Can you do Chuckee Cheese BDAY party on a budget????

Solomonsmom81

P.U.S.H. = Pray Until Something Happens
Joined
Feb 27, 2008
My DS wants to have his birthday at chuckee cheese but ive looked up the prices and they ae crazy, am I missing something??? I would have about 5 kids 10.99 per kid and they only get 2 slices!!!!! and also have to feed about 15 adults the only coupon I found was for 1 large pizza 4 drinks and 40 tokens that will only feed 3 adults if im lucky!!! I really want to have the party there but dont know what to do anyone have any ideas or know anyplace like that to go to in ANN ARBOR, MI??? Help!!! Thanks!
 
When you say you have to feed 15 adults are those the parents of the other children? Or your family members? Certainly, if they're not invited guests you're under no obligation to feed them.

But assuming you've invited 15 aduts and 5 kids, the least expensive way to go is to choose a party time NOT during a meal. (For example, 2pm) Offer drinks and cake. The CEC website clearly states you're welcome to have a party without booking a package. You don't get a reserved table but that can be worked around. And you find a good coupon (like buy 50 tokens and get 50 free) and give each child 20 tokens. That's more than enough for a b-day party.
 
I did DD's party there one year w/o booking a package. We did a couple pizzas and I bought a ton of tokens w/ coupons. After CEC we went to a local ice cream place and the kids all picked what they wanted. Then they went home! :laughing:
 
From CEC's website:

Unreserved Walk-In Birthday Parties
You are always welcome to celebrate all the fun and excitement Chuck E. Cheese's has to offer without reserving a party package. Unreserved parties do not include the birthday package items or a reserved table.

What items can I bring to a party?

Birthday Cakes
Ice Cream
Table Decorations

What items am I not allowed to bring to a party?

Outside food other than cake or ice cream
Piñata's
Cups
Outside Entertainment

So you definitely have to pay for their soda/juice...but you can bring your own cake and ice cream, plates, forks, table centerpiece. Or at least that's my interpretation! I think that's better...you can have your own theme (or the theme your child wants anyway! LOL)

Hope that helps!
 


Well, I wouldn't touch that place on a weekend period!

We went there for a birthday for a child last year and invited one other family to meet us during a school day (we homeschool) and we didn't do the party. We used coupons for $29 for a pizza and drinks and 100 tokens and then used another $12 coupon for 100 more tokens. Each child got 40 or so tokens and I bought each of their kids (2) a refillable cup as a party gift.

Dawn
 
Well, I wouldn't touch that place on a weekend period!

We went there for a birthday for a child last year and invited one other family to meet us during a school day (we homeschool) and we didn't do the party. We used coupons for $29 for a pizza and drinks and 100 tokens and then used another $12 coupon for 100 more tokens. Each child got 40 or so tokens and I bought each of their kids (2) a refillable cup as a party gift.

Dawn

I'll second the no weekends! We did DD's party on a school night. I picked them all up and dropped them all off at their homes. CEC was pretty much a ghost town until we were leaving.
 
If you go to the Chuck E. Cheese website and sign up for their mailing list, they will send you some really great coupons.
 


I happily paid the 12.99 per kid for my son's 5th b-day party there a few weeks ago. I also added $2 for CEC to give out their goodie bags instead of me running around getting junk to give away.

I can do it a little cheaper at home, but I'd probably be spending about $5 per goodie bag, pizza is getting pricey w/ the added on delivery fees around here, drinks, theme plates, generic napkins and cups, home made and decorated cake was the same either place.

At home I would have probably also gotten a pinata (12.99+ and candy ($10). Need games/stuff to do. I have to "work" more if that party is at home - running games, etc. All of that plus not having to clean my house twice - before and after the party= totally worth it to me!

If there are so many adults b/c they are family, why not just have a "come over for cake" night?
 
We went to a party there at 10am on a Saturday and it wasn't too crowded. It was packed by the time we left at noon though. If you do it on a weekend, do it first thing in the morning! Keep an eye out for coupons and you should be able to get some extra pizzas at a reasonable price.
 
We have had my ds (3) there for the last 2 years. We usually go either early 10-11 or late 3 ish. We don't do their parties so the table isn't reserved, however, if you get there and there is no reservation on the tables you are welcome to them. We have had no problem whatsoever grabbing a table at off times. This year the young man helping with another party told me he didn't think I could have the table that I was setting my stuff on. When I asked him why he said he thought there was a party coming in. I asked him to verify that and I would be happy to move. A few minutes later I saw him walking around .... never came back to talk to me so we stayed. (I think on Weekends they are trained to steer people, if at all possible, away from them unless they are a paying Party reservation. We never were asked to move and we never saw another party come in until we were getting ready to leave. But at that point everyone had been done eating and dh had taken presents to the car. So we just moved our cups and extra stuff to an unused booth table. We really only needed the table for about 45-60 minutes.

One thing I did and would recommend is calling and seeing when they have parties scheduled. Just tell them you are interested and wanted to know what time slots were still open. Go for the slot that has the widest open spot.

Having said all of that, CEC is still expensive. I start several weeks beforehand searching for coupons. You can find coupons for pizza deals and you can find them for just tokens. It seems our kids always run out of tokes so it is nice to be able to use a coupon and get them for 1/2 off. It still costs us $100 or so, that is for about 8 kids and 5 adults. Also, if you are inviting school aged children tell them to bring in their last grade card (I believe it can be UP TO one year old) and they will give them tokens based on their grades. I don't do party bags, I figure they will go home with the prizes they won with their tickets. But then again all of the people I invite are family (nephews and neices) so I can get away with that logic!! :rotfl:

The cost is high but the upside is I don't have to clean my house before and after a birthday party and make food and decorate my house!!!!!

Good luck! Hope you have a great party whatever you decide.
 
To throw out another option (not everyone would want to do this), but if you really want to feed the people, check for a close cheap pizza buffet, like Pizza Street. Somewhere that it is $3-5 bucks a person to feed or even McDs, you could buy cheeseburgers and fries (not happy meals). Then go over to CEC. You'd have to do the math and make sure it was worth it once you buy tokens, but it is another option if you really want food.
 
If you go to the Chuck E. Cheese website and sign up for their mailing list, they will send you some really great coupons.

Was going to say the same thing. When we first signed up they sent us some great coupons, but they were only good for a couple of weeks so be careful. We could go back later and request more, but they weren't quite as good as the initial sign up ones.

Put in your family's birthdays too and they will mail you out additional coupons.

We did a party there about a month ago on a Sunday night. It worked out really well. I think we ended up somewhere around 25 people 1/2 adults and 1/2 kids. I ended up using 4 coupons for Large (any) Pizza, 4 drinks, and ?? tokens. Each coupon was around $25. Then I added A couple of cheese pizzas and kids drinks (since that was a better deal without the coupon)

I also had a coupon for tokens, buy 40 for $10 and get 60 free (it was the initial coupon offer, which when you go back is spend $15 to get 100.

If you're a real bugeteer like me, round up your coupons, get there early and figure out what works best. Again what I found was that a cheese pizza and 4 kids drinks was a better deal then the coupon... but a large specialty and 4 adult drinks (plus the tokens) was better w/ the coupon.

Also, we ended up with a pizza left over (at $15 a pop that hurt a little) but they are usually quick with the pizzas there so you can alway order light and add on during the meal.

Sorry if I confused you.... cuz I kinda confused myself!
 
I have never done the goody bag when we partied at CEC or Peter Piper (same concept, slightly better pizza).

We just buy pizzas, drinks, a few salads, and bring in a cake and some party hats and blowers. Then give each kid a handful of tokens. And we're told that it was a great party.

I second (or is it third/fourth) the suggestion to sign up for their newsletters....our ValPak coupons also usually contain deals for pizza and 100 token for a pretty decent price. Get a couple of these coupons from families and friends and give them to adults in the party to purchase (ours only lets you do one per person even though they know it's my DH standing next to me with his own coupon....and they it's fine, but 1 per adult). Then you have more than enough pizza and tons and tons of tokens for the kids. 30 minutes of eating/cake/presents and then we turn them loose. When the tokens are gone the party's over.

Bring along the camera, take lots of pictures of every kid playing and print out their photos on card stock, fold it over and there is your thank you card and a souvenior of the fun they had.

Parties around here can get out of hand with the "gotta keep up (or top) the Jones" and I just won't do it. Ask your kid to tell you about ANY party they went to at least a year ago....they don't have long term memories on these things most of the time! It's a now thing.
 
here are my tips...
Sign up for coupons on their website. (they will also email you a coupon for free tokens around your child's birthday. )
bring in your own cake, plates flatware ect
buy a few pizzas( depending on the number of guests you invite)
buy drinks for each of your guests ( if you use a coupons you can usually get 4 drinks 1 or 2 pizzas and some tokens for a fairly reasonable price)
we just order a few seperately ( DH goes up with a coupon, then the I go up with a coupon)
if you have to so a weekend party go early (our Chuck E Cheese opens at 9 I think, so we usually have our party about 11 and miss out on a lot of the afternoon( ours seems to get busy around 1 or 2) , which seems to be really busy)
skip the treat bags and give them lots of tokens (their prize can be their treat.)
If your husband is like mine and loves to play the games too, split some of his tickets up between your guests and then give a big bunch to the birthday boy/girl)

We invite family and one or two good friends. Hope this helps!
 
I am planning a party a cec on labor day. My son is turning 4yr old and thats where he wants his party. I am having 5 kids and about 15 adults. I am not booking a party, we are just going to show up early ( party at 2pm I get there around 1 15) and get some tables. I don't think it should be crowded. If it was a Sat or Sun the place would be nuts. I signed up for their email list and got a coupon for 100 tokens for $10. I hope to have my inlaws sign up too so we get more of these coupons. I am going to ask all adults and kids who wants pizza and order for those who want it. I think most of my family will pass everyone is trying to watch their weight. I am taking my own cake and I will buy everyone drinks and the kids cec sourvineer cups as party favors. I hope to be under $100. Which isnt bad because if I booked a party it would be $11.99 a kid , plus extra tokens and food for adults.
 
But assuming you've invited 15 aduts and 5 kids, the least expensive way to go is to choose a party time NOT during a meal. (For example, 2pm) Offer drinks and cake.

I know this idea is good for a budget, but I have taken my kids to numerous parties at Chuck E Cheese and if my child was invited to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese I would assume there would be pizza. :confused3 Even at 2 p.m. I would just think maybe that was the only time they could have the party or something. I wouldn't really care if we got there and there was no pizza, but I'm sure some people would.

I don't know the age of the kids the OP wants to invite, but if they're old enough, maybe you could just take the kids to CEC and then have the adults come to your house afterwards for cake. I don't think most adults enjoy CEC, do they?
 
:confused3 I don't know how to do Chuck E Cheese on a budget. Even with the free token coupons that come in the mail, it costs an arm and a leg. Chuck E Cheese is the bain of my exisitence. :headache:
 
I haven't read the other replies but depending how old your child is... we learned really fast that it is much more fun for our ds after the age of 5 or so to just let him invite a couple of friends to got out with him and do something fun Than as they have gotten older we let them spend the night or else we just took them home at the end of the day. A lot of times it is just so overwhelming for everyone when their are a lot of people. Of course if you are just inviting family than it might not be an option to not invite everyone. We also have a small party just cake and ice cream with the grandparents at our house or go out to dinner.
 
Add me to the list of parents who does the party on my own. It is usually just our immediate family (DH, me, our 3 kids, my mom) and maybe my SIL and niece, so one large pizza plus a couple of salad bars will do the trick. We find online coupons (I had found a couple of awesome ones before we left on our Cali vacation, and I left them at home :headache:) - there are some out there even better than the ones CEC emails out. I bring cupcakes, since they travel better than sheet cake and don't need to be cut. The nice people at CEC tend to give the birthday child a crown, balloon, and even offer candles in case we forgot.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top