Kids Christmas party ideas for ages 2 to 6: a 90-minute plan (60 minutes for 2 to 3) and a crown each child decorates and takes home. Our kit costs £22 (2 to 3) or £29 (4 to 6) at each item’s median ONS shop-price quote for September 2026 (our sums).
By the Babbez team · UK Christmas guide · Checked October 2026
Key takeaways
- The Make-It-Take-It Rule: what they make goes home with them, so no party bags.
- 10 games and a party kit priced from ONS shop prices for September 2026, food not included.
What are easy kids Christmas party ideas? Our 90-minute plan
An easy kids’ Christmas party is a short run of small blocks, each with one job. Minutes count from the start time on your invite; this is our starting point, so adjust it for your child. Keep a quiet corner with books for breaks. For 4 to 6 year olds, plan 90 minutes in seven blocks:
- 0–10 min, crown table: each child decorates a paper crown as guests arrive.
- 10–25 min, paper chains: strips are cut in advance; each child makes a chain to take home.
- 25–45 min, music games: musical statues, musical bumps, then snowman melt.
- 45–60 min, food sit-down: whatever you are serving, with kitchen roll on the table.
- 60–75 min, parcel and hunt: pass the parcel, then the reindeer hunt.
- 75–85 min, calm-down: story time with the book from the parcel, then sleeping reindeer.
- 85–90 min, goodbyes: crowns on, chains in hand, coats on; the card game for anyone still waiting to be collected.
The 60-minute version for 2 to 3 year olds
For 2 to 3 year olds, plan 60 minutes in six blocks, with each child's grown-up staying to join in:
- 0–10 min, arrive and play: a basket of books and the toys they already know.
- 10–20 min, crown colouring: they colour a crown you made in advance; you tape it to fit.
- 20–35 min, music games: musical bumps and snowman melt, with the grown-ups joining in.
- 35–45 min, food sit-down: whatever you are serving.
- 45–55 min, parcel and snowballs: pass the parcel with a colouring sheet in every layer, then paper snowballs.
- 55–60 min, story and goodbyes: one short story, then crowns on and coats on.
What this page leaves out: balloons, candles, sweets, small toys as prizes or parcel fillers, and food ideas. Further reading, links only: RoSPA’s Keeping Kids Safe hub and nhs.uk on foods to avoid giving babies and young children.
Which Christmas party games suit ages 2 to 6?
These 10 games need little more than music on a phone, paper and tape. The ages are our suggestion, not a rule.
Games for 2 and up
- Musical statues (2 and up): play a Christmas song; when it stops, everyone freezes.
- Musical bumps (2 and up): when the music stops, everyone sits down on the floor.
- Snowman melt (2 and up): when the music stops, everyone melts slowly to the floor like a snowman in the sun.
- Pass the parcel (2 and up): wrap one layer per child so everyone unwraps one (you control the music). For 2 to 3, a colouring sheet in every layer; for 4 to 6, the picture book in the middle: read it at story time, then it goes home with the child who unwrapped it. Needs: wrapping paper, tape, a picture book.
- Paper snowballs (2 and up): scrunch sheets of paper into balls and throw them into a box or laundry basket. Needs: paper, a box.
Games for 3 to 6
- Reindeer hunt (3 and up): hide 20 paper reindeer around one room; the children find them together and count them out loud. Needs: 20 reindeer drawn or printed on paper.
- Sleeping reindeer (3 and up): everyone lies still on the floor; anyone who wriggles helps you spot the others.
- Santa says (4 and up): like Simon says, but with Santa: move only when Santa says so.
- Reindeer nose (4 and up): with eyes closed, tape a red paper nose on a big reindeer on the wall. Needs: paper, tape.
- Paper-chain race (5 and up): two teams add links for 3 minutes; the longer chain wins. Needs: paper strips, tape.
For the rest of December at home, see our Christmas activities for toddlers.
What can children take home instead of a party bag?
Our version of a party bag is the Make-It-Take-It Rule: every child goes home with what they made: a paper crown, plus a paper chain (4 to 6) or a colouring sheet (2 to 3), so there is no party bag to buy.
It costs nothing extra, and the making fills the first 25 minutes of the 4 to 6 plan:
- Paper crown: cut two long strips about 6 cm (2.4 inches) tall from A4 paper, tape them end to end and fit the band to the child's head.
- Paper chain: cut A4 paper lengthways into strips about 3 cm (1.2 inches) wide; loop each strip through the last one and tape it closed.
- Younger guests: for 2 to 3, the crown they coloured and the colouring sheet from their parcel layer.
Our 4 to 6 plan for 8 children uses about 42 sheets of A4: one per crown, three per chain and ten for the reindeer hunt.
What does a kids Christmas party kit cost? The Party-Kit Ladder
The kit covers the parcel, the crowns, the chains, the clean-up and the 4 to 6 card game, not the food or crayons. Each item is priced from Office for National Statistics (ONS) shop-price quotes for September 2026, released on 21 October 2026.
Thrifty uses each item’s lower quartile (at least a quarter of its quotes cost that or less), Middle its median and Treat its upper quartile (at least a quarter cost that or more). Add up a kit at each tier and you get the Party-Kit Ladder:
| Ages | Middle (£) | Thrifty to Treat (£) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 to 3 | 22 | 16–27 |
| 4 to 6 | 29 | 22–39 |
Our sums of each item’s quartiles, every valid ONS quote for September 2026 counted once, in whole pounds: a summary, not an ONS average. We compared the two kits: the 4 to 6 kit adds a card game, about £7.19 at the middle price.
Per child, the Middle kit works out at £2.77 for 2 to 3 and £3.67 for 4 to 6, across 8 children. At the middle price, the A4 ream is actually the biggest line (£7.99), and you may already have paper: without it, the Middle kit is £14 or £21.
Item by item, with the middle half of each item’s valid quotes as a range:
| Kit item | Middle (£) | Middle half (£) |
|---|---|---|
| Wrapping paper (1 roll) | 2.50 | 1.49–3.99 |
| Clear sticky tape | 1.95 | 1.49–2.99 |
| A4 paper (a 500-sheet ream) (ONS: A4 printer paper, 500-sheet ream) | 7.99 | 6.00–8.99 |
| A picture book (ONS: illustrated book for under 5s) | 6.99 | 5.00–7.99 |
| Kitchen roll (a pack) (ONS: kitchen roll, pack of 2 to 4) | 2.70 | 2.50–3.00 |
| A card game | 7.19 | 5.99–12.00 |
Source: ONS price quotes, September 2026. We ran a script over all 93,873 rows of the file and kept the valid quotes: 135 to 415 per item.
The ONS dataset page says the figures are “provided for research purposes only, are not accredited official statistics”: read our kit costs as a rough guide, not a shop quote.
How can you host a kids’ Christmas party for almost nothing?
Most of the kit has a free stand-in at home:
- Wrapping paper (1 roll): newspaper, or gift wrap saved from last year.
- Clear sticky tape: nothing free does the same job.
- A4 paper (a 500-sheet ream): paper you already have; the plain side of cereal boxes makes stiffer crowns.
- A picture book: a book from your own shelf that you are happy to give away.
- Kitchen roll (a pack): a damp cloth and a tea towel.
- A card game (4 to 6 only): a matching game with old Christmas cards cut in half.
The exception is tape: use every other swap and the only buy left is tape, about £1.95 at the middle price.
When should you plan a December party? A dated plan
A worked example for a party on Saturday 12 December 2026, five steps from three weeks out. We checked every date against the 2026 calendar; move them with your own date.
- Sat 21 Nov (21 days before): pick a date and a 60- or 90-minute slot, then send invites by message.
- Sat 28 Nov (14 days before): count the replies: that number sets the parcel layers and the crowns.
- Sat 5 Dec (7 days before): buy what is missing from the kit, then cut the paper strips and crown bands.
- Thu 10 Dec (2 days before): wrap the parcel, one layer per child, and for the 4 to 6 plan draw or print 20 reindeer.
- Sat 12 Dec (party day): hide the reindeer (4 to 6 plan) before guests arrive and have the music ready on a phone.
Then comes Christmas Eve: our Christmas Eve box ideas use the same budget tiers. For a baby brother or sister, see baby’s first Christmas. Browsing party outfits? See our toddler clothes.
Frequently asked questions
What can you do at a kids’ Christmas party at home?
A crown table, music games, food, pass the parcel and a story, plus paper chains and a reindeer hunt for 4 to 6.
How long should a Christmas party for young children last?
There is no set length. Our starting point: 60 minutes for 2 to 3 year olds, 90 minutes for 4 to 6.
How much does a kids’ Christmas party cost?
Our party kit, food not included, costs £22 for 2 to 3 and £29 for 4 to 6 at the median of ONS shop-price quotes for September 2026 (our sums).
What can children take home instead of a party bag?
What they made: a crown, plus a chain (4 to 6) or a colouring sheet (2 to 3).
What are good Christmas party games for toddlers?
Musical bumps, snowman melt, pass the parcel with a colouring sheet in every layer and paper snowballs.
Sources: Office for National Statistics (Consumer price inflation consumption segment indices and price quotes, price quotes September 2026 edition, released 21 October 2026).
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. (licence)
Use of ONS information, including links, does not imply that the ONS endorses Babbez. The run-sheets, games list, Make-It-Take-It Rule, kits, tiers, swaps and plan are Babbez’s own (editorial standards). General information, not safety advice; see our content disclaimer and medical disclaimer.