Questions about Buildabear party

[scootch]

I know it is not very budget friendly, although i do have a 10% off code. DD wants 6 girls(so 7 with her). Her birthday is a friday, so was thinking about a 6pm party(figuring everyone would have had dinner) and then just going to the food court and having cake/drinks and opening presents. Does that part sound too "cheap"?

 

[RachelsMommie]

It sounds fine to me, but I would do it further away from a meal time. Either 7pm on Friday night or 2pm on a Saturday afternoon. And make sure it is clear on the invitations that "Cake and drinks to be served afterwards". That way, there is no misunderstanding.

 

[ajk912]

I am doing a birthday party from 6-8 pm on a Friday as well, and I am planning on serving the girls dinner. I do realize that a BAB is expensive, so I would make sure you put on the invite that cake will be served so no one is expecting more.

 

[descovy]

To me, 6pm is dinner-time. Many families have at least one adult working until 5-ish... and then commute home and serve/prepare dinner.
However, 7pm may be safe for after dinner.

The party-goers would be hard pressed to have dinner on the table at 5pm, so they can be fed and out the door 5:30-ish to be ontime for a 6pm party. And if they couldn't get dinner fed by 5pm, the party would be at 6pm, cake served close to 7pm... forget about the kid eating dinner at all that night! (at least in my experience)

But if you say cake only, then cake only it is... as a guest, I would find a way for my kid to get something healthy in their belly before the party... if I was alerted ahead of time!

As hostess, I would consider adding inexpensive pizza, but if not possible, as a guest I would appreciate advance notice that it is "cake only" as I would have to make special arrangements for my kid to eat early.

Have fun!

 

[disneydreamersx4]

Doesn't sound cheap to me at all! You are having a nice party eta - I agree that 7pm is a much better time so your guest would have had a chance to eat dinner.

 

[sissy_ib]

I don't think it's cheap at all. But I think you are very brave taking 7 little girls to the mall on a Friday night. I used to work in malls and Friday night is MUCH crazier than Saturday. For some reason all the high school kids are in malls on Friday nights. I would do the party on Saturday late morning when there wont be too many people in the mall other wise you will be hard pressed to be able to do cake and presents in the food court.

 

[katesorad]

I had a party at Build a Bear 10 or 11 years ago.. it was fun. I just picked 2 friends and we had a great time at the mall.

Why not ask your daughter to cut down the list by 1 or 2 people and serve pizza after Build a Bear along with a cake? They have really budget friendly cakes at Costco (or better yet, you can bake one!). I think that getting all the kids on a sugar high with cake might be stressful.. so I think putting something high in sodium in their tummies first might help that out a bit..

 

[scootch]

Thanks for the advise. I was thinking friday night as saturday is out with our dance class schedule(have two daughters). She also wants to do it on her birthday, which does happen to fall on Friday. Maybe I will add pizza. We eat so early as my dh teaches and has lunch every day at 11am, I guess I didn't realize that most would not have had dinner. I have first communion the following month so "was trying" to cut back a bit. (oh and I have a 7 night cruise in between the birthday party and the communion party...lol). Thanks!!

 

[meg8017]

I don't think it's cheap, this is what I am thinking of doing for my son's 4th bday. Just mention "join us for cake after" in the invite so people know to eat first.

 

[scrapquitler]

I know it is not very budget friendly, although i do have a 10% off code. DD wants 6 girls(so 7 with her). Her birthday is a friday, so was thinking about a 6pm party(figuring everyone would have had dinner) and then just going to the food court and having cake/drinks and opening presents. Does that part sound too "cheap"?

I think that cake/drinks only is okay, but for a 6PM party, I would expect dinner to be served.

Also, I wouldn't count on being able to find seats for 7 kids plus adults in the mall food court on a Friday night.

 

[disneydreamersx4]

I would have one or two people from the party leave the party early and go scout out some tables in the food court.

 

[woodkins]

Around here a build a bear party is just the build a bear, no cake, gifts or food. No one considers it cheap, that is the way that it is. Our mall is huge and it would be a total nightmare trying to trek a bunch of kids across the entire mall to the food court.

We've been to well over a dozen BB parties and no one has ever done anything above and beyond the BB store.

 

[sdd1841]

and it turned out great...they even let us limit the bears they could build. I had a few $10 dollar bears plus a 2 or 3 others to choose from. I think the most expensive one was $14. No one even asked for a bear that was not offered. The party hosts did a great job and everyone had a blast.

 

[khgreen]

That's what we did....after our BAB party we went to the food court where we handed out cupcakes (large ones pre-packed in pink Chinese take out cartons). And I bought everyone whatever drink they wanted. However we did a middle of the afternoon party so I didn't feel obligated to serve a meal. It's just my opinion that party times of 11-1 and 5-7 require a meal.

 

[butterflygirl3]

Hello, I don't know if this is an option for you but I just had my daughters 3rd birthday at BAB. Then I invited all of the mommies and their children to my house for light lunch (we did finger foods ), cupcakes and presents. It wasn't very expensive for the extra food, we didn't have to find enough tables to fit 7 children plus their adult in the food court and it was much quieter (even with the 7 two and three year olds ). Just thought I would throw that idea out there cause it wasn't suggested by anyone else It worked for me and because it was just finger food and such the cleanup was minimal

 

[GoofyMomInOhio]

We had my DD#1 birthday party there a few years ago, we went to the food court after BAB and I served chocolate chip cookies (from Costco) and juice boxes. All the girls loved it and the parents thought it was a great idea. It was alot easier then trying to lug a cake or cupcakes around the mall. My DD opened presents after the snacks.