Little fingers, little toes. Is that one's in my wedding bows?? Along with all the details of planning a wedding, you also may need to consider what to do to keep the littlest invited fingers busy. We all know that the attention span of children can be quite limited, especially when bored. So how do we keep the kids entertained and having a good time as well at your wedding so the adults can enjoy themselves and mingle, give hugs and congratulations and, of course, shake their dairy-aire.
We all love kids, don't get me wrong, but we don't want them smashing through the cake before it's even cut. Here are some kid's activity ideas for our upcoming wedding and reception.
Bubbles
Who doesn't like bubbles?!? There are also so many options out there. Little bubble wedding themed ones, long tubes so the bubbles are ginormous, or fun shaped ones. We used a simple white bubble bottle at our wedding but you can also get ones with bottles with little hearts on top. We personalized them with address labels that we printed at home with our names and wedding date as guest favors, but the kids had just as much fun just playing around with them. They fit great on our little bubble bottles. The kids also snuck them home and played outside later with them. Kid's activities for later...Bonus!! If the kids are just having a grand time or you know ahead of time that they are major bubblers, fill a drink canister with the spout on the front with extra bubble mix so they can easily refill and bubble some more. Just be sure to label the pitcher when so no one mistakes it for actual refreshments.
Coloring
This one I totally love. Create a custom coloring book that can be ordered online or design your own if you have the technical ability. Simply printing out coloring pages in a wedding theme with cakes, wedding dresses, flowers, etc. The girls will especially like this. They get to do what all little girls do, plan their own wedding :) You can download and print our simple, wedding coloring book for kids.
Add a few crayons to some simple kraft or white paper bags, place in a basket and they have crayons to use now and can take with them later.
Games
Indoors
Set up a board game activity corner. Make sure the games are child appropriate, both in context and that the pieces aren't too small that we need to worry about any choking hazards. Games that are typically for children under the age of 7 are good because the really little ones are going to be with their parents and the slightly older kids will still play with the games geared toward the younger kiddos.
Outdoors
Games like corn hole, lawn checkers, giant lawn dice, horseshoes (the kiddie kind), etc. make fantastic outdoor games and activities.
Puzzles and books
Puzzles and books are also a great way to keep kids of all ages occupied. I recently attended a funeral; (sorry to say funeral in a wedding post, but...) the funeral home had a separate room that the children could go with some child-friendly puzzles and various books in baskets. Add a few bean bags or pillows and blankets down for easy seating (or a place to crash) and they're set.
Building blocks
Building love brick by brick. Add a cute sign and a basket full of Legos or other building blocks and usually kids are in heaven. Again, stick to the larger blocks unless you know that only older children are coming, making sure they are old enough not to put the little buggers in their mouths.
Play pretend wedding
Every little girl wants her own wedding fairy tale, even at such a young age. So indulge them. They are already all dressed up so you can just purchase or make some inexpensive little veils and tiaras. You will be will laughing hysterically when you see one little girl dragging a little boy around by the collar (dragging him back to the church) in their pretend wedding. You've seen that wedding cake topper before. Lol. Make a cute church out of some cardboard, like large appliances come in, build one if your hubby-to-be is a handy man, or fancy up a kids outdoor plastic play set with some tulle and faux flowers.
Dance
If you are like my friends and family, we spend most of our time at weddings eating, chatting and shaking what our mom gave us. Get the kids out on the dance floor and let them go wild. Kids usually love the flashing lights and have the DJ play some kid friendly songs that everyone knows to keep them movin' and groovin'. Parents will be thanking you most likely because they will fall asleep on the way home. Night night kiddos.
Cameras
This may not be an idea that came to mind, but I guarantee it is a good one. We were able to get a hold of some really inexpensive old-school disposable cameras (you know the kind that you use once, get the film developed and pitch). This was by far one of the best investments at our wedding and it was relatively cheap to do, but the photos were priceless. We ended up having about 25 of the disposable cameras and everyone single one of them was loaded with pictures. The kids were on the dance floor with them, snapping shots of family and friends and maybe a few from under a table playing fortress. Mind you, some photos ended up as streaks and blurs but that was okay with us. We kept those too. Make sure to get a digital copy of photos when you have them printed and you can share them out to friends and family later.
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