Looking for Bday party ideas?

[melancholywings]

I'm so mentally stuck!
DD wants a birthday party in Jan but there's several problems. The last few birthday parties we've thrown we've had a huge problem with attendence - like 4 out of 25 kids showed up. No one in her school goes to bday parties but a small handful. We really don't have the cash for a large party as we have a trip in Jan as well. If we do something larger parents will also expect to be invited so no movie theater party. I thought about letting her invite a couple of girls over for a slumber party but one of her best friends right now is a boy. And our house is a bit small for a party that's larger than a couple of kids.
I just don't know what to do. Is it possible to have a birthday party that's less than $300?

 

[zoemurr]

and did a whole bunch of fun crafts. Fleece scarves would be fun.

Check out www.birthdaypartyideas.com for tons and tons of ideas.

We've had a cooking party, (kids can make their own lasane, or pizzas and decorate cupcakes) and an "around the world" party.. were we did a game, craft, and snack from 4 different countries

My DD is 9 and wants a "mystery" party this year. If you search on that you can find tons of ideas. A "science" theme would be fun too.

I do parties for 12 every year at home with lots of fun activities (I am known for going over the top) and never spend near $300

Kids are always happy with a movie and a make your own sundae bar too.

I would just have her invite her 4-5 best friends and have a great time. Call them ahead to make sure they can attend before you set the date.

Have fun!

 

[dancin'girl]

My birthday is in the winter and growing up I always ended up having small parties because so many kids were sick, it snowed...etc. I always wished my party were in the summer instead! My best friend got to have pool parties every year! And lots of kids showed up!
But now that I have children and am the one hosting the parties, I much prefer a smaller group - much easier to handle and easier for everyone to participate in a project / activity. Too many people create confusion and chaos!
An art or cookie party sounds great!

 

[dougsmom98]

Have her invite 2-3 kids that you are sure will show up and take them on a fun outing. Bowling, arcade, pizza place, ice skating, movies, an indoor pool place. If you have just a few kids, you can afford to do something out and it will be a blast. My best friend's mom would do this for us. She called them mystery rides. We would do some free things and some things that cost money, but she wouldn't tell us what she was doing.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My dd5 had a birthday party yesterday at a place call Busy Bouncing - it was a room full of inflatables for the kids to jump and play on, a separate room for the cake and ice cream, and another separate room for gifts. They had a blast. I know there is a chain called Pump It Up that's in many states that is pretty much the same. We invited 25 kids and had 17 show up - ranging from a 2 year old to a 13 year old (with the majority between 4-7). She had some from preschool, some from church, family and friends. It wasn't cheap though - was $240 plus we brought our own cake, ice cream and drinks.

I thought dh would balk at the price but once he saw the place and saw how much fun they were having, he said it was totally worth it. Like he said, by the time you buy pizza and tokens, it's not that much more than Chuck E Cheese and it's something different.

 

[carj]

We had my son's 7th birthday party at a Laser Tag place last year. It was $119 for 10 kids. That included pizza and drinks. They also each got a $5 video game card. They had a special where you could buy a $10 game card for $5 so we bought those for the kids instead of party favors. We invited the whole class and a few extras so there were 26 kids there! I really expected about 15 to RSVP.

BTW, I totally think that the timing of the child's birthday really affects attendance by classmates. My son's birthday is in February and we have a great turnout every year. My daughter's is in July and we can't even get all the cousins to make it to hers. I have a friend who has a daughter with a late May birthday and the attendance at her parties is always iffy too because people are busy and overwhelmed at that time of year with the end of school.

This year, I think that I am going to let my son invite 4 friends (the number that I can fit in my vehicle, along with him) to come over and we will go do something fun. We may even go play laser tag again because that was a big hit. The kids can sleep over, play video games and hang out. He is getting to the point where he has preferences about friends and doesn't want to invite his whole class, and has friends in other classes.

I hope you can find a party that will work for your daughter!

 

[Liberty Belle]

http://clublibbylu.saksgifts.com/main/sb_gg_assort_view.jsp?PRODUCT<>prd_id=3717501&FOLDER<>folder_id=3717907&viewall=1&bmUID=1229096895984

Libby Lu is going out of business and is selling all their supplies. A rockstar or glamour party would be fun.

We just had my son's birthday party at Gattitown. We paid Gattitown $200 for a private room, party host (which was a complete joke), and ten dollar gift cards for all the kids. We were allowed to invite 15 kids and then had to pay more if more showed up (we invited the whole class - thank goodness fifteen exactly showed!). We just had to pay for cake that we brought in.

We've also had parties at a farm, laser tag, gymnastics place, home, a city park (if you live in a warm climate, that's a fun one to do - you can have a carnival themed party).

 

[StephMK]

Both DDs have winter bdays so I'm very familar w/cold weather activities. You could take a few ice skating if you're brave, or around here we have a bead shop where you can make your own jewelry or a paint your own pottery place. I like those because the "goody bag" favor is built into the party activity. Build a Bear is a another fav of DD8. Noah's Ark is a home party that does animals the kids self stuff, cute & nice quality.

Last year, there were very few that could come to DD8's party so I took her & two good friends to lunch at the mall then they each built a bear w/outfit. They played at the house after & had a great time.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

For my dd's party next month we are doing a 1/2 sleepover with a few girls. Usually this means an evening party, but we are doing it in the morning from 10-1 and serving a brunch. The girls will come in their pajamas, make crafts, play games, watch a short movie.

 

[melancholywings]

Thanks for all the advice! We've talked it over with her and think we're going to try for a bowling party in Febuary. A month after is a bit weird but I'm just to over loaded with the holidays, a trip and work to throw a birthday party to.

 

[osualan]

Just trying to get my posts to (10) so that I can PM - sorry !