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You could maybe set up a movie if you can figure out a way to keep it from interfering with the rest of your reception.

I think that if you want any kids activity to succeed with this age group the most important thing is to get them out of the line of sight of the rest of the party. No two year old is going to be interested in any activity if they can see their parents and a whole lot of other fun things going on over THERE...
Once you get them out of line of sight just having some toys (blocks, trucks, etc.) on a nice rugged area should be fine. (Don't expect them to stay sitting at a table for hours). The older ones can probably do memory games, or have their parents bring a favorite toy/game.

How about a balloon artist, the movie idea is great if you can get an adjacent room and pay a sitter. remember though at this age the kids may not want to be away from Mommy and Daddy.

I figured out that you can take pictures of you and FH and turn them into coloring book pages in Photoshop. I thought that would be a really cute activity for the kids...

This page has instructions for Photoshop and Corel Paint Shop Pro
http://fototiller.com/blog/2006/06/26/coloring-pages-from-your-photos-3-easy-photoshop-steps/

As for the kids not wanting to be with out mommy, that isn't the case at all. All the kids know each other and every time they get together its like mommy never existed. Hahaha. They play together a lot. They love to dress up, color, and run around like crazy people. Which is why we decided to hire a sitter to be with the kids at the back of the reception hall. The sitter is going to be there for 2 hours after dinner during the last half of the reception. I just want to make sure she is armed with several different things in-case they start to get a little ADD. As for the TV non of the kids really sit down and watch TV. They are all very active so its not something that would entertain them and would end up costing me a pretty little penny since the venue doesn't have any TV's to setup.

Since your thinking about a "kids only" dance (The Hokey Pokey is a good one!) how about a pinata too. This can be done elegantly! We have done exploding balloons filled with candy and little toys on top of small column. Then the bride and groom pop the balloon with a special "wedding wand" and the kids are showered with treats. The balloon artist is a great idea too!

You say the kids like dress up? Maybe get a few white dresses, and vails, so the girls can pretend they are brides, and some sport coats for the boys. (borrow these items from people so you don't go over budget) . You could also incorporate a good old fashioned game of Musical Chairs, too.

Recently at my friend’s wedding she provided dress up material - hats, boas, glasses along with a photo booth. I'm not sure how much a photo booth runs, but who doesn't love a night of dress up with props!! All ages would love this!! I also love the movie idea. I've also had a friend connect a gaming device (PSP) to a projector or TV for all the kids to play on! I think the babysitter is a fab idea! Kudos to you for thinking of this!

I suggest a favor bag with a few little toys in them. What about light brights? I think getting a poster sized version of one of your cartoon style pictures (as mention a few posts above) and roll it out on the floor for the kids to color together. Ever heard of Aqua doodle? it's a matt with a water marker that colors it.

We're in the same boat, I've been looking around for ideas. Most of what I've found focuses on coloring and stuff like that, which may not be a bad thing. Several vendors sell wedding sets for kids, this one seems to have more variety than others I have found --http://www.kidsweddingfun.com/kids_wedding_fun_home.html. I also remember seeing some older posts with suggestions about sites where you can create your own crosswords, wordsearches, and jigsaw puzzles, I'd have to dig for those though. For most of my kids, I figure the parents will have them well in hand (probably with an electronic babysitter like a DS or something!), but I'll have some handouts just in case.

We opted to not have any crayons, markers, paints, pens, pencils or anything like that at the reception. Mainly because these are the types of kids that write on themselves. Haha. I have seen them do it many times before. So we went with the color wonder stuff. I emailed crayola and asked them if the color wonder pages can be printed on so that we could make personalized coloring pages and activity sheets. Sadly they can NOT! I was so upset when I heard that because that took out a large chunk of things to create for the kids.

In other news I went to Michales yesterday and they were having a sale on their kids craft stuff. I ended up buying a HUGE bag of pipe cleaners and googly eyes and mop hair. I will give the babysitter a stick of glue if there needs to be any. Also I found these foam hand gliders. It was a kit that made 12 gliders and no glue is required since all of the foam had adhesive on it. Then I went over to Joanns and they had their childrens reader books for $1 a piece.

I've seen several suggestions for pipe cleaners, kids love crafts. You're brave to have gliders! I can just imagine them flying all over the reception room . . . but the kids are so young they probably won't be able to throw them very far. Then again I can just picture an adult getting hold of a wayward glider, could be fun for all, actually! :-)

We are having some of my cousins "babysit" the kids that are going to be in at our wedding reception.

We are having an area designated for "Kid's Only." We are having activities such as a bean bag toss, coloring (we are putting butcher block paper down on the tables so that the kids can color "on the table," as well as coloring books), a camera scavenger hunt (where the kids are broken into small groups with a group leader and the kids have to go around taking pictures - with a disposable camera - of a list of things including things like the cutting of the cake, the bride and groom dancing, a couple laughing, etc...). We just thought the more "stuff" the kids have to do, the better!

Good luck! :)

You are on the right track to even consider the little ones' needs. Kids rule! But, should play second fiddle compared to the bride and groom.

Individual tubes of bubbles keep little ones occupied and are also popular with the adults, particularly after a day-time ceremony. The bubbles sold in lots for weddings are not messy because of the size of the tubes.

Consider favor bags designed for children of these ages, similar to the kind given at birthday parties. Small instruments, stickers, will enchant them for a time.

The dancing segment of the reception always keeps the little ones busy. It may not be necessary to have a separate kid only dance.

Of course, photographers love children, because they are active and lack self-consciousness! Also, if you haven't thought of it already, a group photo of the bride and groom and all the children is always a nice touch.

Best wishes,

Jennifer
Aphrodite Wedding Photography

We are planning on a whopping 20 guests under 18. Most from 3-11. I have bought Crayola crayons on "back to school" disount for coloring paper "tableclothes" and plan on creating a picture scavanger hunt with a list of pictures to take while arming them with disposable cameras.

I am having alot of kids at our wedding. There are really just alot of kids in the family, his side and mine, and we dont want to let anyone out.
We had decided that as far as keeping kids busy, we had a great idea. Since we are having the wedding outside, we are setting up a separate picnic table covered in plain white paper, for the kids to draw on, color on, write notes to us on. Whatever they want to do. There are going to be a couple older kids there, ages 15 or so. That way, I dont really need to have a babysitter. I just want everyone to have a great time, and enjoy themselves. I may also decide to have some kind of craft table. I have looked on www.OrientalTrading.com, and have found a couple of really neat "fall themed" crafts to make. I am going to wait until they go on sale after Thanksgiving, and then buy a bunch of them. Same as with alot of my decorations. After Thanksgiving, I am doing the "on sale hunt!"

we are having kids too, we have about 10 coming we are doing a pinta for them and we pick meal just for them so they would like it , we also are having a table set just for them with coloring books i pick up at dollar store , with a bunch of age appot toys .

We just got married. We did activity books that I created for the kiddos. We had 39 kids and 13 teenagers at our reception. I had colors on the table for them as well. In the book was suduko, mazes, word finds, pages to color that basically walked through the wedding and included our names as well as everyone in the wedding party. There were pages to draw, tic tac toe, a scavenger hunt.

I had planned on having bean bag boards there, balls, and hula hoops. Also had little craft activities as well, but didn't designate someone to take care of that so they got stuffed under a table and no one got to use them.