no search - chuck e cheese party tips??

[newtodcl]

Hi all, The search is not working, so I was hoping for any chuck e cheese b-day party tips. We are having our 3 yrs olds party there at 10am on Saturday for 10 other kids with their basic package. We plan to buy extra pizza / drinks for the adults with some coupons....did you all just put the cups out on the table and let people know or ???? I don't know any other cost saving measures and I am just hoping this goes smoothly with only a minor headache from the ching ching ching of the games

 

[Malificient Tater]

well I would have told you not to do it on a Saturday since they are usually busy and the kids are little, but ok we have done several there. You can also tell them if you Chuck to come to the table or to stand away so not to scare some kids. We always bought extra pizza and drinks and it was on the table. Some people will go to their own table and do their own thing especially if they brought say other kids with them, at least nice people do that.

Sounds like you have thought of everything that I did.

 

[zalansky]

We just had our 5 year old sons birthday there a few weeks ago. We started with the basic package too and I planned on buying extra tokens and making my own goody bags. As I started to look for goody bag items, I realized that it would only cost me an extra $5 a kid for the prmium package which included goody bags for each kids, extra tokens, and 100 ticket coupon for each kid too. So I upgraded to the premium package last minute and was happy I did. I handed the cups with the coins out to the kids, because I felt if I left them on the table anyone could grab more than one cup. We also ordered pizza and drinks for the adults and luckily our "host" charged us for ten adult cups only because we easily had 16 adults or a few more. He also advised us to start out with 2 extra pizzas for the adults so we wouldn't over-order. Which worked out perfectly. I think you'll be ok on the time with the crowds, its an early party which will be done by noon so it should be fine. They really impressed me, all we did was show up, enjoy the party - and pay. Very stress free. Have fun!

 

[aynt79]

If you haven't already, sign up on their website for their email list. The first set of coupons they send for signing up are usually better than any that you will find locally.

 

[lisaross]

I'm going to be doing a combined party there in April - its for my boys who will be turning 6 & 8! I'm going to do a Monday 4:30p party - so i figure it won't be busy! I'm thinking of going w/the basic party pkg and then i will buy extra tokens - w/coupons and give more out because i would hate for the parents to have to spend $ on tokens.....


I will have about 25 kids so i will probably order about 3 or 4 pies for the adults - i think there pizza is on the small side........

have fun

lisa

 

[mnasf]

Hi all, The search is not working, so I was hoping for any chuck e cheese b-day party tips. We are having our 3 yrs olds party there at 10am on Saturday for 10 other kids with their basic package. We plan to buy extra pizza / drinks for the adults with some coupons....did you all just put the cups out on the table and let people know or ???? I don't know any other cost saving measures and I am just hoping this goes smoothly with only a minor headache from the ching ching ching of the games

We just had my 4 year old's bday party there last Saturday at 11am. I'd told everyone to be there 15 minutes earlier. On the day before I ran by and used a token coupon to get some tokens. Friday night we put some tokens in baggies for each child. I put names on the baggies. When they arrived I was able t hand them a baggy while we were getting our tokens, etc. It was very handy and our lady was impressed. I also brought a Sharpie and wrote names on the kids' token cups and the lids of the drinking cups (& even some adult lids.) I did the $5 more package since I didn't have to make a goody bag, got more tokens, got the 100 ticket coupon, etc. I was worried that at 3 and 4 they don't get tickets too easily so everyone could go home with something. It was more expensive but worth it. They let me use coupons to buy 2 additional pizzas for adults. Everything seemed to go okay. If you book online they give you 20 extra tokens. If you opt out of the cake you get 20 extra tokens, and they emailed me a 20 token coupon for my daughter's bday. I had to ask for these. Not sure if I would've gotten them otherwise. My advice is to bring a Sharpie and bring paper to write down presents. Have fun. It wasn't too crowded for us.

 

[lisaross]

Those who bought x-tra tokens - how many tokens in total did you wind up giving each child?

Just curious as i'm thinking of getting the smaller pkg and then buying x-tra tokens separately! i think the pkg comes w/16 tokens a kid - i was thinking of maybe 14more xtra per kid - total of 30 tokens each - do you think thats enough?

 

[AllesonWonderland]

Op, sounds like you're all set! I had one of my DD's parties there once. I didn't buy a package at all, just bought a bunch of tokens off ebay and pizzas with coupons. It was very cost effective.

 

[Melissa_E]

When a friend of mine does her CeC parties, she doesn't buy a birthday package at all. Especially when her daughter turned 3, she figured that it didn't matter if CeC sang "happy Birthday" to her kid and didn't care about the cake. She bought the pizza and tokens on her own and brought her own cake. It was much cheaper for her to do that than buy a birthday package.

 

[writersblock42]

I second things like bringing along a sharpie to write on the cups. Also purchasing an extra pizza is a good idea. Unless you already sent out invitations tell people that the party starts 15 minutes to half an hour earlier than it actually does if you know that your guests tend to be late.

 

[summerrluvv]

When a friend of mine does her CeC parties, she doesn't buy a birthday package at all. Especially when her daughter turned 3, she figured that it didn't matter if CeC sang "happy Birthday" to her kid and didn't care about the cake. She bought the pizza and tokens on her own and brought her own cake. It was much cheaper for her to do that than buy a birthday package.

Yeah I thought of doing that, but I'm glad I didn't. There wasn't a single seat in our CEC on Sunday (DS's party), so I'm glad I booked it. We had 16 kids and the place was a MAD HOUSE! I've never seen so many people there on a Sunday at 4pm. The kids had fun though! I used a coupon for a large pizza and 4 drinks and 40 tokens for $19.99. Most of the adults were off in their own booths with siblings/friends, etc. and purchased their own food. Our pizza didn't even get finished! As for cups, tell them how many you want on the table, because at 1.99 a pop, you don't want the kids grabbing for them. I had them put 10 and only 4 were used. I brought my own cake from Sam's and my own papergoods (superman).

Have fun!!

 

[zalansky]

I agree with the previous poster. There is no guarantee there will be enough tables available if you try and wing it on your own. Who needs that stress of getting there and possibly not having any seating? How much could you possibly save? We paid $250 total for 12 kids and 16 adults. Everyone had enough coins and plenty of food and drinks - and the goody bags included. Plus, I didn't have to life a finger. The table was decorated and I didn't have to worry about bringing plates and decorations. The extra money i paid for the package was well worth my sanity.

 

[loud-frog]

Lot's of wet ones!!!! and you can buy goodie bags at the prize counter
for $1.99. My kids always use their tix for these instead of one or two cheap
junky toys. They have a mix of prizes, candy and stickers all in a vynal drawstring bag. Have fun!!!!

 

[gonemousin']

I agree with the previous poster. There is no guarantee there will be enough tables available if you try and wing it on your own. Who needs that stress of getting there and possibly not having any seating? How much could you possibly save?

I agree. We had our DD's party at CeC when she turned 4 (4 years ago) and we booked a party package. They reserved an entire table length (3/4 for the kiddos and 1/4 for the adults and presents) and as we were setting up, a family who hadn't reserved a party package sat down at the end of our table (the 1/4 our party host had reserved for us) and started setting up their own party. On that particular day, every long party table in front of the stage area was completely reserved by folks who'd booked party packages...and this family had no where to set up their party. Our party host asked them to pack up and move away from our party table and they were not happy about it. I felt really bad for them and I would have happily let them stay if I weren't expecting such a large group of people. I would be really hesitant to throw my own party if it's a popular party time. There was absolutely no where for that family to set up their 8-kid party. They ended up scattered throughout the restaurant.

 

[newtodcl]

Well,
The party went very smoothly today, although it was 41 degrees her in LA and for us that is COlllllldddddd.....the 10am time was great but by 12:30 the place was packed, so I agree with the posters who said you may not have a tabvle if you tried to do your own party on the weekends.

Just a big thank you for all the tips:
Having the tokens in baggies for when the kids arrived was a godsend as they wait a good 10-15 minutes to get them and that is time the kids can be playing!! Use the 100 tokens for $10 coupon you get for signing up on the website.

The sharpie for names on the cups worked out well also

We used the wipes after the pizza and also brought the early defense supposedly 3 hour hand sanitizer, which our moms really appreciated just in case!!

We had a great party hostess who we tipped well and also let the manager know - when we arrived we let her know our needs up front and she was very pleasant, prompt and enthusiastic!


THanks again to all who took the time to respond!

 

[zalansky]

Great to hear you had such a great time!