Kid Birthday Parties

coasterqueen wrote: Just curious how others handle birthday parties for your kids. With Kylie she has been allowed to invite her entire class, plus some cousins, other friends not in her class to her parties, because almost every time they've been at home and outside. With Megan, her birthday is in March, so it makes it hard to have a party at home, kwim? So last year we were able to invite a good majority of her class, cousins, and other friends and had a party some place else. Couldn't invite the whole class because they had a maximum allowance of people. Well this year she wants to have her party at a place like Chuck E Cheese, called Kicks. The problem is the price is so outrageous that in order for her to invite even 1/2 of her class plus cousins and other friends it will be like $325! Um, that's too much for me. I feel so bad she can't invite as many people as her sister has been allowed to. This year since Kylie is getting older I told her she had to have a much smaller party, and had planned on doing the same thing when Megan turned 8.

Just trying to see what others do who have multiple kids to deal with the funding issue.

jcc64 replied: I usually allow Corey to invite up to 20 kids. We have it at her gymnastics gym, and it never exceeds $200, soup to nuts. That's my threshold.

moped replied: Well i haven't had that problem yet, but this year Jack will want to invite lots of kids from school. What i have learned from other parties and freinds is that to have it at a special party place would cost as much as having it at home. I mean you have cake, party favors, decorations, food etc.......for sure I would end up spending $300 or more!!!! Soooooooo, my thought is that either way you are looking at hundreds, but then maybe I spend too much on them

mom21kid2dogs replied: Personally, I got sick of the whole birthday party routine really quick! Because O's birthday(Oct 11) is at a very busy time of year we do a family only party on her birthday. She can have a friend over if she wants to. She hosts a New Year's Eve party(sleepover) instead of a birthday party. No gifts to deal with, no drama over who to invite and the parents LOVE us. We go really cheap~under $100 for 10 girls. LOVE IT!!

MommyToAshley replied: With Ashley's birthday being in September, we never invite the kids from school because school has just started and she may not know everyone in her class. We invite her closest friends. It used to be bigger parties with 20+ kids but this past year she invited 12 guests. We don't do a family party with cousins any more, that would just be too many people and her cousins arenot close to her in age.

I agree that having the party at home can be as much as having it someplace else. Plus, if you have it some place else, you don't have to deal with the mess and can just sit back and enjoy the party. It allows me to enjoy Ashley more and not have to worry about running the party or picking up messes. I have no clue what she's going to do this upcoming year.

PrairieMom replied: Ben and Al's birthdays are only 2 weeks apart, so we pick a weekend in the middle and have a huge birthday extravaganza.
Saturday we do Ben's party, it is usually grandparents, and one kid per year of age. This year he will be 7, so he can invite 7 kids.
Al is going to be 4. We won't invite kids to her party yet, I don't even know 4 kids her age TO invite. so, she will just have grandparents over for dinner and cake and presents.
We do the parties at our house, they play outside on the swing set, eat cake then do gifts. Last year for Ben we did a science experiment party and did the mentos in the pop thing, made corn starch slime and did vinegar and baking soda. It was pretty fun. We are NOT going to be doing the big birthday venue things. Way to expensive.

This year I am planning on having an open house / big brother big sister party for Al and Ben to introduce their new Brother to everyone, and was thinking about having a bouncy house for that, and depending on the timing, may use the bouncy house for their birthday parties too. Charile is due May 6th, and we would do the open house a few weeks after that, and the kid's birthdays are mid - late may.

ETA: I usually spend about $100 on balloons plates and decorations total for both kids, and about $60 total for both cakes, Maybe 30 on gift bags. I usually spend more than I want on gift bags since I don't do disposable stuff, I get cloth bags and give use able things like bubbles and play doh. Although, the older Ben gets, the harder it is.

MommyToAshley replied:
How funny that you have all May babies!

PrairieMom replied:
Not funny, Intentional. I was actually aiming for May 1 with this one, and ended up with a due date of may 6th. They tend to come early tho, so I think the chances of Charlie being a late April baby are pretty good. I am still hoping for may 1 tho, then I will have one on the 1, 14, and 31. LOL

moped replied: Tara, knowing you he will be here right on May 1!!!!

You know it too!

coasterqueen replied:
This place is $260 for 20 kids, but we'd be inviting at least 30 with cousins and extra friends which would be about $390 and that covers soda and pizza and a $10 card for games each but I'd still have to buy decorations and cake So at least $450. I know not all will show up but I bet I have at least 20.

coasterqueen replied:
My family would shoot me if I didn't invite them. The girls don't have many cousins, though, just a few, but they do have several friends that aren't in their class.

Yeah the party at home is even more stressful, because we have our friends stay with us that weekend, plus my inlaws, so I have a full house to deal with trying to keep the house clean, get ready for the party and actually have it. I have to do that every year with Kylie's because we have our annual cook-out at the same time and that is crazy enough.

coasterqueen replied:
Yeah, if I could have it outside that would be better, but stuck inside with 20+ kids and family...done it before and never again.

bluebear replied: at Michaels you can have birthday parties and the limit is 10 or 12 kids. a woman came in saying she wanted a party for her twins and all of their classmates from two classes! It's getting ridiculous with inviting the entire classes now, parties are so expensive as it is.

stella6979 replied: I personally don't see any reason to invite every kid in the class, I'd keep it to just the kids she actually plays with and is friends with. And I agree, birthday parties are getting crazy nowadays.....

coasterqueen replied: Well after discussing it with Ryan at lunch we are going to give Megan options. She can either have the party at Kicks ONLY inviting the girls in her class plus friends and cousins OR have the party at home and hopefully she won't pick the latter or I have no clue how I'll entertain them. I think there are 5 or 6 girls in her class and then 14 of friends/cousins. So it'll still be more than we wanted to pay, but .......

coasterqueen replied:
That's the problem....we have NO clue who she talks to or plays with in class. She keeps to herself mainly. There is one girl in her class I know she talks to, maybe one other as well. Most of the kids she plays with or talks to are not in her class. The only reason I like to invite the whole class for her so I can get to know these kids/parents. I know almost every parent and kid in Kylie's class since she's so outgoing...Megan not as much.

Cece00 replied: We have a lot of close friends with kids so we always invite them, and then the kids invite 1-3 other kids they like (friends from school or taekwondo or cousins or soccer). We have never invited the whole class.

I usually try to keep it around 15 kids or less (plus my own 4).

MommytoKKC replied: I personally would never pay 300 and up for a party. I think that's ridiculous. My kids can come up with ideas but if it's too expensive we don't do it. Kelsey wanted a party at Pump It Up for the past 2 years but never did it because it is overpriced. So she has to think of different ideas.

I don't think parties at home have to cost as much. My oldest just had a sleepover. We had pizza, ice cream cake, a couple of games, snacks, and goody bags. I spent about $80 and she had 6 friends over. She had a really good time.

I think you just have to set limits and stick with them. She'll have a good time no matter what.

coasterqueen replied:
This is all good and said, but if you have more family kids than 6, which we do. We have around 14 family kids and friends that I have to invite, so then she needs to be allowed to have a few more kids from school if she wants to. I agree I do not like paying $300 for a birthday party, but I also don't like trying to put on a party in my own home when I have 8 other people already staying with me the weekend we have it. Plus at age 5 she's not going to have a sleep over - when she's older she can and then yes, she'll invite less people and it will cost a lot less.

MommyToAshley replied: I see your point. If you have a ton of people to invite, sometimes having it elsewhere can be cheaper. Pump It Up may sound like a lot when you pay $250, but if you have 25 kids then it works out to be just $10 per kid. I don't know any place else that is only $10 per child and gives you a private party room just for your party. I wish they didn't close, Ashley loved that place.

I think this year she will have something smaller with less friends, not sure what yet. But, we still have some time to think about it since she just had a birthday in September. LOL.

Good luck Karen, have you decided what you are going to do?

coasterqueen replied:
We decided on Kicks. She's inviting all family kids and friends, and then she can invite only the girls from her class. So we compromised and she was fine with that. She was just happy she gets to invite one of the boys from her class, but he's a family friend, so he'd be coming anyways. The place is $12.99 per kid, but that includes drinks and pizza AND a $10 game card to play games and win prizes. So we probably won't do gift bags since they will definitely win quite a few prizes. The last time we went to a party there the girls won a lot of stuff with the $10 card.

Kylie will be doing a smaller party this year too. I told her when she turned 8 we were no longer doing these expensive parties and that she could have a small one at home with some girlfriends. So she'll probably do a sleep over, although most of her friends have never slept over at others homes, so who knows. We will still have our huge annual family cook-out, which we always have the weekend of her birthday. Has been that way since, well, before she was born, lol. So that will be a party for her, I guess, lol.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
Lol Tara Why did you want them all in one month? Dh just was telling me that we should plan our next baby to be a June baby, and I said no because Andrew's birthday is in June. I don't want to have to buy birthday presents for more than one kid in one month... too draining on the checking account. Plus my two sisters and I all have birthdays in Dec, and my parents did the pick a day in the middle to have one big party and I hated it. My birthday is on the 31st and we'd celebrate somewhere between the 14th and 20th - my sisters' birthdays - and then we'd have Christmas, and my actual birthday was always so blah. If we ever do end up with two birthdays in the same month I'd make it a point to have separate parties, because as a kid I always felt like my birthday was no big deal to anyone.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
I agree... for us it wouldn't just be a matter of principle, but of impossibility. Our kids are still so little that we still just do family parties at home, but when they're older and want to invite friends we will just have to put a limit on the number they can invite. Especially if they want to have it somewhere other than at home. We don't even spend $100 on their birthday presents - there's no way I would spend $200 on the party.

coasterqueen replied:
Megan is definitely not getting any presents from us this year! She'll get enough from everyone else, though, so it won't matter. Especially since her birthday is three months past Christmas.

We are redoing her room this year - just paint and some stickers on her wall, but not really a birthday present.

We had something we wanted to buy for her, but then after I found out how much the party cost I said NO PRESENTS from us.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
Lol. Yeah you can just tell her that her party is her present.

BTW I forgot to add that I totally know what you mean about having a party this time of year. Allie's is next week and I was just wishing a couple days ago that we'd planned that a little diferently! Andrew's birthday is so nice because we can either go to the park, or just have his party here at my parents' house - being in the country with lots of things for the kids to play with makes a fun birthday party with no expense so easy. Luckily she's' a girl so when she's old enough to care we can probably make her happy with a few friends over for a sleepover.

PrairieMom replied:
It isn't so much for the birthdays, The main reason is because I didn't want to have a super tiny baby during cold and flu season. They get so sick so fast, its just scary. This way the baby will be about 6 months old by the time germ season hits again, so he will be bigger and stronger. It was super important to me when I was working because as an RT I was on the front lines and exposed to EVERYTHING. bring RSV and the flu home.
Now I will have 2 kids in school dragging everything home. I just saw way to many deathly sick infants working in the hospital. I happen to be one of the lucky ones who CAN plan that way, so I did.

BUT, as far as birthday parties and everything goes, grandparents live 12 hours away, so it is just easier to do parties all at once when they are here.
I mean, their birthdays call come at the same time every year, its not like its a surprise, we save for the expense, so it isn't that bad.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
That does make sense, with the grandparents being so far away. I know what you mean about the cold and flu season too - Allie got bronchiolitis when she was one week old and was really sick for about 5 weeks. It was awful and scary. Dh wants the rest of our babies to be born in May or June so that he can be home with me the first three months after they're born - that is if he actually takes summers off when he's a teacher and doesn't have to fine part time work somewhere. I wouldn't mind only having summer babies from now on, I'll probably try for May and July.

raven092177 replied: this is why i'm glad all my kids have birthdays in the summer months. River's is in june, Raina's is in july and Romma's is in august. this pretty much eliminates having to do the whole invite the class thing. we just do family and close friends. Raina and River's are about 3 weeks apart so depending on what they want to do sometimes we do them seperate and sometimes together. they both want to do one at Chuck E Cheese this year so i told them if we do that then they're having one together. they're both fine with that. Romma'll be 1 this year so we'll just do a small at home party with family.

MommyToAshley replied:
Sounds like fun.. .be sure to post pics!!!

PrairieMom replied: question for those that have huge parties where the entire class comes...
what in the heck do you do with all the gifts? you must be talking about 20 + different toys! i have a hard enough time finding the 7 or so my kids get places in our closets and toy boxes! doesn't that get to be an insane amount of stuff?