PLAY TIME

Tipi Cornwall Childcare Photography Steven Prebble

From excitable entrances to raucous receptions, weddings aren’t always child-friendly, so here are our favourite ways to keep younger guests happily entertained from dawn until dusk

words Elizabeth Chester

If you’ve decided to welcome guests’ children at your wedding, chances are you’re imagining them to be full of fun and oh-so cute. But with guests wanting to party, and children wanting to play, it’s a good idea to have a few ideas up your sleeve to keep everyone happy…

Scavenger hunts

Who doesn’t love a scavenger hunt? Organise a trail for your littlest guests and let them run around the grounds of your venue looking for their treasure. Themes such as Peter Rabbit, Superheroes, Nature, or Love (it is a wedding, after all!) can make lovely scavenger hunt themes. If you happen to be getting married around Easter, you have a ready-made theme, and your little folk will no doubt be delighted to look for Easter eggs. Crafty types could fashion wooden signs or clues to match your theme and help your little ones along the trail. Hunts and trails could also incorporate the happy couple. “Ask the children to find things beginning with the couple’s initials,” suggests Elsie Preddy from Cornwall Childcare (cornwallchildcare.com), which offers wedding crèches and wedding nannies, as well as babysitting and overnight care services.

Ask children to collect their treasure for a prize at the end – we love personalised felt buckets. And while collecting treasures along the way may work well for a small do, if there are hordes of children, it might be easier to ask them to tick the things they find off a list “or get them to take photos of the treasures they are looking for,” suggests Elsie. Polaroid cameras will mean they can show off their finds instantly and they will love the instant appeal of the images popping out of the camera. “You’ll have the memories forever and some lovely photos from a child’s point of view,” adds Elsie.

Themed tents

Decorated tents, yurts, or wigwams for children to run between, hide inside, and craft in, make beautiful focal points at outside areas, too. Fill each tent with a rug, scatter cushions and the all-important crafting box where little ones can make and do in the comfort of their own space. If you choose tents that are a blank canvas, your littlest ones could always decorate them using washable pens, felt shapes, pom-poms, and bunting. Perhaps you could set a challenge for the best-dressed tent?

“Choose magic painting books, too,” says Elsie. “They are mess-free!” Sticker books may also capture their imagination. “You can get some great wedding or themed sticker books,” she says. You could even suggest they all decorate a felt bucket for the scavenger hunt?

Older children could be given the role of official reportage photographer and could set up their studio in a yurt or tent and invite guests, young and old, to be photographed. It may be best to stick with an official photographer, too, though!

Fancy dress

Fancy dress boxes rock for any age. From dinosaurs to princesses, doctors to wizards and plenty of pirates, pile all your favourite dressing-up costumes into an old trunk and watch your little guests’ imaginations run wild. Make sure your reportage photographers – and official one – are on hand to capture some of the amazing characters that are sure to make their way through your reception!

Traditional garden games may come in handy here, too. Once everyone has dressed as their alter ego of choice, how about a princess versus prince sack race, a superhero egg and spoon challenge, or maybe dinosaur croquet?

Bouncy castle

For entertainment of the let-them-get-on-with-it kind, bouncy castles can provide hours of fun. This will allow grown-up guests to watch their little people enjoying themselves while they enjoy the liquid refreshments on offer!

Lucky dips

These are easy to make with an old box and shredded paper or sawdust – include some cute prizes and you can guarantee to elicit much excitement from little hands! Perhaps your youngest guests could choose a lucky dip prize as a reward if they do something well during the day, like staying quiet and listening during the ceremony, or it could be a winning prize for a child who makes a wonderful craft in one of the tents. Best to have enough for every child though!

Baking station

We love the idea of organising a cake-making station – manned by an adult of course! Children could prepare biscuits by rolling and cookie-cutting some ready-made dough (to be cooked later). Biscuits or cupcakes could be decorated using icing, sprinkles, and sweeties, or perhaps you could decorate pizzas, to be cooked later outside, if the venue and timescales allow.

Mobile petting zoo

This could be just the thing to keep your little guests amused in any downtime during your day. Depending on your space and budget, you can hire most animals from small and furry chicks and rabbits to goats, pigs and even ponies and alpacas. Children can be helped to hold and pet the animals and you may even be able to organise some pony rides, should your petting zoo offer this, too.

Whatever activities you choose for your guests, young and old, make sure you take a leaf out of any child’s book, and focus on the fun!