Here Comes the… Children @ Your Wedding

Tips For a Kid-Friendly Wedding from https://smartkids101.com

Our really good friends got married a couple of weeks ago and let me say up front: this was an amazing wedding! The couple did everything their way– the location, the ceremony, the music, their attire, the reception, and the food were all truly an expression of the couple’s unique and somewhat quirky style. (Hey now, J&G, you guys KNOW this about yourselves. Don’t act all surprised at this revelation!)

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There was no pretense and everything was done on a shoestring budget. There are a lot of “young’uns” in this sweet couple’s life and they couldn’t imagine getting married without these precious souls at the ceremony and reception. However, as we all know, kids will be kids! When you have them in the ceremony or even as guests at the reception, you can count on Murphy’s Law. Remember that tongue-in-cheek point of view, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong?” Well, to keep this law at bay at their blessed occasion, they enlisted The Virtual Mom to come up with ideas to help the kids stay calm if they started to get a little restless.

I’m in my element with this assignment. One of my core values is giving kids the space to be kids. If a child is disruptive in a restaurant, I look to the adults who are with him, not the kid himself. Kids are usually being who they are: active balls of energy who can sometimes be loud, disruptive, and demanding.

This isn’t a news flash. But what is a news flash? Adults shouldn’t put children into situations that set them up for failure!

This couple understood two realities: 1. We want these 16 kiddos to be a part of our special day, even if they are ages 6 months to 12 years. 2. In a kid’s mind, weddings are quiet and dinner receptions can be boring. So here’s what we did to help the younger crowd be the best they could be for the evening: The wedding time was 7:30 pm. Guests were asked to arrive at 6:45 pm to be shuttled to the location. Obviously, this is past most families’ normal dinnertime– even rounding the corner to bedtime. Kid-friendly snacks were at the chapel door. Goldfish crackers, grapes, strawberries, and cheese cubes were ready for kids (and adults) to nosh on while waiting for the big moment to begin. Genius! (Of course, I know that every wedding venue won’t allow this, but if yours will, consider it.)

Tips For a Kid-Friendly Wedding from https://smartkids101.com // Make goodie bags for the kids for the reception

At the reception, each child’s place setting had a goodie bag with the groom’s favorite snack-Goldfish, the bride’s favorite snack-peanut M&M’s, a crazy straw, an 8 pack of crayons, a printed coloring activity book, and some bubbles. (The coloring pages can be found here.)

Tips For a Kid-Friendly Wedding from https://smartkids101.com // Make a goody bag for kids!

In keeping with the reception menu (breakfast for dinner!), each child had a small pack of Froot Loops and a Pop-Tart. Everything was labeled with the child’s name because, let’s face it, it’s easy for kids to lose things.  (Or claim their neighbor’s as their own. Ha.)

Tips For a Kid-Friendly Wedding from https://smartkids101.com // Pop Tart Snacks for Kids!

An “activity center” was set up in one corner of the reception area for the kids to play in. A 3 X 6 foot portable table was laid flat (no legs) on a comfy blanket and was covered in white paper, becoming an instant large-form coloring page. Froot Loops, bright colored plastic straws cut in 1 inch pieces, and strands of yarn provided a fine motor skill activity that was fun to wear (and, in the case of the Froot Loops, even more fun to eat).

Tips For a Kid-Friendly Wedding from https://smartkids101.com // Activity Table

The real prize for a night time wedding was the glow-in-the-dark necklaces and wands. They were a HUGE hit, even if one little boy kept unhooking his necklace and using it as a light saber! 😉

Tips For a Kid-Friendly Wedding from https://smartkids101.com

All-in-all, it was a fabulous evening for the adults and kids alike. Congratulations, J&G on your big day and on pulling off a rockin’ kid-friendly event!

For more fun ideas, follow our Wedding Planning with Kids in Mind board on Pinterest! Have you seen some great kid ideas at a wedding? Share them in the comments!

About Julie Hunt
I’ve lived a full life with many unimaginable joys and heartache like you wouldn’t believe. Our blog exists to encourage folks to slow down, chill out, and love more.

5 thoughts on “Here Comes the… Children @ Your Wedding”

  1. Arianna says:

    Where did you purchase the clear bags? All the ones I find are pretty cheap 🙁

    1. Aubrey Hunt says:

      Hi Arianna! Thanks for asking… I’ll have to check and see if I can find where they came from! I’ll let you know soon. 🙂

    2. Aubrey Hunt says:

      All right, Arianna! It turns out our cellophane bags were repurposed from a previous project, which was so long ago there’s no telling where they were from! Uline is kind of a go-to for bulk buying, and they have tons of sizes of cellophane bags. I’m sorry I can’t tell you for sure where ours were from (although, truth be told, they might not have been really top quality?!). Happy wedding planning!

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