Kids' bday parties! Oh My!

JustTrace

JustTrace

New member
My DD will be 8 this month. She wants a party like her friends' all have. Problem is, her friends' parents throw these elaborate, COSTLY parties that DH and I feel are over the top and a big waste of money. (I would spend the world on my DD don't get me wrong, but not on a 8th birthday)

Her little friend had a circus party at the circus school a few weeks ago. I looked into it. It's 300 dollars for an HOUR in the school and 30 minutes in the room to eat. I have to bring food, drinks, cake etc. The minimum number for this party is 8.

Checked out a local ceramics place. They get to paint something we choose (prices start at 25.00 per item!). Again, I provide all food etc and then have to pick up all the pieces and deliver the following week. Minimum is 10 kids!! That's 250 bucks!! WOW.

Kids won't come to a home party anymore. I tried 2 years ago and we invited 10 kids and only 2 showed up. No parents bothered to RSVP so I had no idea how to proceed with food etc. Last year, we did McDonalds and 6 kids showed up which was fine but we had invited 12.

I want DD to have a good time at her party, but I just can't fathom spending this kind of money, booking a venue for a set number of kids and then having half not show up!!! DH feels like we should just not have a party at all but that would break dd's heart.

Ugh...I am at a loss here. I'm calling a local grocery store today that provides a cooking class birthday party where the kids make their meal and then decorate their own cakes. A friend did it for her daughter and the kids had a great time. I'm hoping it's not a minimum of 10 or 12 and that it's reasonably priced!
 
It is always hard. I love throwing parties myself, so my kids get a big party every other year (with 4 kids, that is 2 kid parties a year, which is all I can manage). I do all of them at home because I can't stand the structure of having them somewhere.

My kids love going to their friends parties that are at Jump Places, skate rinks, ceramics places, etc, I just don't feel like they are personal - like they rush you thru. Here jump for 20 minutes in this section, now 20 min here, now 20 min to eat pizza and have cake, now leave. A lot of times, there is not time for the kid to open their presents.

At this point, I have been doing them so long, we have a good turn out and we are specific who we invite (like I only allow 6 guests if a sleepover or 12 if not). They get 12 invites and hand them out, if they get a no, they can invite someone else, so they are really pushing their friends to rsvp.

That being said, a cooking class sounds like a ton of fun.

Right now, my almost 7 yo has a birthday coming in April and we are already working on his next birthday - Indiana Jones. We are having a lot of fun planning it and looking at ideas because it is a theme we can all get behind.
Other themes we have done - Pirates (lots of fun with treasure hunt), 80's, Tea Party (one of my favorites), Minecraft, Just Dance, Robot, Cars, Candyland, Monkey Safari, Beach Monkey, Sock Monkey Theater, Red Carpet
I find that little girls really love to dress up - so at that age, there was some sort of dress up involved.
 
Uggh! Thankfully Cheyanne's birthday is in the summer so we never did the party thing because we were always at our camp and all her friends were at their camps too (summer homes/camps are a big thing here - LOL). We did a pool party one year right before school got out because she had never had a party and really wanted one (her 6th I believe). It was $100 for the pool for 2 hours and the room to eat for an hour, which wasn't bad and she could have quite a few kids, up to 20 I believe. She's been to bowling parties and movie theater parties and roller rink parties and that's about it. Do you have any museums that do parties? I know we have one that does parties and they're really reasonable. It's too bad the kids won't go to a fun-themed home party :(
 
We have done bowling, a play place, and McDonalds.

She he wants to do McDonalds again. We don't ever eat there so it's a real treat for her. I'm going to let her invite 8 kids as it,s pretty reasonable.

The cooking class was 25.00 per child but all food provided. She doesn't want to have it there.
 
The cost of the parties is why we also do them at home! Once you decide on a theme, if you do a search online, there is undoubtedly some crazy mom who has already gone nuts with ideas! I have boys (with birthdays a week apart, so we have been doing one party instead of 2!) and the last couple of years we have done some fun parties. I searched for "Minecraft Birthday" and some crazy people had created all kinds of card printouts, so I downloaded those and made a Minecraft cake. This past year was Star Wars and someone had the idea to use pool noodles, cut in half, for light saber battles. At $1.00 per pool noodle, it was great and cheap and I didn't have to think of anything! So whatever you decide, I would do a search and I bet someone has already done all the work for you!
 
Cost was one of the biggest reasons my boyfriend and I decided to take the boys camping instead of doing birthday parties this year. Tradition in our family is to go out to dinner at the restaurant of your choice on the Saturday evening or Sunday (after Church) just before/after your birthday. {Since that's usually when we are all together and off anyway}
My boys birthdays are one month and one day apart. My youngest is in Jan and my oldest in Feb. Since we've been having such a mild winter here in S. Texas this year, we decided to capitalize on it and take them winter camping in celebration this year.. A great bonding experience for my bf and the boys, and a chance for them to learn something new... My youngest has never been tent camping before.
 
Birthdays are very special to me and I love to celebrate people. My kids and hubby have all experienced my joy of celebrating them. The kids are spoiled and love it. I have lots of great ideas you can try. I always do a theme of their liking and add a twist. You can try a painting party but at your house instead of the expensive places. Check Michaels for bulk packs of canvas on sale and the large bottles of paint. Sometimes you can get them in a 6 pack or you can get them on sale. You can hand draw something of the theme on them for them to paint or you can let them paint freestyle. Silly string at the dollar store is our tradition every year.... They love that most of all. Cake and Ice cream. Bam you have a party. You can check groupon for a bounce house deal and do that if you have warm weather. People will come to that always, lol. Let me know if you need any more ideas.

JustTrace said:
We have done bowling, a play place, and McDonalds.

She he wants to do McDonalds again. We don't ever eat there so it's a real treat for her. I'm going to let her invite 8 kids as it,s pretty reasonable.

The cooking class was 25.00 per child but all food provided. She doesn't want to have it there.
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ScrappyPenguin said:
Birthdays are very special to me and I love to celebrate people. My kids and hubby have all experienced my joy of celebrating them. The kids are spoiled and love it. I have lots of great ideas you can try. I always do a theme of their liking and add a twist. You can try a painting party but at your house instead of the expensive places. Check Michaels for bulk packs of canvas on sale and the large bottles of paint. Sometimes you can get them in a 6 pack or you can get them on sale. You can hand draw something of the theme on them for them to paint or you can let them paint freestyle. Silly string at the dollar store is our tradition every year.... They love that most of all. Cake and Ice cream. Bam you have a party. You can check groupon for a bounce house deal and do that if you have warm weather. People will come to that always, lol. Let me know if you need any more ideas.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the ideas. WE have the party planned already. My DH is a neat freak and would NEVER do a painting party inside. We live in Ontario, Canada, so any outside activities right now would be too cold. There is no snow right now either so that's out lol.

She will be happy and that's all that matters.
 
I'm afraid I am one of those suckers Trace that have lots of kids and over the top parties!!! To be honest I'm slack, hopelessly unorganised and a hosted party is easy. You sit down, enjoy the party and there is no mess to clean up. We start off with good intentions for a small party but then we write the friends list ........ This year we had a mad scientist party, hired a party host and a hall from our local council.... We set a limit for 15 kids but ended up with 27 kids ..... We are lucky because hubby's mum and dad pitch in. They look after all the food side and the video and photos and I organise the host, favour bags and cake..... works out really well. Some of the parties Jessica has been to this year are pony, lego, spa, gym, disco, circus, sports, candy bar, trampoline, karaoke, ballet, beading, jewellery, inflatable world and pool parties. These were all hosted and at venues but nearly all of these could be done at home if your game!! lol. This year we are going for a sleepover and I am doing everything myself .....I'm scared!!!!
 
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Hello all,
It was my kid's birthday this month. He is 1 year old now and he is a chatterbox. He'll not pronounce the words properly, but I can understand what he's intending to. Last week, I just asked him, what do you want for your birthday and he said that he needs a bunk bed. I was just surprised because I haven't taught him that word. Anyway I was very happy and soon bought him a bunk bed for his birthday. He's still too small, so I cannot let him sleep in that bed. But he used to play with me by climbing up and down the bed. This is the first birthday and will be one of the best birthday as he asked me what he needs.
 
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