Use Coupons, Use Coupons!!!!!
And do your own party. Check with your local Chuck E. Cheese's. We just had my DD(soon to be 10)'s party last week. We were allowed to bring in a cake/cupcakes. No other food is allowed and, of course, you would need to buy their drinks.
It was wonderful. I used lots of coupons (there is no limit on how many you can use). We got pizza and sodas and I brought in Toy Story 3 cupcakes. I gave each girl 10 tokens when they got there, 15 or so after we ate, and another 10 after cupcakes and present time. We ended up handing out a few more.
They only issue I had was one girl came back within a minute wanting more tokens.
Turns out that she had put every single one of them in one of those dumb machines where you just hit a button and the light stops on how many tickets you win. I gave her a few more and kindly instructed her to stay away from those!
My DD wanted Toy Story plates, napkins, etc. so I didn't want to use the Chuck E. Cheese's plates included with the party. I also didn't want their plates. In addition, my DD was not into any of the extras they give the bday girl. So...each girl ended up getting many more tokens for a much cheaper price and we had cuter stuff to eat from. We also got a great spot in the corner with a few very large booths. It was quiet and we could eat on our own timetable. (If you book a party, they tell you when to come back and eat pizza and cake.) Plus we could hang out at our tables for as long as we wanted.
BTW, this was a Friday night so it was crowded but it still worked out great.
One piece of advice: instruct the children to wear something with pockets or bring something to hold the tokens and tickets on their person. I forgot to do that and was constantly reminding the girls to not sit their cup of tokens down and turn their back. I saw one boy try to "claim" two of our token cups when he saw them unattended.
Have a great time!
