It's your child's birthday party and you want to make it a success but how on earth do you amuse a group of rampaging five-year-olds? Innovative iVillage parents on the Entertaining the Kids message board have some ideas

1.) Sitting pretty - the perfect party for little girls
iVillager Ali was mulling over ideas for her daughter's fifth birthday while in the hairdressers and got inspired by her surroundings. After watching a group of girls come in to have their hair and nails done she decided to replicate the dressing up idea at home for her daughter's friends.

You need: glitter, nail varnish, cheap hair clips, beads, thread, plain white t-shirts, fabric paint and finger food.

This party idea is a great way to harness children's natural creativity as well as giving the parents a more relaxing afternoon. First of all, buy the above materials or think of other cheap prettifying bits and bobs. On the day of the party, set up some chairs and music in the garden - or clear a suitable space inside - with the finger food laid out. Once everyone arrives they can spend the time dressing up, painting their nails and making bracelets and necklaces as they eat. You and another parent can volunteer to be their hairdressers for the day and use clips and hair bobbles to tie their hair in new ways. Instead of party bags, buy plain T-shirts and some fabric paints and let them decorate the T-shirts themselves to take them home with them.

2.) Flappy fish
iVillager Mandie suggested this cheap and cheerful game to get everyone moving.

You need: different coloured sheets of A4 paper and lots of magazines

It's a good idea to have lots of quick, lively games on hand in case the party spirit flags. This one is excellent because it's cheap, easy and can be pulled out at any time. Before the party, cut out lots of fish shapes - one per A4 sheet of paper - making sure they are different colours. Then stand the children in a row, each with a magazine or newspaper and ask them to flap at the fish to make them move. The first one to the other side of the room wins.

3.) Colour crazy
iVillager Astrid arranged a pink-and-blue party for her five-year-old. Here's how?

You need: a room and some imagination - you can make this as elaborate as you like.

This party has a nice and easy fancy dress theme. Kids can join in without their parents having to buy expensive costumes. Pick two colours and send out invites asking everyone (including parents) to come wearing one of these colours. Decorate the party room and cake with colour-coordinated balloons and even make sure the sweets in the party bags match. You can use the fact everyone is wearing these colours to help organise games too - it's an easy and fair way to divide people into teams, as long as there is a fairly even distribution of colours.

4.) Enchanted castle
iVillager cl-murerrol suggested making the bouncy castle idea even more fun for kids.

You need: a bouncy castle and lots of energy

Look around for bouncy castles to hire - the prices vary dramatically. Local leisure centres may be able to provide one at a cheaper rate. If you feel it's too expensive you could get together with another parent and organise a joint birthday party. To make the party feel more special you could combine it with fancy dress. Get the children to come as princes, princesses, knights or kings. After burning all their energy jumping around , the kids could tuck into an old fashioned feast to fit the theme.

5.)Summer strawberry fun
IVillager cl-stephiefilby suggested going strawberry-picking as a family day out - why not turn this into a party?

You need: a near-by strawberry farm and transport

If you've organised a kid's party for a hot summer's day, you can start the festivities off with a trip to a pick-your-own fruit farm. You can turn it in to a game - give prizes for the biggest fruit or put the children into teams to see who can pick the most. The best bit it that you can use the fruit for a lovely summer picnic of strawberries and cream afterwards. Make sure that the kids aren't wearing their best clothes though, and be ready to intervene if a fruit fight breaks out.

Why not get more ideas for kids parties on the Entertaining the Kids message board. Take a look at some of the LIVE discussions happening right now on the bord: