Birthday parties-how much?

[Amy]

How much do you spend on average for your child's birthday party? I remember spending $150 for dd's 4th b-day and 17 kids came to her party. :tearhair: I have been real bad with ds and haven't really thrown him a huge party before mostly because he could care less until this year. So far I have spent $60 at the oriental trading company for some basic stuff like pinata, pirate hats, pinata stuffers and tattoos and etc. I spent all morning on Saturday creating his invitations on parchment and burnt the edges and then mailed them in bottles. This is going to turn out to be the price of a mini wedding before I am done. LOL The good news is that there will only be one party and it includes the family. Get this.....My MIL is showing up and so is my parents and sister. My sister and Mil were really good friends before dh and I got together, but for the last 12 years there has been bad blood between us all and now this will be the first time everyone has been in the same room in 13 years! I have a feeling I will need a good buzz going before the party because it will be awkward!

[BevJ]

Sounds like it's going to be a fun party...all the way around, lol.

[Melody]

For us it varies from party to party. Depends on if it's at home or not, if we have someone coming (only did that once and that was this year with the reptiles) and what the theme is. You can get some cheap,neat stuff at dollar stores. My problem is I think, Wow! this is all so cheap, may as well buy this and that too! And then it gets pricey. lol
If I was anywhere near you, I would bring a blender full just for you ;)

[angie r]

I go all out for parties. I love birthday's! I think it's great you only get to do one! We usually have 4, friends, my mom, Brich's parents, my dad (only not anymore.)

Ds always has a giant sleepover which makes it less expensive, last year they went rock climbing at an indoor place, grab bags, food for 15 - 20 kids.

Dd last year only had 4 friends over and we went to an indoor water park, crafts, grab bags (I got them all beach towels), food.

Dd#2 I am going to take her and one, maybe two friends to build a bear.

The only parties I pay for are the ones for their friends, the grandparent parties are put on by the grandparents.

[Mickey]

Hmmm...never calculated the cost, but the rock climbing party last year was about $150 for the climbing, plus the cake, drinks, snacks, cups, plates, etc. But talk about easy--two hours, climb, sing, eat cake, climb some more, clear the table in the party room and home to a clean house!

I had a "What the hell was I thinking?" party, too, Amy! LOL! Two years ago I had a bounce house, water balloons and 16 cub scouts here for SIX HOURS! And they were not supposed to be dropped off (it was supposed to be a FAMILY barbecue), but most of them were! I got a wave of panic when I realized that I had no way to get in touch with some of the parents if someone got hurt. Never again! The up side was that it fell on my actual birthday and I got rid of everyone when I announced that I was breaking out the margaritas (most of them were religious non-drinkers! LOL!). So I don't blame you for wanting to get a buzz for your ds' upcoming party! ;) Sounds like it might be a bit stressful. Hope they all get along and behave themselves!

We're having 5 friends for a backyard camping party this year (in two weeks--not over night, just 6-10 p.m. Going to have a fire pit and roast hot dogs, marshmallows and have s'mores, watermelon, corn on the cob and drinks. Going to star gaze, look through the telescope, run around with glow in the dark necklaces and flashlights. Everyone's coming in pajamas and bringing a sleeping bag to tell ghost stories in the tent. Really hoping not to spend too much. Thinking about toy canteens, mini flashlights, glow-in-the-dark necklaces in the loot bags.

[Amy]

I had a "What the hell was I thinking?" party, too, Amy! LOL! Two years ago I had a bounce house, water balloons and 16 cub scouts here for SIX HOURS! And they were not supposed to be dropped off (it was supposed to be a FAMILY barbecue), but most of them were! I got a wave of panic when I realized that I had no way to get in touch with some of the parents if someone got hurt. Never again! The up side was that it fell on my actual birthday and I got rid of everyone when I announced that I was breaking out the margaritas (most of them were religious non-drinkers! LOL!). So I don't blame you for wanting to get a buzz for your ds' upcoming party! ;) Sounds like it might be a bit stressful. Hope they all get along and behave themselves!
.

Okay...your party out weighs any of my ****amainie grand ideas! 6 hours???? ROFL!!

I don't know if its the money I am sqwaucking about or the amount of mental effort to pull it off. LOL I found a cool site that gives tons of ideas and pictures of themed cake and my sister saw one that she said we HAD to make. It was a 3-D treasure chest. One more grand idea. LOL :rolleyes:

I am banking on this party being outside. I am so screwed if all these kids and odd mix of adults are going to be inside if it is raining! :nervous:

[Melody]

I had that problem with rain on ds3's first b-day. I planned on everyone being in the backyard and socializing while dh bbq'd. It poured and they all kept looking at me on what to do next or be entertained while dh bbq'd under the umbrella. I wanted to trade him places so bad. lol This year, I will have a back-up plan in case it's supposed to rain.

Mickey, I love your camp party ideas. I will have to keep that in mind for ds3 when he gets older. And I guess for the older boys too because they could do that for an end of school year party if they want instead of 20 kids running through the yard. ;)

[Ryleigh S.]

We have done the big birthday thing and find they got way too expensive for the couple of hours they last. Lately we've just done the couple friends over, pizza, videos, or take them out somewhere with one or two friends. We always have a family party too, but that is more just a get together nothing formal.
the wee ones were just at a party last week at a indoor playland that provides cake, hotdogs or pizza, grab bags and two hours of play time. They had a blast, but at $13.95 + tax per child it could get costly. (Especially since the child who had the birthday must have had about 20 children there).

What happened to the good old days of cake, ice cream and pin the tail on the donkey???

[Melody]

What happened to the good old days of cake, ice cream and pin the tail on the donkey???

No kidding!! Even the balloons have to match the theme now, when we were kids we had to blow them up ourselves and rub them in our hair to make them stick to the walls. That's the only decoration we ever had. lol
I tried to do a party with games and the kids did not want part of that at all. They had to be entertained the new way I guess. :rolleyes: