Need ideas for indoor Winter Birthday parties - 10 year old twins!

[TupperMom7]

My children (boy and girl) will turn 10 in December. Being that it's right around Christmas, we will probably have their birthday at the beginning of the month.

We have already done a children's museum twice and Jeepers once. Last year, we just had a family party - no kids invited except cousins. It felt like we had cheated them somehow, but the year before when we did Jeepers a lot of people couldn't come because of the holiday commitments.

So now I am trying to come up with something. We are not rolling in dough, but would like to have something outside the house because we do not have a large house or finished basement.

So far, we have checked our Laser Tag - this would be fine for my son, but I'm not sure 10 year old girls would enjoy shooting at each other. Plus it's $189 plus tax for 10 kids.

The movies - $14.99 a person plus $50 room rental fee. Includes a movie ticket, party room for an hour and kids snack tray (small drink, candy and popcorn). This idea is okay, kind of pricey for what's included and there isn't any interaction with the kids and their friends because they would all be sitting there watching a movie.

Indoor Six Flags water park. Pretty expensive $39 or $49 a person. Or I was thinking it might be cheaper to get a room there $300 and it includes admission to the water park, but then we'd have to feed them ourselves which could cost a bundle more.

Any ideas? There must be something out there for 10 year old kids to celebrate their special day indoors.

 

[J&D]

How about a bowling party? My sister had one for my nephew, and the cost wasn't too bad because she got to pay by renting the lanes instead of having to pay per person. The adults even played, and it was so much fun.

 

[clh2]

bowling...as previously mentioned

roller skating at a rink?

Ice skating at an indoor rink?

 

[jjenniboo]

Maybe rent a center or hall of some sort?? I rented one for $75.

We are having my DD's 6th next Saturday and we are having a carnival theme. Made games, bought candy and prizes after Halloween, my sister is face painting, pinata. Her class is invited as well as having many cou9sins b/w 1 and 15 and I think they'll all enjoy it.

 

[drivencrazy]

We rent the roller ring for our "big party" don't know if you have something like that in your area or not. We rent the whole place and only have to pay for the skaters... we are allowed to bring in our own food and whatever else we would like.

We don't do the "skate party" during regular skate hours since that would cost more!

Last year we had tons of people, most of them skated and we payed around $200 for the 2 hours we had the place.

 

[melancholywings]

DD's birthday is around the holidays to and we've had the worst time getting people to show up to them. You'd think parents would jump at the chance to dump their kids off for an afternoon at pump it up, but we only had 5 out of 20 kids show up. And all of them were late, It's nerve wracking. This year we're going to let DD invite a friend or two over for a slumber party. Less stressful that way.

 

[SILLYANDI]

Do you have any of the indoor inflatables places? There is a chain called pump it up and another called jumping jacks (as well as several independant places) out here in Cali.

It is basically a warehouse full of inflatable slides, dodgeball arena, boxing areana, obstacle courses, etc that the kids go crazy on (it's DH's favorite party place because adults can go on them too!). My neice even held her sweet 16 with a rock band at one and it was the talk of her school!

 

[TammyLynn33]

We always rent the ice for an hour here and let all his friends classmates, teammates come skate we only do cake and hot chocolate after. (we request NO gifts as we usually get 50 people out) its a lot of fun the rink is usually $120 for an hour or so and they usually give us a room free to serve cake in..

 

[zachsmomie]

Maybe rent a center or hall of some sort?? I rented one for $75.

We are having my DD's 6th next Saturday and we are having a carnival theme. Made games, bought candy and prizes after Halloween, my sister is face painting, pinata. Her class is invited as well as having many cou9sins b/w 1 and 15 and I think they'll all enjoy it.

If you rented a hall, since it is near the holidays, you could do ornament decorating or Christmas crafts (cheap from Oriental trading).

 

[Tisha_PA]

Ice skating party if you have an ice rink

swimming party - check local fitness clubs and hotels. 3 of the hotels by us as well as most of the fitness clubs do swim parties

Bowling party

Chuck E Cheese is always a hit with kids

Gymnastics schools - both of the gymnastics schools in our area do parties

Also for what it's worth, my oldest DD's cheer squad does an overnight at a place called Slinky Action Zone. They have free access to all games but usually end of playing laser tag all night. You might be surprised at how much fun the girls have.

 

[luvmy3]

My dd(10) and her friends love lazer tag, she's been to a couple of those parties. I would definitley keep that as an option.
Out of what you posted I think the SF hotel/water park is teh best, although the most pricey. If you are only having 10 kids you could find something alot cheaper, but if there are more than 10 kids invited I don't think you'd be able to do anything outside the home for less than $250, so for a little bit more I'd do the room at six flags. I wish we had one of those around here.
You can still do a pool/hotel party at a local hotel. I'm doing that for my dd's winter b-day. It will be just girls so it will be a sleepover and they will do make-up, and girly games. You could do that but gear activities to both boy and girls.

 

[mjkacmom]

We've done rock climbing, ice skating, roller blading, bowling, swimming (YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, local hotel), inflatables - those would be good for both boys and girls (I'm actually drawing a blank where my twins had their party last year!).

 

[sksjasams]

I think boys and girls would both like Laser Tag. It's a very fun and easy party to host. Other popular ideas here are Bounce U (like pump it up, it is an expensive option), bowling alley (this is the most affordable option), and Rocky Rococo's, which is like Chuck E Cheese, but feels more grown up. I agree, the movie party doesn't sound like too much fun (no interaction). Good luck!

Julie

 

[summerrluvv]

We are doing a swimming party at a local swim school for DS's 10th. He's a January bday so I know how hard it is to plan!! Many hotels with indoor pools do parties too. The place I booked is $350 for 25 people which is a steal as far as bday parties go around here.

Pump It Up is great too! I took DS there the other day for an open play and he had a blast! The parents had a lot of fun too.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

We are doing a swimming party at a local swim school for DS's 10th. He's a January bday so I know how hard it is to plan!! Many hotels with indoor pools do parties too. The place I booked is $350 for 25 people which is a steal as far as bday parties go around here.

Pump It Up is great too! I took DS there the other day for an open play and he had a blast! The parents had a lot of fun too.

Summer - Are you going to World Gym?
To the OP - Another vote for bowling but then again my ds are bithday party hosts at the local bowling alley so I am a little biased. Ours offers the regular party and if you want to save $ and get the food yourself etc. and serve it yourself and watch all the kids yourself you can get the Pizza,Pins and Pepsi which is less per kid. One of my ds birthdays was by christmas so I always had it the lst week in december which was better because if the moms werent shopping the week ends the kids in the class were always getting sick that time of year etc.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Do you have a rock climbing place? DD9 is going to her friend's 10th birthday party there next week and all the girls and boys are excited. She went to a Tae Kwon Do party last year that was fun and interesting - maybe you can check out a local karate or Tae Kwon Do place?

 

[sndfan]

Mom of a DS with a January bday here...I feel your pain. I typically have to plan his parties around the NFL playoff schedule!

If you are worried about people showing up, I recommend having the bday party in January...the kids are old enough to wait, and trust me, everyone is happy to have something to do in January after the craziness of the holiday has slowed down. For several years, we've had to do my DS's party a month after his actual party, and it worked out great.

We've done bowling, but our biggest hit for the last 4 years has been a pool party! There's a place, Kids First Swim, that offers year round swimming lessons. My son went when he was little. They also offer swimming parties. It was "up to 25 kids" for $150-$175...and believe me, we ended up with 25 kids! It's such a treat for the kids to play in the water in the middle of winter.

We're branching out this January and doing a party at my DS's Tae Kwon Do school...the Masters there are wonderful, and he is excited to cut the cake with a sword!

Enjoy.

 

[DVCisME]

What about a Hibachi place? They usually put on a decent "show" and they always have chicken lol

 

[dthogue]

My 10 yo DD and her friends love lazer tag - bowling is also fun, as well as ice skating.

 

[summerrluvv]

Summer - Are you going to World Gym?
To the OP - Another vote for bowling but then again my ds are bithday party hosts at the local bowling alley so I am a little biased. Ours offers the regular party and if you want to save $ and get the food yourself etc. and serve it yourself and watch all the kids yourself you can get the Pizza,Pins and Pepsi which is less per kid. One of my ds birthdays was by christmas so I always had it the lst week in december which was better because if the moms werent shopping the week ends the kids in the class were always getting sick that time of year etc.

No, actually at Safety Swim. They have a new facility in Smithtown and it's really nice!!

Bowling a fun party too, we did that one year!