Entertaining Activities For Kids At Weddings

In recent years, having childfree weddings has become much more popular. And this is no surprise, because hosting children at such an event can be challenging. Especially if you want things to run smoothly. However, planning the right activities for kids at weddings can allow you to invite the entire family to your special day and still avoid chaos!

So today, I wanted to give you a list of ideas for things that could entertain any littles ones that happen to be at your nuptials.

A Scavenger Hunt

The first activity I want to share with you is probably best suited for the reception, and it is to set up a little scavenger hunt. You can be as detailed as you want with this, and scale it however you want to. But here are a few ideas…

• You could stash some keepsakes around the location and have the kids look for them. Then instruct them to take everything they find to a common area where they share their treasures with the rest of the group. These keepsakes don’t have to be expensive, think small toys or even themed objects (like Easter eggs if your wedding is around then, or flowers if you’re having an outdoor ceremony).
• You could print out a sheet for each child with things to look for and check off. If you don’t want to hide physical objects around, you could instead list off events or actions. Like “someone sneezes” or “the bride throws the bouquet”.
• And lastly, as this post suggests, you could give them each a disposable polaroid camera and a list of things to take photos of. This will give them a “job” to keep them entertained and give you some keepsakes to treasure forever.

Enjoying Goodie Bags

One important thing to remember here is that activities for kids at weddings don’t necessarily have to entail much involvement from the adults. Case and point… goodie bags! You could pass these out to kiddos before the wedding, if the goodies are something they use during the ceremony without causing disruption. Or they could be saved for the reception. But either way, they’re a great options to keep kiddos happy.

There are lots of articles online that share ideas for things to put inside these goodie bags, such as this one. But I have a few tips I want to share here!

• Buy bundles and split them up. The good thing about this activity is that it can be more cost effective than you may think. For instance, you can buy packs of small trinkets or toys and then split them up. One for each goodie bag. This keeps the cost low, and the fuss to a minimum.
• Consider coloring books or printables. Another budget-friendly bag stuffer is one or two coloring pages for every kid. You can buy one coloring book, tear the pages out, and split them evenly among the bags. Or you could buy some printable pages off of Etsy, then print them out as many times as you need to without any additional cost.
• Keep the age of the kids in mind. An entertaining goodie bag for a six year old could look very different from one for a three year old. So it’s important to keep the ages of the kids invited in mind here. If you have a wide enough array of ages, you could consider making different versions for different age groups. Or, if you’re only expecting a few kids, you could even go the extra mile and personalize each goodie bag.

Filling Out Printables

I briefly mentioned them in the last section, but I think using printables to your advantage should be an entire tip all on its own! They’re budget-friendly, easy to find, can be used during the reception or ceremony, quiet, and customizable to your wedding. So there’s really no downside in including them somewhere along the line.

You could buy wedding related packs on Etsy, or even create your own using Canva if you want to make customized pages. Then you simply supply the kids with their printables and some crayons on the day.

I even saw someone suggest you get some menus that can be colored in, to keep kids entertained while everyone is eating. And I love that idea, because it’s typically a time where adults would enjoy talking to each other during their meals. So keeping the kids fed and entertained could be immensely helpful.

Playing In A Designated Space

Finally, the last of the activities for kids at weddings for this post, we have a tried and true method! Giving kids a designated area to play, particularly at the reception and especially if it’s being held outdoors. Because outdoor areas are much easier to set up with activities.

If you can carve out a spot specifically for the children… Decorate it in a way that will hold their attention… And fill it up with things for them to do… It will likely keep them busy the entire time. Plus, by keeping the kids in a group together, it makes it easier for a trusted adult to keep an eye on all of them. That way their parents could enjoy the wedding.

If you or your family isn’t comfortable with hiring someone to run the “kid’s center”, you could even pick out a few family members to do it in shifts. That way everyone gets to enjoy the wedding and reception at some point but you know the children are well taken care of.

Final Thoughts

I hope this post has given you some valuable ideas for how you could entertain the youngest guests at your wedding. And above all, I hope it reassured you that your wedding doesn’t have to be childfree to be enjoyed! Because, with a little creativity, there’s a way for you to keep everyone happy.