What do you do for your kids birthday parties????

[tylerdylan]

DS1 is turning 6 in a month.  It is a huge celebration for us since he is a cancer survivor and we don't know what the future holds for him.  Every year and every day we get with him is precious.  That being said we don't have a tonne of spare money.  In the past month DS has been invited to 3 birthday parties from his classmates.  Two were at Indoor playgrounds and will cost a minimum of $225 for only 10 kids plus party favours and cake.  The other is at a bowling alley and is $20 per kid plus food and party favours.  This seems insane!!!  And we are in an old neighbourhood with older homes - I don't know how all these parents can afford this!! 

But, I'm not sure I want 15+ kids running around my house either and having to come up with games that will keep them entertained and happy.

Please tell me what you do for your kids birthdays????

[bandgeek]

We mostly do family parties at home with a friend or two.  We've done "bigger" parties before but honestly, it just wasn't worth it.  DS would get overwhelmed and cranky, the kids ran around like crazy and no one really "played" together.  We didn't get to chit-chat because it was too noisy.  Last year his dad did a chuck e cheese party and it was kind of dumb, IMO.  DS is just as happy at home with just us and his best friend.  You can tell just from the pics that he's happier with that arrangement.  So his b-day is in 2 weeks and that's what we'll be doing again.

I get what you mean about wanting to do what you can, while you can.  DD is not expected to live long.  She had a really bad scare when she was about 18 months and so on her 2nd birthday I went all out.  Well, by the time I got everything done, I couldn't even enjoy it.  And she doesn't care either way either.  She's happy if just grandma comes over!

[freestylemama]

This year we had DD's at the children's museum.  She has a friend whose birthday is 3 days apart, so we had a joint party.  It was super fun and cost each family about $100 because we split the rent and cake and all of that.

Next year we might go back- it was really easy and fun.  We could also go to a nearby nature center that we belong to.  Other options around here are the YMCA, roller skating, open gym at a community center or renting a room at the science museum.

[Alyantavid]

We've mostly done family parties so far.  DS1 has had a few kid parties as well.  Those were movie theater things or a small party (with just a few kids) at a local go-kart place.  We don't have a ton of places here though, roller skating, bounce houses and the bowling alley are just about all there is.  I'm not into the inviting the whole class thing so this year I think we'll do the go-kart place again (at his request) and invite a few kids and keep it small.

It's much easier for ds2's bday because it can be outside and I don't have to deal with all the kids in my house. 

[madskye]

We have big parties, but DH has a big family and I invite family and friends at the same time. 

Usually we have it at our house and I've borrowed a small bouncy thing for the yard or one year I had a face painter lady come in.  We usually theme everything with a color and do ribbons and balloons and that's a big treat, DD really looks forward to putting the ribbons up. 

Last year, (5th birthday) we had a make your own pizza party at a local pizzeria with about 20 kids--friends and cousins.  It was $10 per kid and then I made them aprons with their names on them as favors and the pizzeria had them make little personal pizzas.  It was very cute!  We were having work done on our house, so that's why we went out. I think I spent about the same on our at home parties, by the time you add up pizza, snacks, sandwiches, and drinks that I had to bring in at home.   The pizzeria charged us per child and then I ordered a few more pizzas and two big salads for the parents. I borrowed some games from a friend--she had a bean bag toss that the kids could toss through and also stick their faces through for pix.

This year we'll have it at home again.  DD wants a rock and roll birthday, so I am not sure how we'll work that out, but I suspect I'll have some kind of children's singer here for an hour.

Alot of my friends like to have parties at places like Chuck E Cheese because then they don't have to clean their house/have their house wrecked/feed everyone...but I found last year that everyone just came back to my house anyway, I had to feed the extended family afterward anyway, and the house got wrecked after the party anyway...so we'll just do the whole thing here from now on.

[musikat]

We have done both out of the home and in home. As my boys have gotten older they seem to prefer home parties. My newly 7YO has his party this Sunday and we are actually doing a repeat of the same thing we did last year. Lego. It costs $160 for 10 kids, but you can stretch it to include more kits or do it cheaper (we are doing the "official" one with the take home kit from the Lego store and sets for everyone). The take home kit is $60, so without that, and it you stuck to the less expensive sets ($5-$7) it could be pretty reasonable. The activity is obviously building the Lego sets, and they take them home.

My oldest had a Harry Potter party last year and we did a sorting hat, made stickers with the houses and put the movies on downstairs.

[Peony]

We just had my 8y's party today, she actually originally wanted a home party but I talked into having it at the gymnastics center. I dislike hosting parties, all the cleaning, children running everywhere, and then all the cleaning again. The gym charges $70.00 for 2 hours for 15 kids, so worth it in my opinion. 

[Polliwog]

Originally Posted by Peony 

We just had my 8y's party today, she actually originally wanted a home party but I talked into having it at the gymnastics center. I dislike hosting parties, all the cleaning, children running everywhere, and then all the cleaning again. The gym charges $70.00 for 2 hours for 15 kids, so worth it in my opinion. 

Wow, that's a great price.  It would probably be triple that here.

My house is TINY and there's really no room to have a party at home.  DS has a summer birthday so we've had his birthday's outside (the pool,  the lake (combined with his adoption party, the park.)  All pretty low key and lots of fun.

DD will be four in February.  It will be too cold to have an outside party so I'm trying to find an affordable inside location.)  She really would like a pool party so we'll probably do our local aquatic center.  They have a meeting room that we could rent to do cake and open presents.  It will be the first real party she's ever had and she wants to invite her whole class.  I could probably do it for about $100 (including cake/drinks and admission for each child and one parent.

[tylerdylan]

Originally Posted by Polliwog 

DD will be four in February.  It will be too cold to have an outside party so I'm trying to find an affordable inside location.)  She really would like a pool party so we'll probably do our local aquatic center.  They have a meeting room that we could rent to do cake and open presents.  It will be the first real party she's ever had and she wants to invite her whole class.  I could probably do it for about $100 (including cake/drinks and admission for each child and one parent.

I looked into our community centre and it will cost $180 to have the gym for one hour (with sports equipment and riding toys) and a meeting room for one hour to do the presents, cake and drinks.
If I could do it for $100 I would totally go that route, but $180 is insane for just 2 hours!