How to Keep Children Entertained at Your Wedding
Do you plan on having a kid-friendly wedding? Many couples struggle to decide if they want little ones to attend their big day. It is a lot to consider. An all-out ban on kids could offend your guests, but on the other hand, you don’t want your wedding to be overrun with tiny humans.
A compromise can be made by only allowing children within your family or bridal party to attend. Typically, most non-family wedding guests will already be planning on getting a sitter so they can enjoy a kid-free night. If there are tiny humans on your guest list, here are a few tips for entertaining kids at your wedding:
Stagger dinner
For your guests that are responsible for feeding their kids (and making sure they don’t stain their outfits) allow them to get their kid’s dinner plate first towards the end of your cocktail hour. That way, once their kids are fed, they can send them out on the dance floor and parents can enjoy dinner with the other adults at their table.
Kid-friendly dance music
Most kids are ready to get up from the table about 5 minutes after they start eating, so maybe play some kid-friendly tunes while the adults are finishing up dinner and browsing the desert selection. Even once the party gets started, have your DJ throw in a few songs that kids would know from their favorite movies. Kids are awesomely adorable dance partners!
Replace their wedding favors with goody bags
Kids don’t need personalized soaps or a beer koozie with your names on them, so instead, give them a little gift bag with crayons and a coloring book, or other activities they can do at the table. That way, they’ll have something to keep themselves busy during the speeches, toasts, and dances.
Add treats to the bag at your own discretion. Although candy can be a good bribing tool for parents, not everyone allows their kids to have treats and they could be messy, so have a chat with their parents before adding sweets.
Put them in charge of capturing photos
Kids LOVE when you give them fun responsibilities. Buy a few polaroid cameras and film packs and once your guests hit the dance floor, tell the kiddos to run around and take as many pictures as they can. It’s always interesting to see big events from a kid’s perspective. You might be surprised by what they capture!
Set up a room for naps or quiet activities
Depending on the age of the kids in attendance, they might not be able to make it to the end of the night. After dancing and running around the reception hall, they might need a place to crash or watch a movie. A lot of venues have a room to store your belongings in. You could turn that into a nap/movie room and have someone assigned to checking on them if the room is out of sight.
Most importantly, if you decide to have kids in attendance at your wedding, have fun with it! Wedding activities for kids are great, but mostly they just want to be part of the action. Kids always make people smile, especially when dancing is involved. So, enjoy and make some memories!
