Birthday Party

jockettuk

whos idea was it to start the party bag thing. when i was younger you went to partys and ate food had fun and went home with a piece of birthday cake and you was happy..

My friend has never had party bags as she plays party games and says that she would rather buy her daughter another present than spend money on party bags that the kids will probably not like or be bothered with once they get home.

Debt_Free_Chick

My friend has never had party bags

There was an article in yesterday's Telegraph about how competitive these have become - basically, they've turned into a p!$$ing contest! I think some people use them as yet another excuse to show off and show how much money they can spend (bet a lot of it's debt!).

I'm with everyone who says "Don't do it". Personally, I loved Poppy's suggestion of a balloon with a small (and I mean SMALL) bag of sweets attached.

Curry_Queen

I am also against the idea of supplying all guests with party bags to take home, having done this once and the expense it added to the cost of the party ... on top of a birthday gift too ... is just ridiculous.

I agree with Debt_Free_Chick in that it's become far too competitve between parents these days, and probably stems from the American culture, just like trick or treat etc (which we also never did when I was a child) :rolleyes:

The last party I arranged for my youngest was one of the best he's ever had and didn't cost a great deal to organise either, and was also the least stressful I've ever done considering I was catering for 12 boisterous 11 year olds! :eek:

I hired the indoor 5-a-side hall at the local sports centre which cost me £15 for 2 hours and also gave me use of a small canteen type room where they could eat simple buffet/party type food prepared by myself and a friend, which probably cost another £10 including the cost of a home-made birthday cake.

Result: 12 happy boys free to do what they most enjoy ... running around with a football ... and expend their energy without wrecking my home. The boys are all members of a local footie team and their manager kindly volunteered to supervise and referee etc (excellent free training opportunity!) but this is an area where dad's could get involved! ... and all I had to do was serve up the food and clear up the mess afterwards!

Total cost was £25 compared to the £75 it cost me a couple of years prior to that, which involved having the party at home, hiring a bouncy castle, doing party bags etc ... as well as the stress of having a houseful of rowdy kids running about and stressing out the pets too!

I know costs may vary around the country for hiring facilities such as this but there are plenty of alternatives which can usually be found quite cheap if you ask about ... e.g. local community centres, scouts/guides huts, or basically anywhere that has a decent sized hall. It's certainly worth asking!

jockettuk

elven princess you have private mail.. please reply before tomorrow as im going to the place i have mentioned

jockettuk

elven princess.. been to the place today so just need details. reply to the pm ive sent to your reply .. thanks

KK

I hate bloody party bags - full of crap and sweets full of e numbers which I have to wrestle off my daughter before she scoffs them all! I've never done them. Last year I did a sticker book each to take home which cost 50p each from Wilkinson, my sister in law works for a TV company and gave me small teddies, frisbees and giant lollies which I gave out as prizes for games and ensured each child got one (I was lucky there as they didn't cost anything). I have done helium balloons weighed down with net bags (cheap netting from a fabric shop in jolly colours) full of sweets which were popular. I have also done balloons weighed down with one of those Pez sweets dispensers and packets of sweets which were good too. I have always done my own party food and done mini sausages, cucumber and carrots and baby tomatoes, home made biscuits which I iced myself and fairy cakes which I also made myself.

Last year I made my daughter's cake which was flower shaped (I borrowed the tin) and covered in shapes cut out from fondant icing (coloured myself - Asda smart price fondant icing is fine) - in my case flowers and hearts decorated with silver balls (it did look lovely IMO). In fact if you can colour your own fondant icing and have miniature cookie or playdoh cutters you can make great looking biscuits and cakes very cheaply.

There is nothing wrong with plain paper cups and plates, rather than themed ones. You could always decorate them yourself and write the child's name on the cups and plates in magic marker (silver and gold ones even better if you have them handy).

Kids party's are unnecessarily commercial now and if you go back to basics I don't think you can go wrong. I would definitely look for a 2nd hand bike for your daughter rather than a new one.

If you do balloons you could write the child's name on each balloon too - they seem to like that, although maybe at 7 they are a little old for that. What about pretty little gauze or netting handbags which you could make from netting or similar fabric, fill with sweets and tie up with pretty ribbon for them to hang on their wrists. Stickers or hair bobbles are good for little girls too. You could buy those bumper rolls of stickers and cut them up so each child gets a few from each roll.

I love the idea of home made pizzas. You could do the same with biscuits - get some plain biscuits and provide some brightly coloured water icing in different shades and some sweets and cake decorations to put on top - and bingo - they are occupied for a while and have provided some of their tea. Might be a bit messy though!

A treasure hunt is good fun - but a nature one, where you get them to look for say a red leaf, a white pebble, a small flower etc - make sure they are available in the vicinity (e.g. your local park) and the treasure can be gold wrapped toffees or chocolate money for the prize.

Have fun and keep it simple and you should be able to do it very cheaply.

Austin_Allegro

If your daughter really has her heart set on a bike, why not say this is her birthday and christmas present combined? My parents did this to me a couple of times when I wanted a 'big' (ie expensive) present. But I'm pretty sure you could get a cheap second hand bike for around £10 or less - try the local paper. If it's a bit tatty, you can always repaint it in her favourite colour if you can stretch to £3 quid or so for a tin of enamel paint.

Re parties. I always had traditional 'games' parties at home that my dad organised, and they always seemed to be popular. Children like anything to do with running around and spazzing out to cheesie music etc so musical bumps etc is always popular. Add to that loads of cheapo junk food and you're laughing! I'm pretty sure flashy birthday parties are done to impress other parents, not children.

Imagination is the best toy for a child - recently the kids at my local drama group (about 6-8 years old) got hold of some props and were playing with them for hours - all it was was a butterfly net and a shuttlec0ck, and they played 'giant's badminton'. You couldn't make this stuff up!

Poppy9

Sold my daughters old bike for £37. I advertised it for £35 as I expected people to knock me down. 1 phone call and 1 visit and they gave us £37 because it was immaculate We had given it a wash with car shampoo and it looked all shiny and new. We only paid £55 for the bike new 3 years before

reen_3

this is slightly off topic, but my husband and i faced a party favour dilema at our wedding. we are hardly traditional when it comes to these things, but still, we wanted each guest to have something to take home with them that would remind them of the wedding. we found these neat plumbing fittings at a diy shop. i can't really describe them, except to say that they were just the right side to hold a tea-light. for about £1 a piece, we had really great, industrial candle holders that were really 'us'. i wrapped each one in some tulle and tied them with a ribbon. all the guests were really impressed. 3 years later, people are still talking about them. so much better than those candly-covered almonds, or whatever else other people give out.

culpepper

When mine were smaller, they used to have 2 friends to tea on their birthday. We'd buy small prizes and they played games and won the prizes. They had home made cake and sandwiches and a pudding.
The kids enjoyed it and there were not so many kids that things became unmanageable.
My son went to a friends party at mcdonalds once. His parents sat in state and accepted his presents for him I think they were the sort of parents who didnt really DO parties.
When I was young we always went to parties that were a birthday tea and games. I went home with a present of a set of 'Jacks' one year, it was a bit embarrassing going home with a present on someone elses birthday.