Keeping Children Safe at Parties at Home

  • By: The DIG for Kids
  • Time to read: 3 min.

Children’s parties at home can be frenetic and stressful, especially as you are no longer just responsible for your child – you are also temporarily responsible for the safety and wellbeing of all of their friends, too!

If you’re lucky enough to have a child with a spring/summer birthday, then you can often locate the whole thing in the garden – even having the food as a picnic. However, if the weather is against you, you’ll have to have a party inside. To keep a tighter control of the children, it’s a good idea to make some areas off limits. Make sure you tell the children where they can go and that they stick to that area.

Lock the front door so they can’t run out there in excitement, and do the same for the back door if you don’t want them outside.

How Can I Keep An Eye On All Of Them?

You don’t have eyes in the back of your head, so try to enlist the help of a couple of other adults. They can help to ensure the children don’t go to the rooms you have made off limits, and also assist with any activities.

Prevent boredom from kicking in by planning activities from the start. Colouring in their own party hats until the party games can begin is a good activity, or watching a short video will help calm down the children later on.

Move anything breakable or anything that might be tripped over into another room, and don’t allow the misuse of furniture either. This should reduce the chances of falls and other injuries. If there are cables along the edge of a wall, make sure they are securely taped beneath the carpet or rug to avoid tripping.

First Aid Kit

In case someone does get hurt, make sure you have a stocked up medical kit to hand, which includes plasters, bandages, antiseptic cream and cotton wool.

Also make sure that children are as calm as possible and seated before they eat to Avoid Risks Of Choking, and don’t use cocktail sticks. Keep them out of the kitchen, especially if you are not there, and put away appliances, knives, plates etc. just in case.

If the children are a bit older and parents are leaving them with you, make sure they leave a number where they can be contacted, preferably a mobile, in case of an emergency. When children are picked up, make sure the parents come to your door, rather than sending the children off down the drive to a car they think they recognise.

Also, if someone turns up saying they are picking a child up instead, and if you don’t know them, phone the child’s parents to make sure they know who they are.

External Venues

If you are going to Hire A Venue such as an indoor play centre, swimming pool, or restaurant, make sure that they have adequate medical equipment and enough trained staff on hand to deal with any emergencies.

Also make sure they have insurance and that they tell you where the emergency exits are in case of a fire or other problem that requires immediate vacation of the premises.

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