant mural, perhaps with a birthday or animal theme.
  • Set up basins of different-coloured goo for the kids to squeeze their hands through – they’ll love the sensory experience.
  • Fill a plastic trough with water, then add sand, shells and plastic sea creatures to create an underwater world to explore.
  • Provide giant bubble wands and have a competition to see who can blow the biggest bubbles.
  • Set up several different, messy craft stations – tables with activities such as playdough, making paper-plate faces, finger-painting, cupcake decorating, and stamping (make your own using potatoes!).
  • Fill water bomb balloons (if the weather is hot!) and splat them on the ground so the water splashes up to wet everyone.
• As you can see, an outdoor venue is essential for a messy party. Your garden or the garage is ideal. You’ll need to get hold of equipment like poster paint in large quantities, lots of brushes and rollers, and craft materials (try searching on the Net for craft warehouses near you where you can buy in bulk for a good price). Hiring some plastic children’s tables and chairs from a party hire company is also a good idea so the activities are easy to access for the short folks, and you can hose or wash the furniture off later!
• On the invitation, be sure to explain the concept briefly, so that the parents know to skip pretty party frocks and neat shirts in favour of practical clothes. Write something like, “Join us at Jack’s messy party: wear old clothes, bring a smock or apron and get ready to make a total mess!”
• Finally, remember that all these messy activities require very close supervision by the adults in attendance, particularly you as the hosting party parents (especially as water may be involved).