Winter birthday party ideas...

[greenmom17]

My dd will turn 6 in a few weeks, and I'm trying to think of a fun but economical idea for a kids party - about 10 kids. There is a dress up playhouse nearby, which she would love, but it's $18/girl for 1.5 hours.

Last year we had a craft party at our house...it was so-so, kind of hard to keep the kids focused on the craft.

Any other ideas? Thank you!

[cristina47454]

My dd just turned 7. In the past I've done parties at home, but I tend to go WAY over the top with decorations, crafts, games, etc. Costs me a fortune. Plus the stress of having the house presentable and clean bcs parents usually stick around.

Things are tight this year. But we have a local bowling alley that charges $3/child for 10 frames of bowling!! Printed some "bowling bingo" of of familyfun.com so kids waiting for their turn wouldn't get bored. GREAT party. And then hit the dollar store for goody bag stuff. Made the cake myself in the shape of a bowling ball knocking down two pins (three boxes of cake mix - $3 total!) and two cans of frosting (another $3).

The whole party was less than $50. That is CHEAP in my book of party throwing. But like I said, I go over the top when I have them at home. I would have spent way more than that ordering stuff from Oriental Trading for decorations and crafts and goody bags.

[ArtsyMomma]

I suck at birthday parties. My dd1 turned 6 this past monday. She wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese - so we did. Just myself, my dp/bf and the 3 kids. It cost $33.74. I had a coupon from the newspaper. Then I had her pick out her own gift, that was 24.99.

Next bday is dd2 on Feb 28th....hoping she picks the same thing.

[kirstenb]

Do kids still go to roller skating rinks?

I remember I had a roller skating birthday party at a rink when I was 7 or 8 and it was really fun. Not sure if kids like that anymore though!

DS is still little so I don't have any experience throwing birthday parties.

[jenniet]

Ice-skating rink would be fun. Our local YMCA has indoor swim parties that are relatively cheap and it includes a room where you can order a pizza and have cake. My birthday is in the winter and my parents threw me a sledding party one year that was fun. We had a fairly big hill in our backyard and we went sledding, then went inside to have hot chocolate that my mother had made.

[baileyandmikey]

Oh the ymca here charges two hundred dollars for a party, the skating rink is closer to fifty.

[cristina47454]

The pools near me charge $150 for a two hour party! Up to 15 kids, but still...$10 kid is steep in my book.

[holidaymama]

Well we have done pool parties in the past at hotels...for us it was always free to have a party at the pool, you just had to book a poolside room...so it was usually around $80-100. But then we would bring our own food and could have as many people as we wanted. And then you could stay overnight in the hotel.

We went to a cousins party at a Peter Piper Pizza...kind of like chucky cheese but much smaller scaled. It was actually pretty fun. All the kids got so many tokens for games and then pizza. Even the parents had a good time! I am sure it was around $75-100 but there were about 30 of us there.

This is what my son wants to do this year so I think we probably will do it. I am sure I easily spend close to that amount on food to feed 30 people in my home...plus as others posted, the stress of everyone in your house, etc.

[annethcz]

We usually do home birthday parties, and they are just fine. You don't need to be over the top with decorations and games, because the kids don't care. Prepare a couple of crafts in case the kids get bored, bake a cake, and just let the kids play

[Norasmomma]

Could you do a sledding party? That's what we did when I was a kid, and my B-day is a January b-day.

I also just did regular b-days at our house-as long as you have a cake and some friends it seems fine to me.

Another thought just occurred to me-maybe do a scavenger hunt in your house? I know it depends on where you live-my house would be great for it. Make a map and send the kids searching for treasure.

[Aubergine68]

My dd attended a winter birthday party with sledding and stomp rockets at a nearby park, then a firepit with cocoa in the back yard and some winter crafts.

My ds will be having a fifth birthday party in February. We will either do the bowling birthday, or a Chuck E Cheese kind of thing. I do home childcare and every day is a party at my house. To make it special, we HAVE to get out of the house.

ETA ok more ideas are coming to me.

A friend once had a movie party for one of her children -- rented an old projector and screen showed an old children's film, had tickets and popcorn. Was a huge hit.

Does your dd have a favorite book or movie that you can build a theme around? Like a Little House on the Prairie party, Harry Potter party, etc. I'm imagining making maple syrup candy in the snow...

You could hit some thrift stores or borrow dress-up stuff and do a dress-up theme at home. If you google knight/princess parties you will get a ton of specific ideas.

I know a local pet store does birthday parties where they bring an assortment of puppies and kitties over for cuddling.

We did a coyote themed party at our local wilderness centre when my dd was 6. You may want to check out any zoos or museums and see if they have any special winter programming that you could take the children to.

[kirstenb]

[QUOTE=Aubergine68;12948414]
Does your dd have a favorite book or movie that you can build a theme around? Like a Little House on the Prairie party, Harry Potter party, etc. I'm imagining making maple syrup candy in the snow...
QUOTE]

Completely off topic but I love that part in LHinBW. I always wanted to make maple syrup candy like they did at the sugaring party.

[Think of Winter]

I have a thread in Green Living about decoration ideas for my ds's 5th birthday. I'm making a Happy Birthday pennant that's been easy, and free since it's all from my fabric stash. Once I started poking around, I found lots of good party fabrics in my stash :.

Balloons are cheap and festive. I think I'm going to forgo helium balloons and just blow up tons of them. They're about $1 per bag.

I usually do finger foods and soup for adults and also food for kids. This year I decided to order some pizzas and let the kids make cupcake sundaes (ds's idea.) I think it'll save lots of time and money.

He originally wanted his party at our local children's museum, but it's $150 for 1/2 in the not-too-festive party room and one hr in the museum. Way too much. I think I'll take that $150 (if it doesn't just stay in the bank) and buy some more plates, bowls, and cups. We've also given up using disposable plates, cups, flatware, etc., so I think the expense is justified. If I can only bring myself to do it...

We are doing a pinata. We haven't done one before since I don't like them (the mad rush for candy, seems to reward aggressive behavior), but ds wants one. I figure I can stitch up some goody bags and then they'll have candy to put in them.

This is probably sounding like a cheapskate party, huh? But in my experience, the kids just want to play and have cake, and all the crazy-making food and decoration prep seemed to be more for me.

[Think of Winter]

Originally Posted by Aubergine68

Does your dd have a favorite book or movie that you can build a theme around?

Great idea! My sister did a Go Dog, Go party for her dd!

[amyamanda]

We do low-key parties here, but my DS has a winter birthday and we usually do a sledding party for him (weather permitting). We have borrowed a big hot/cold drink dispenser and served hot chocolate, marshmallows, and cookies at the top of the hill. Everyone comes with parents and siblings and when they feel done, they just leave, so no one even comes into our house. LOL.

They have been amazingly successful and kids talk about them year after year and ask if we're going to do it again!

[Amys1st]

I just did with my brownie troop- a pizza party. The 8 girls are all 6-7 years old so about the same age.

We had the girls mix a home made pizza dough (I had 3 more made up) and then each rolled out their own pizza and decorated it and we baked.
I think we threw out 1 small piece of the pizza that fell on the ground because each girl ate her own pizza-the whole thing. Then we took the remainder dough and rolled it out, decorated it w marshmallows and choco chips. Baked and had dessert.

You could even do a cup cake decorating dessert. And they can take it home as a goody.

During the down time the kids played in the play room in our bsmt. I have noticed from my dd's 6th birthday, they really dont want to play the games but play together. I would suggest for every 3 girls have 1 adult present to help out if you do a pizza party.

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by Think of Winter

We are doing a pinata. We haven't done one before since I don't like them (the mad rush for candy, seems to reward aggressive behavior), but ds wants one. I figure I can stitch up some goody bags and then they'll have candy to put in them.

I made a pinata out of 2 trader joes bags and streamers left over from other parties. Put the loot in one of the bags. Fold it down. Put the other bag on top and tape shut. Tape streamers around it to taste. 30 plus kids took a swing at it and finally my brother on his knees finally got it to crack open. He said he felt like Steve Martin in Parenthood. Secretly I think he loved doing it! It was fun to see 30 plus kids nosedive into the grass. I made sure there was at least 5 pieces for everyone but it ended up being more like 10. It was 5 minutes before the party was over so they each got a chico bag and filled it with the candy and stuff. That was their goody bag. The party was in our backyard and the kids just wanted to play.

[wombat]

I hate doing winter parties... The last few years we've rented a room at our local community center. I much prefer 1 flat charge than paying per person. And I hate the time limits and rules at party places. Our center charges $50 an hour for a nice big room if you tell them it's a kids party. And then we're pretty free to do what we want.

We just organise some games, do a pinata, and the kids have a lot of fun. It's a lot of work for me running the games, but the birthday party kinda is my dd's birthday gift.

ETA: We made the pinata for my son's 3rd birthday. Messy and time consuming but that saved another $20.