5 year old birthday party ideas

[SueC]

We're having a birthday party for our 5 year old on Saturday and I've been tenatively planning on providing a craft activity for the kids, but am starting to wonder if that will be more trouble and less fun than if I had traditional party activities (pinana, pin the tail, etc). We'll have a dozen or so kids here ranging from 2-5 and there will be both girls and boys. My daughter is really into crafts, so that is the reason I initally planned on a craft, but now I'm wondering if since there will be younger kids, it might be difficult to find an activity that they can all do. Any ideas?

We've done pin the banana on the monkey, decorated cookies, made a mask, and a pinata. I think that ages 3-5 participated and that any kids under 2 or 3 had help or didn't mind sitting out. All I did for the mask was have the shape of it and put out a bunch of crayons -- oh, and a hole punch and string. All were pretty fun. DD is invited to a princess party and the invitation says to dress as your favorite princess (or some sort of costume). She is super excited about it.
If you are feeling brave, you could have them make their own little pizzas.

:!

Lots of kid turning 5 around here....our oldest did today. We have nothing planned, he will probably hate us for it in a few years!

We have actually gone swimming a couple times, and he is having a party at his school today with a cake that he helped make and decorate- he was so proud!

When asked what he wanted to have for a birthday dinner- his reply was 'chicken nuggets and french fries, from Wendy's'..... (We are up for the parents of the year award in our community!! )