Bringing your own cake to Chuck E Cheese & doing an informal party?

[summerrluvv]

My DD's 2nd birthday is in April (where the heck did the time go!). I was going to do a big party, but decided we'll keep it small with just us and my sister, BIL and maybe a couple of friends. I was thinking of going to CEC (she loves it there) and just bringing my own cake and we'll sing happy birthday on our own without the big to do that they put on. Has anyone done this? Do they frown on it? Did you bring your own paper goods? Her birthday is on a Thursday, so I don't think a crowd will be an issue. I just don't want to shell out $14 a kid when there will probably be three or four. Plus I always have great coupons!

 

[Tissa]

We always brought our own cake and plates and just sat at a booth since it was just a few family members. They do not care either way.

 

[gabriellyn]

I have a friend who did this with all three of his kids - it worked out great! They brought their own cake and paper goods - didn't have a problem with it. They used the coupons and it was much cheaper (and more fun!) for them.

 

[FINFAN]

we used to do this for birthdays all the time. Affordable, and DH and the "guy" friends were always willing to go to a kid party 'cause you can get beer/wine there. Plus, whatever it is about their pizza, the kids actually eat it!

 

[summerrluvv]

Plus, whatever it is about their pizza, the kids actually eat it!

Isn't that the truth!

Thanks all, I think I'll go for it

 

[pandora174]

No problem. We were at CEC about 2 weeks ago on a Saturday & there about 3 or 4 families doing the same thing. They had cake, goodie bags & their own paper products. I thought it was a great idea myself.

 

[disneynewbee]

I've never done it but I've seen it done a lot without any problem so you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[FINFAN]

these might help!

http://email.chuckecheese.com/stati...email=mkbeautylady@yahoo.com&placement=image#

 

[Plantlady]

Another option, is you can just buy a cake there, without having to do the whole party package. I don't recall what the price was.. but that is how we celebrate when we go with just a small group.

It would probably cost more than you making your own cake.. of course.. but, just something to consider.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

We did that years ago for DD. No troubles. I actually bought a lot of tokens on ebay for really cheap. That, along with some great pizza coupons and I think I spent $25 total for all of us! (Quite a few of DD's friends came) We were near the party area and another mom saw that I had made and brought our own cake. She came over and lamented about how much she had spent on her kids' birthday party compared to me. LOL

 

[Handbag Lady]

I confess that on our one-year anniversary, when we spent a week at Disneyland, we went down Harbor Blvd. on purpose to go to Chuck-e-Cheese because we like the pizza very much.

We didn't have a kid any where near us, either.

 

[Mickey527]

We had my grandson's party last year at CEC and we used the coupons for pizza and tokens and I brought cupcakes for them. We had no problem, just grabbed a few tables close together.
You can use as many of the coupons as you want, I bought 3 cheese pizzas and 2 peperroni and it came with 4 cups per pizza. We also gave each kid 50 tokens. It came to less than $100 for everything thanks to tokens.

 

[djbleach]

Our dd is 5 and we've had several parties the way you are asking about. It hasn't been a problem.
I will say we've done them early on a sat or sun. like 1100am. In our area VA, I've noticed that sometimes the party tables seem to be reserved. We've always been able to get one of the larger tables even when some of the others had reserved signs on them.
We also use the coupons (print them from the cec site) Bring her a cake and pass out tokens to the kids.
The cupcake "cake" is the way to go imho. That way nobody has to cut the cake and it seems to be easiest.
I think they just put icing over alot of cupcakes, so it looks like a cake, but it's already 'cut up'

 

[momsavealot]

I am very worried. We are planning to go there this Saturday for my son and 3 friends (and siblings). However, we were going to get there for 4:30pm and I'm worried that it's going to be packed. I'm hoping we get a table or two! I'm also going to sneak cupcakes! I was wondering how many tokens to give each child. 50 seems like a lot but I haven't been there in at least a year!

 

[summerrluvv]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

I did just read on their website that we are more than welcome to have an "unreserved" party, so officially, they don't care!

 

[maleficentmom]

My DD's 2nd birthday is in April (where the heck did the time go!). I was going to do a big party, but decided we'll keep it small with just us and my sister, BIL and maybe a couple of friends. I was thinking of going to CEC (she loves it there) and just bringing my own cake and we'll sing happy birthday on our own without the big to do that they put on. Has anyone done this? Do they frown on it? Did you bring your own paper goods? Her birthday is on a Thursday, so I don't think a crowd will be an issue. I just don't want to shell out $14 a kid when there will probably be three or four. Plus I always have great coupons!

When i was checking for birthday party ideas, i found out that our nearby burger king w/playland does parties,on weekends only...but the manager said if we wanted to bring a cake and have pur own party throught the week we could(i told him we would of course purchase meals)

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We have done this 3 times, the most recent was 2 weekends ago. My DD7 wanted hers their, but she is in a new school and wanted to invite a lot of kids. I said she could invite all the girls from class and Brownies, 16 including herself. I never thought they would all come! I went a half hour before the party and got tables (actually, the manager saw us and said we could have one of the long "party" tables). We decorated them with all the paper products and decorations. We ordered 4 pizza/drink/token combos and upgraded all the drinks to the souvenir cups (16 of them). They all got plenty of pizza (we had a whole one left) a drink cup to take home and tokens and it was just under $100. We brought our own cake and ice cream (don't have to sneak it in, they don't mind) and treat bags. Going there for an "official" party would have been way more then $100 and they woudln't have gotten as much. It was fun, she had a great time!

 

[Mom23Disneybelievers]

Our dd is 5 and we've had several parties the way you are asking about. It hasn't been a problem.
I will say we've done them early on a sat or sun. like 1100am. In our area VA, I've noticed that sometimes the party tables seem to be reserved. We've always been able to get one of the larger tables even when some of the others had reserved signs on them.
We also use the coupons (print them from the cec site) Bring her a cake and pass out tokens to the kids.
The cupcake "cake" is the way to go imho. That way nobody has to cut the cake and it seems to be easiest.
I think they just put icing over alot of cupcakes, so it looks like a cake, but it's already 'cut up'

This is exactly what I have done. Cupcakes are the way to go. I have done it both ways..an official CEC b-day party...and a do-it-yourself b-day. The do it yourself was much better. You can use coupons for pizza and tokens, you can also bring in your own balloons and cupcakes. It is so much cheaper! (Their cake was puny and not very good!)

 

[Cars2006]

We did it for our boys 3rd & 5th birthday very informal a couple of kids. They had a great time. We did buy there pizza and drinks with a coupon and then had the cake we purchased somewhere else. For me I do this due to peanut allergy. So I know where the cake & frosting comes from. Last year we had a party at a place and they told me no peanuts made near the cake. But they didn't check the frosting it had coconut water in it and the boys had a bad reacation. We have seen other do this and decided to try. No one said anything to us.

 

[momsavealot]

We did it for our boys 3rd & 5th birthday very informal a couple of kids. They had a great time. We did buy there pizza and drinks with a coupon and then had the cake we purchased somewhere else. For me I do this due to peanut allergy. So I know where the cake & frosting comes from. Last year we had a party at a place and they told me no peanuts made near the cake. But they didn't check the frosting it had coconut water in it and the boys had a bad reacation. We have seen other do this and decided to try. No one said anything to us.

Hi there! Two of my kids have peanut allergy too and I just got an email from Chuck E. Cheese with the allergen info on all their menu items. Their Hershey cake seems good, but my dh wants me to bring in cupcakes since it would probably be much cheaper. Anyway, if you want the peanut allergy email I just got from them, pm me with your email and I will send it to you for future reference. Very detailed info!