Where to throw a birthday party?
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
United States
October 16, 2008 3:10pm CST
My twins are turning 6 next month, I need to start planning their birthday party. I'm really not very good at having parties at my house, I get too flustered with too many kids being hyper and out of control. So I'd like to have this party elsewhere.
I can't really think of any local places to do it. There isn't much around here, not even any restaurants or anything that are all that close.
There is a fitness center, my son has been invited to a few birthday parties there. It's focused on gymnastics, and the kids get to run around for awhile, so that's nice. The only problem is a lot of the people in this area do their parties there. As I said, my son was already invited to 2, so this would be at least the 3rd that these kids go to this year... bit overkill if you ask me.
There's another place that does pool or ice skating parties, but the cost is $200. I'm not sure that I'm going to have that much by then, since I'm still trying to pay for my daughter's dance lessons.
But I'm stuck so far as what else I can do for anything less than that. Maybe someone can give me an idea I hadn't thought of. Where have you had your child's birthday parties?
2 people like this
11 responses
@dncmanning (770)
• United States
19 Oct 08
Do you have a local park? I mean there is free entertainment in the form of playground equipment and usually city parks don't charge to use their picnic areas. A couple packages of hot dogs, chips, and cake as well as a little juice- you can make kool-aid it doesn't have to be expensive. And you're off to the races.
If there is a slide set up you can make up a little race- winner gets a small grab bag. You could get out for around 75-100 bucks and for two kids that's not bad at all.
Or another idea- do the park thing with the family and friends instead of two parties and really save. And if anyone asks if they can bring anything (my family usually does) tell them- you know buns, drinks something for $5.00 or less and it will be a party to remember and the kids will probably feel like they had a bigger party with everyone there.
Good luck I know planning birthdays are hard and can get very expensive. Let us know how it goes.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
19 Oct 08
An outdoor event is not possible this time of year, it is too cold and wet, and could be snowing on that day.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
12 Nov 08
I don't really want to coordinate the party myself. I don't do well with a large group of kids. This is why I want to do it outside the home. I ended up choosing to do a pool party.
@dncmanning (770)
• United States
20 Oct 08
Makes sense about the weather- do you have any type of little halls around you. We have a little hall- ran by the city that allows you to rent it for like $35.00 for the day and is big enough to set up little games (pin the tail on the donkey, realy races with eggs (spoon), etc...) Ours has a kitchen in it- so we just made hot dogs there. Worked out great and the children and our family had a great time. Just a little food for thought.
Good luck and I hope you are able to make it work. Being a mom should come with a merit badge, etc...
@camomom (7535)
• United States
17 Oct 08
I don't know where you live but maybe a pizza place would be nice, all kids love pizza.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
17 Oct 08
Sure, but what do they do when they aren't eating pizza? I need a place that has activities to offer.
@camomom (7535)
• United States
18 Oct 08
My sister usaully does chuck-e-cheese, if you have one of them around. I don't have one in my area. We have a pizza place called Faloons where they have miniature golf and a play place like McDonalds has, they also have an arcade. If you have a McDonalds with a playplace, that can be fun too. I'd call local areas and ask if they do childrens parties and ask what they offer.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
12 Nov 08
The chuck e cheese near us is horrible and I would never take my kids there again. We have a McDonald's playplace... but they're 6, I think they're a bit old for that. I ended up choosing to do a pool party at the community center. $150, but it's an hour of swimming an they provide the pizza and drinks and decorations. I only have to bring a cake.
@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
12 Nov 08
If you live where it is still warm, I'd have it at a local park as it doesn't cost anything.. And the kids love it!
@flowerchilde (12529)
• United States
12 Nov 08
Uh oh! Too bad we couldn't have a gurantee on weather! A sledding party would be great fun! But you could end up with a blizzard that day or an ice storm! Oh well.. If I think of any more freebies I'll come back!
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
17 Oct 08
Well for my daughter this year we just took her to chuck e cheese. But one year we actually had her party there. It was great. You pay like $10 per kid. The kids get pizza and cake and tokens for their $10. Chuck e cheese supplies the cake and plates and stuff. all you do is show up. they get to dance with chuck e cheese, play all sorts of video games and have fun and the employees there do most the work. it was great! so much less stress than having it at my house. if you go to chuckecheese.com you can search and see if there is one close to you. Our area sucks and there isn't much of anything around anymore but we actually have one about 40 min away.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
17 Oct 08
There's a chuck e cheese on the opposite side of town, at least 30 mins away, and we've sworn it off due to the side of town it's on. It's absolutely awful over there. Haven't been there since my oldest was about 6.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
17 Oct 08
They're too young for that still, the thought had crossed my mind. But the kids in their class are so hyper, they wouldn't be able to do any of that.
When my oldest was about that age I did a bowling party and it was a disaster. The kids only wanted to run around and when the bowling hour was over and it was time to do cake and presents they kept asking if they could go back to bowling.
@Barb42 (4214)
• United States
17 Oct 08
I guess I'm just an old stickler for family get togethers. We never really gave our two children a birthday party. We had a cake and ice cream and presents here at home and sometimes a cousin or two or grandparents would be here. They never thought they were left out of anything. My daughter has always had 'birthday parties' for her four with relatives. A few times, the teenagers have had parties at home, but usually bonfires and pizza or hot dogs - nothing fancy. My daughter-in-law used to give their first son a party at their church every year until he got around school age and they stopped it.
I'm just not into partying that much. I think we have too much to spend our money on these days without parties. I just couldn't afford it if I had kids now days. I don't think kids really miss a party. It's more the parents who feel they need to give them a party. I bet your twins would enjoy just a special dinner at home with cake and ice cream and a gift a piece. You might decorate the dining table with balloons and things they enjoy - colors and color books or other things they love to have around. It would be so much cheaper than $200.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
17 Oct 08
I've always had 2 parties growing up, one for my friends, and a seperate one for my family, and that's what I've done for my kids as well. We'll do our own family thing on the actual day of their birthday, then a party with their friends that weekend.
I've told the kids that 10 will be their last party, so my oldest didn't get one last year. He was a bit depressed about it, but I just didn't have the money to put anything together for him. I tried to make it up by buying him more presents, but he still felt his birthday was very depressing. It just doesn't feel like a birthday if it's not celebrated with all your friends.
@Barb42 (4214)
• United States
17 Oct 08
My thing is we teach our kids what is important. We never made a huge deal over the birthdays. We celebrated within the family or took them out to eat and they were happy. I believe we do sometimes make too much of a birthday celebration. It's just like buying too much for your kids at Christmas. When they get older, they think you owe it to them. And when it gets to where you can't afford it, they get upset. I'd rather buy less and not be under pressure later. Same with the birthdays. If you never start it, they don't expect it. But I guess we all have to do whatever we think is right.
@Island_Geko (3759)
• Canada
16 Oct 08
Having a party where the kids can where off some of that sugar from that cake is a good idea...also having a variety of low cost activities like face panting done by a family member and halloween face paint, balloon, dollar store gift bags and even a theme in the event is all good even if it is at a gym or pool....
here are some sites that can help
http://www.todaysparent.com/craftsactivities/article.jsp?content=5274&page=1
http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/index.php/2007/02/26/how-to-throw-a-kids-birthday-party-without-spending-a-fortune/
http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/KidsBirthdayParties.htm
http://www.kids-birthday-party-guide.com/
@ella1bella (839)
•
18 Oct 08
We recently had a third birthday party to go to,and it was a novel idea.We all went to one of the indoor play areas,I am none too sure that you have them there .They charged so much per child,no charge for the adults.The children had a little room,the birthday boy had a throne,and they all had hats and whistles and a small gift.There was sandwiches and little cakes,all pretty healthy looking and some fruit and raisins ,they had juice to drink.The children were all supervised as they played ,there was a coffee area where the adults could purchase a drink if they wanted one while they had a chat.It was a successful day all in all,and the biggest bonus was that the parents had no clearing up after the party.
@TessWhite (3146)
• United States
17 Oct 08
I was never very good with large numbers of children. I'm just not the type I guess. I did ok with my own son, but was akward around other children. So one year I knew I didn't want the mess and stress at my house and held it at Hardees restaurant. They supplied the food, the balloons, some games and cleaned up the mess. All I had to do was to pay the fee and bring the cake. It was nice because I didn't have to do anything. Their staff did it all. Maybe there are restaurants in your area that can do this type of thing? I know I paid a set fee per child at my son's party.
@psspurgeon1 (1109)
• United States
16 Oct 08
I have had all of my girls' parties at my mother in laws church and the one last month we had it at my moms church. They both have huge gymnasiums and a fully stocked kitchen. We rent a big jumper (one that is big enough for several adults to jump in) and have a bean bag toss game and maybe a pinata or something. The gyms at the church are free for us to use and the jumper this year was only 35 dollars to use for the entire day. We spent about 1200 on the birthday party this year but that included food, gifts, and the jumper. Good luck! My oldest daughter turned six this year. It is such a fun age and I think it would be so cool if she were a twin! I hope you gave a great party!!!
@jackiew (915)
• Canada
17 Oct 08
we have a couple of gyms in town and alot of people here rent them for a few hours for birthday parties.The kids have alot of room to run around here and you get alot of space to play some games.They are usually not too expensive. good luck and happy mylotting
