Unique Ideas for Kids at a Wedding
Throughout history, children have held integral roles in wedding ceremonies. Depending on its length and formality, however, a wedding can be taxing on attending children as they're expected to be on their best behavior for hours on end. As long as you create engaging activities for the children invited to your special day, they can not only attend the wedding but also provide innocent energy and delight to the celebration.
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Create a Giant Mural
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Designate a room for "Kids Only," and cover a table with butcher paper. Give each child a bucket of art supplies labeled with his name, and a clearly marked section of the paper to draw on. Have the kids create a giant mural on a theme related to the wedding. If you don't have a spare room, give them a bucket of chalk and have them create the mural on the sidewalk outside of the reception venue. Make sure an adult is on hand to supervise. Place large comfy cushions, napping mats and a TV in the corner of the "Kids Only" room, so children can take cinema breaks or sleep when they tire. Set up another table with board games or bingo to distract children who are not artistically inclined.
Hire a Professional Entertainer
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Consider a professional entertainer, such as a fortuneteller, ventriloquist, faux tattoo painter, caricature artist, clown, comic, mime, magician, bagpiper, balloon artist or impersonator. For example, a Batman impersonator can act out scenes from the Batman series of movies or rope the kids into creating new stories with familiar villains, such as the Joker, Penguin or Scarecrow. Engage a face-painting artist to color the children's faces and turn them into their favorite characters from the Batman series.
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Turn Kids into Celebrities
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Ask a videographer or local film student who owns a video camera to come in and create a home movie of the kids. Use a spare room for the stage area. Set up Japanese-style screens on the sides of the rooms as changing areas. Bring in boxes of old clothes, shoes, hats and jewelry. Add umbrellas, canes, spectacles and other assorted props. Have the children root through the boxes to find costumes and set up a CD player for background show music. Ask a local theater director to work with the children on creating and rehearsing their own skits for the camera. Show the kids' video at the end of the reception.
Conduct a Darwin Nature Walk
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Locate a naturalist who can lead the children on an informative walk through local woods. Give the children blank, bound notepads and have them pretend they are Charles Darwin on a trek into the unknown. Direct them to draw and record insects, plants, flowers and animals into their naturalist log books. Challenge the children to label as many of their nature pictures as possible. Ask them to pick out the one flower or plant that might belong in a wedding bouquet and explain why.
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