Weddings are always a special occasion but can be a long day if you’re only little!
If you’re having a kid-friendly wedding, it’s a good idea to keep your younger guests occupied during the ceremony, speeches and meal to try and limit interruptions and tears.
This doesn’t have to mean planning your wedding around the children attending though, as there are plenty of ways you can keep them happy without needing a playground or entertainment.
Here are a few ideas that you can easily fit into your big day to make sure that every guest has a great time.
Table Games
If you’re inviting a few little ones to your big day, sitting them at one table or in a few smaller groups can mean they keep each other entertained, especially if you provide them with games they can play together.
Tabletop games will give them something to do and keep them from getting bored during your reception – which can mean fewer tears and tantrums! Mini versions of games like Connect Four or card games, like our Flower Snap, will make the day more entertaining and can serve as their wedding favours.
You can also create a games corner with larger games, like hopscotch and Jenga, which will ensure they’re happy throughout the entire reception.
Building Bricks
Ideal for pleasing big and little kids alike, providing mini building brick kits or bowls of random bricks are a great way to keep children entertained and to help adults break the ice. You can include them as part of your centrepiece or provide each child or table with their own bricks.
You’ll be guaranteed to see some fun creations and get some lovely candid photos of people having fun. After all, who doesn’t love building bricks?!
Little Toys
Little toys are also a great way to make kids feel special and give them something to do. Providing a mixture of fun and cheap toys will give them something to play with both on their own and with the other children attending.
You can put together a box for each child with a few little toys in, such as a doll, plastic dinosaurs or something else they’ll love, so they get a wedding favour that will make them smile. While you can tailor each box to the child, you may want to opt for the same selection of toys for each little one to ensure there are no arguments.
Alternatively, you can set up one big toy box for everyone to play with and let each child take one toy home as their wedding favour.
Activity Books
Activity books are a brilliant way to keep children occupied during the wedding ceremony as well as at the reception. Puzzles, colouring books and other kinds of activities are sure to be lots of fun and you can provide packets of crayons or colouring pencils too.
As well as keeping children entertained, activity books can also provide a great keepsake, especially if they’re personalised for your wedding. Our personalised wedding activity book and personalised wedding activity tin not only help keep little ones happy on your big day, they can also be personalised to ensure your little guests feel special.
With word puzzles, colouring and other fun things to do, these activity books will also help children create their own memory book of your wedding.
Play Fort
Play forts are always a winner, so if you don’t mind giving up a corner of your reception venue so your little guests can build one, they could be a great way to keep them happy. You can provide cushions and blankets so they can build their own or even create a fort out of cardboard boxes so they have the option of playing inside it or drawing on it.
This may not keep them quiet during the meals but they’ll definitely have a blast later on during the rest of the reception or when there are breaks between different activities.
Keeping Them Happy
If you’re looking for more great ideas and some lovely keepsakes for your little guests, we have a great selection of things to help keep children happy during your wedding. From games to personalised books, stopping wedding tantrums is easy!