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As you may have spotted, Em had a birthday recently. We don’t really do big parties for the children; they get to see a lot of their friends on a social basis, but this year she was very keen to have a party, so we decided we would book one.
We booked a church hall, and a few days later Damian seriously damaged his ankle, which has seen him barely walk for two weeks and in the four weeks since he has only left the house a handful of times. It has meant that the running of the house has fallen on me as he has been unable to physically stand let alone do anything else and as he can’t drive at the moment all the shopping and running around has fallen to me too. Turns out my husband does his fair share of the house running! The upshot has been that planning for a party has been the furthest thing from my mind. When the team at Gatha Box made contact to offer me a box to review I jumped at the chance – hoping beyond hope that it would ease that burden for me.
I was sent a Gatha Box in return for this review (and for this reason this post is marked as an ad – my full disclosure policy can be found here). Whilst this box was provided by the team, all words and opinions are my own and are my genuine thoughts on the product.
What is the Gatha Box
The Gatha Box I was sent was a complete party package for ten children aged 4-6. It included everything you could need (except the food!) – this includes invitations, party games and equipment, cups and straws and game prizes. It even comes with a suggested menu which makes planning the perfect party food super easy. There are different boxes available to cater for different ages. The boxes can be used at an ‘at home’ party as the games are designed to work in a smaller venue as well as a larger one like the church hall we had.
The idea is that you can open the box the morning of the party and run the entire thing. I am sceptical of claims like this but this was was pretty accurate for this box! When ours arrived Em and I opened it up, had a look through it all and it was then packed back up again until two days before when I wanted to take a look again. It has been an absolute lifesaver for me given the last couple of weeks. I also like the eco-credentials in that everything is recyclable/reusable and even the box itself is used in one of the games! The company also donate 5% of their profits which is nice to see.
For full disclosure, our party had more than the suggested ten children (we had 22 children in total) and the children’s ages ranged from 3 – 10 so in excess of the 4-6 suggested age range. We also had a church hall booked so, of course, had plenty of space. The party box is designed for ten children and to be used at home. As we had 22 children we did have to buy a couple of additional things. However, had we just had the ten suggested children then I would have only had to purchase food in addition to the box and I could have, quite literally, opened the box on the morning of her party and we would have been good to go.
First Impressions
My first impressions upon opening the box were that there was a lot in there. We unpacked it and I had a quick leaf through the guide. It plans your two-hour party out from start to finish. It lists the activity name complete with which items from the box you need, how long it will take and how the activity/game works. I will admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed at the sheer volume of ‘stuff’ in here – there is a lot and I did feel a bit overwhelmed about all the activities to get through. That said I decided to order them in terms of which I thought would work best for us and the children we had present.
I was impressed with the activities; there were a couple of things in there that I’d never thought of before and was intrigued as to how it might work in practice. As I said above, I knew I needed to buy some additional bits for one of the activities so I ordered those bits and then the box was packed away until a day or two before the party. The party guide/instructions are really clear and well presented and, once I’d read through it properly I could see how it would work for us and that we had the party planned out for us.
Party Day
On party day we set up the ‘welcome’ activity which was t-shirt decorating. This was a genius idea. The box comes with ten plain white shirts (to fit age 5-6). I was going to buy additional white shirts but in the end opted to buy plain cotton bags as we had such a range of ages of children, that the shirts would be too small for the older children. This is in no way the fault of Gatha Box, and for parties where the children are the same age it would be perfect. There are plenty of fabric markers included (I bought an additional pack as we had more than double the number of suggested children). The markers are fantastic quality. I added tags to the t-shirts to write the children’s names on so that they wouldn’t get mixed up and the children spent the first 15/20 minutes of the party decorating these. It kept the children occupied and some of the designs were fantastic.
The next game we played was called Race to the Base. This was great fun and was a superb way of getting the children to burn off energy. I’d set up the bases prior to guests arriving so it took a minute or two to pack the t-shirts away and explain the game. This worked well in the space we had and would work well in a garden too for a summer party. The children all had fun and enjoyed honking the supplied horn to signal a corner for their friends to hop to. This game lasted the suggested 15 minutes.
Once this game was finished we played ‘in a flap’. We adapted this one slightly given the number of children we had and had five groups of four children (two decided not to play). We played this relay style and the children really enjoyed it. It was fun watching them try to not touch the ‘ball’ as they flapped it across the finish line. We did have to mix the groups up a little for round two of this game because the older boys outclassed the younger ones in round one. We played two rounds of this game, and it took around 15 minutes, as suggested in the box.
The third game we played was ‘Mind the Gap’. This game REALLY surprised me. I initially wasn’t going to do this one as I wasn’t sure how we’d manage it with 22 children, but we decided we would have a go at it. The two ribbons work well for this, although we did have to affix the ‘finish’ one with masking tape towards the end of the children landed on it as the gap got wider.
This game took about 20-25 minutes (so longer than the suggested 15 minutes). This was in part because of the number of children and the fact that they all could jump much further than I imagined they would! It took a long while to eliminate them! This was a really big hit with the children and I am sure a couple of the parents wouldn’t have minded a go at this. When we got to the final two the children were all cheering them on which was lovely to see.
There are three other games provided, but we simply ran out of time. I had hoped to play the mover shaker game but we just didn’t have the time. I like that Gatha supplied all these bits as well as the ideas. It did feel a bit overwhelming at first BUT it did mean that I had a few different ideas ready to run with should I need to, or if something didn’t quite work for the children we had or didn’t take as long as expected.
Party Food
The Gatha Box has a sample menu which is fantastic. We opted to have hotdogs as well as sandwiches, crisps, fruit and the such. I pre-sliced the bread rolls before the party and wrapped them in the paper wraps so all I had to do was take the cooked sausages out of the slow cooker for Damian to hand around. I think this worked really well (and the paper wraps contained any leaking tomato sauce as well as being recyclable). The box comes with cups and straws for the children as well as ice-cream tubs and spoons.
We sang Happy Birthday and Em got to blow the candles on her amazing cake (we are very fortunate to have my mum make these cakes for us!) and then we sliced it for the children to take home, complete with their decorated t-shirt/bag. The Gatha Box even comes with cake boxes!
Overall thoughts on the Gatha Box
I have to say I think the Gatha Box is amazing. I am a big fan of ‘traditional’ parties and party games. Hiring soft play centres and other types of spaces is great and of course, relieves some of the pressure on delivering the party itself BUT I think there is something to be said for having an ‘old school’ party with games and the such. I know my three children enjoyed the day, and I hope that Em’s friends did too. I was hugely impressed with the Gatha Box. In a month that I have found quite challenging and difficult with all the things I have had to juggle it has been an absolute gift to have everything planned and done for me.
If and when we do future parties for the children I will definitely be taking a look at the other boxes that Gatha offer as I was so impressed with this box. £70 may seem like a large upfront cost but if you take a moment to consider the cost of hiring professional entertainment for a party as well then buying the cups and plates etc you’ll soon realise this is incredibly good value. It’s also perfect if you’re looking to host something at home for a smaller group too.
It’s such a good idea. All the children enjoyed it, as did the adults. The games were brilliant and lovely to see the children taking part, even the older ones.