Keeping a Build a Bear party "cheap"?

[DisneyMomma81]

For my DD's B~day last year she and 3 friends + her little cousin went to the the Teddy Bear Stuff'n Factory (the nearest BAB is about an hour away) ~ for $12 each (min. 5 kids) they got to choose from 3 bears (I could've paid a flat $20 fee and each child could've chosen whatever animail they wanted (I did not do this) they played fun games, the treat was a packaged rice krispy treat ~ we'd eaten cake/icecream & taken care of gifts before we went to the mall. All 4 girls chose the same bear (I'll post a picture of them later) my nephew made a bear for his little cousin who was in the hospital at the time. I was also given a voucher for a free 8x10 from Kiddie Kandids.

 

[endy]

My son had his party at BAB 3 years ago. What I did was $30/kid (there was some kind of special on & in Canada it all costs more).
This covered a bear & clothes. The boys were old enough that I had the girl let them pick out the outfits first so they knew how much to spend on a bear.
It's backwards of what BAB does. I didn't want the kids to pick out a $20 bear and a $12 outfit. This kept it within the budget. 6 kids cost $180.

What kid wants a naked bear? That's the fun part.

 

[ssmith010]

Hi - Thanks so much for the posts. I was going to have my dd 5th birthday in May at Build a Bear. Just saw the coupon. So everyone feels that boys would like this as well, correct? I have the 20% coupon and the$5 coupon. So if I understand correctly - you buy the animals ahead of time and bring them back? If you stick wth the $10 to 12 animals are you really only paying $5 to 6 per animal. Then the day of the party they go stuff the bear and pick out an outfit? I have never been to build a bear. So I am not sure how it works. I am running out to party places around where I live so I thought this would be a good idea. Another questoin for all my dd other parties the parents always stayed. I would prefer that. I certainly don't want to be responsible for an children running off in the mall. The King of Prussia Mall in PA is large. I will have to look into the food court idea because I live about 15-20 minutes from the mall and would not want the spend time driving back and forth not to mention having to pick-up after the party. I had my last two parties at Romp N Roll and Gymboree. They were great. Two hours. Kids had so much fun running around and then they each had a room for pizza and cake. Anyway, any suggestions would be great. Thanks so much.

 

[ssmith010]

Quick Question - reading the posts again to make sure I understand all the offers. What does GC stand for? I don't understand what you mean by buying GC and get a certain amount free. Thanks.

There is a 15% off coupon in the KidStuff coupon books...I can send you mine if you want.

My friend just had a party there and it was really cheap. She only did the $10,12 bears with no clothes. No one seemed to mind. I did buy a princess t-shirt though.

She had it on a friday from like 10:30 -12:30 and she had set up tables in the food court with ballooons and paper goods, and ordered pizza from Sbarro's. We did that after the BAB.

Also there was some sort of GC promo, you could buy GC's and get a certain amount free, so she did that. I'm not sure if that was just a holiday promo though.

 

[leight]

I am taking my 4 yr old nephew to BAB this weekend for his first time. Both my girls have had parties. I bought them the $10/12 animals with the $5 off 10 animal coupon - did two transactions one 5 off 10 and bought a $25 gift card totaling a $30 purchase and then bought a $10 gift card for $5. Did that twice before xmas during the promo period and before the coupon expiry.

SO now I have $75 gc and two animals for 3 kids. My girls have picked their animal from the two I bought ahead of time and will each get $20 for clothes or to trade up if they want. My nephew will have $35 to spend and he will get to choose there so he gets the full experience. Will be a nice day for him- does anyone know where else to get another 5 off 10 coupon? Any online?

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

IMO I think it's weird just doing the bear. The whole point of the place is clothes and accessories.

.

I agree. If you're going to do a BaB party, you should do it 'right' and include at least something. Maybe invite less kids, and then add enough for at least an outfit.

Glad I'm also not alone in thinking the same thing! You need to clothe the bear!

I agree. The whole point is to build the bear and dress it.

Thx! I said this way back on page 1. My kids have been to parties and only got a "naked" bear then they are begging mom to buy an outfit.

 

[ssmith010]

Hope this helps. Here is a printable coupon to Build A Bear Workshop to use for a free accessory up to $5. Coupon expires 2/5/10.

http://dealspl.us/buildabear-coupons/90285

 

[summerrluvv]

Quick Question - reading the posts again to make sure I understand all the offers. What does GC stand for? I don't understand what you mean by buying GC and get a certain amount free. Thanks.

Gift card

 

[ZPT1022]

My daughter attended a party there last year and the staff was great about keeping the kids to the preset limit the birthday girl's mom had established

 

[Kae]

My daughter attended a party there last year and the staff was great about keeping the kids to the preset limit the birthday girl's mom had established

Yes at my DD's party we had the same thing, and the parents were not there so we did not have any parent offering to buy more or anything like that. I did have one kid go $1 over & one of the other kids offered to put one of her things back so Iet the one kid go over $1.

Kae

 

[Mom2Ben02]

I have a different option to a naked bear

I have seen plain doll tshirts at Michael's - what about buying those, with some fabric markers, and letting the kids sit at a table in the food court and decorate them?

 

[summerrluvv]

I have to say that the kids at the party I went to had no issue about not getting accessories. Granted they were all 2 and 3 year olds, but the other stuff they do during the party kept them busy enough. Maybe it's different for 5 year olds though.

 

[adisneymama]

What happened to having our children appreciate what they are given and not expect more? I don't think it is "wrong" as implied here to not pay for clothing for the bears. If that is the party you want to have then by all means do so. I am not doing anything "wrong" by not. Just because I am inviting you to a birthday party does not mean I have to go all out for it. Again, if you want to do that then by all means do so. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy the outfits if you can and or want to, just that I am not obligated to do so. Last year after paying for all the kids at DS party to not only buy a bear and an outfit, one child very rudely asked where the goody bags were! My friend handled it perfectly and reminded said child "that bear in the box there is the goody bag!"
All that said to say I don't think there is a wrong or right way to do a party. It should be up to each parent and what they are comfortable with.

 

[tinkarooni]

Hi - Thanks so much for the posts. I was going to have my dd 5th birthday in May at Build a Bear. Just saw the coupon. So everyone feels that boys would like this as well, correct? I have the 20% coupon and the$5 coupon. So if I understand correctly - you buy the animals ahead of time and bring them back? If you stick wth the $10 to 12 animals are you really only paying $5 to 6 per animal. Then the day of the party they go stuff the bear and pick out an outfit? I have never been to build a bear. So I am not sure how it works. I am running out to party places around where I live so I thought this would be a good idea. Another questoin for all my dd other parties the parents always stayed. I would prefer that. I certainly don't want to be responsible for an children running off in the mall. The King of Prussia Mall in PA is large. I will have to look into the food court idea because I live about 15-20 minutes from the mall and would not want the spend time driving back and forth not to mention having to pick-up after the party. I had my last two parties at Romp N Roll and Gymboree. They were great. Two hours. Kids had so much fun running around and then they each had a room for pizza and cake. Anyway, any suggestions would be great. Thanks so much.

I wanted to try to answer your questions. We went to a party my SIL had. We got there and every child picked out their bear and was told you can pick one of these 4 choices, within the pricing she had chosen, they do a cute little party thing with the whole group and treat the Birthday kid special. Than they stuffed the bears and she paid for a little outfit for each one. So you don't need to go in advance to buy the bears unless you have a special coupon or something that expires, the package includes the bears and you specify the budget based on various plans that they have. Now if you are not booking a party and just a bunch of you showing up in the store than I guess you can do it anyway you like. Good Luck!

 

[tinkarooni]

What happened to having our children appreciate what they are given and not expect more? I don't think it is "wrong" as implied here to not pay for clothing for the bears. If that is the party you want to have then by all means do so. I am not doing anything "wrong" by not. Just because I am inviting you to a birthday party does not mean I have to go all out for it. Again, if you want to do that then by all means do so. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy the outfits if you can and or want to, just that I am not obligated to do so. Last year after paying for all the kids at DS party to not only buy a bear and an outfit, one child very rudely asked where the goody bags were! My friend handled it perfectly and reminded said child "that bear in the box there is the goody bag!"
All that said to say I don't think there is a wrong or right way to do a party. It should be up to each parent and what they are comfortable with.

I totally agree....I wish all birthday parties were toned down a bit....but of course that's just my opinion. I have been to parties where the kids got a bear and outfit, cake soda and yes....a goody bag on top of it all. Very over the top in my opinion....not to mention way too much sugar for my family. What gets me is the experience type parties. We took my DS and friends mini-golfing for a party once. The party included pizza, snacks and soda and of course two rounds of 18 hole mini-golf. I really didn't think after all of that these kids (10-11 year olds) needed goody bags. I got a hard time from a couple of friends about no goody bags. I don't get it.....mostly it's candy or junk that somebody will later on be cleaning out of the bottom of the toy box to throw away.....
Sorry OP I went a little bit off topic there.....

 

[jrmasm]

I have to say that the kids at the party I went to had no issue about not getting accessories. Granted they were all 2 and 3 year olds, but the other stuff they do during the party kept them busy enough. Maybe it's different for 5 year olds though.

It's not. We had DD's party there last spring for her 5th birthday and her guests only stuffed animals. All the kids had a great time and not one asked about clothes.

I kept it simple because there were more than 10 kids and most couldn't add. So rather than open that can of worms, we stuck with just animals.

Wonder if any of their parents thought I was cheap.

 

[Mom2apirate&princess]

I find it hard to believe that you have all of these kids in the store among all of the other people there dressing and accessorizing their bears and not one asked about getting at least a shirt.

I totally understand raising kids to be thankful for what they get. It just seems weird to take them to a store that is full of stuff for that bear and they just get the bear. It does seem cheap. The whole point of the store is to buy things for the bear.

But whatever.

 

[labdogs42]

Another questoin for all my dd other parties the parents always stayed. I would prefer that. I certainly don't want to be responsible for an children running off in the mall. The King of Prussia Mall in PA is large. I will have to look into the food court idea because I live about 15-20 minutes from the mall and would not want the spend time driving back and forth not to mention having to pick-up after the party. I had my last two parties at Romp N Roll and Gymboree. They were great. Two hours. Kids had so much fun running around and then they each had a room for pizza and cake. Anyway, any suggestions would be great. Thanks so much.

BAB is very close to the food court at King of Prussia. I wish I lived closer to that mall so I could do my kid's party there! Another place in KofP that does parties is the Lego store. I would LOVE to have a party there!

I was thinking of doing DS's party at build a bear, but because his birthday falls near Valentine's day, they actually don't do parties that weekend. I could have done it the weekend after and maybe I'll do that next year. I love all of these ideas! I didn't know my KidStuff book had that coupon -- yeah!

 

[jrmasm]

I find it hard to believe that you have all of these kids in the store among all of the other people there dressing and accessorizing their bears and not one asked about getting at least a shirt.

I totally understand raising kids to be thankful for what they get. It just seems weird to take them to a store that is full of stuff for that bear and they just get the bear. It does seem cheap. The whole point of the store is to buy things for the bear.

But whatever.

First, a child or two might have asked about clothing and I simply said not today. They said ok and ran off. It was not a big deal. But thanks for proving my point, it's the adults that care about this kind of stuff, not the kids.

The name of the store is Build A Bear. My dd's guests built bears (and dogs and monkeys and cats).

It's really unfortunate that people can't throw parties without being judged. But whatever.

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

well said People should be appreciative they get the bear. I was invited when I was younger to go to a BAB party and had to pay for everything myself...now thats cheap!