Kids b-day parties....

mrsdwhite

Hi all,
I am looking at organising a birthday party for my little girl who will turn 4 in feb. I have found a place in our town which does princess parties for a set price of £165 for 12 children :eek: which compared to a soft play centre in the town is about £5 more per child and they don't provide snacks in the price!
How do I go about getting the price down? I was thinking about asking for a discount if I put a poster up in the pub I work in....not sure what else I could do.

Thanks in advance

smartiedriver_2

This is my honest opinion Mrsdwhite, and I hope it doesn't offend.

She will be 4. Only 4.

Have a tea party at your house. Make jelly and sandwiches. Play pass the parcel.

It will cost you a fraction of the price.

Tixy

That does seem very expensive. What do you get for the money?

Do you know other people who have used them and do you know if they have paid full price?

If you want to book with them I would simply ask them if the price is negotiable. A lot of people might consider cutting back on this type of expense so they might not be that busy, in which case they might be happy with a reduced price rather than possibly no sale.

But I do agree the above post, it does seem a lot for a kids party, especially 4year olds. Could you do a princess party much cheaper at home? buy tiaras or whatever for the kids from ebay or similar?

sweetilemon

Yeah, I agree smartiedriver, it is a lot of money to spend on a party for a 4 year old! As smartiedriver suggested why not have a party in your house, if nice weather the garden. Some glitter facepaint and tiaras and you could have your own princess party. Buy/make some plain cupcakes and let them decorate their own with pink icing. At 4 you dont need to spend money to let them enjoy themselves. If you are set on this place, I would call and explain you love the idea, its just a bit pricey, if they have no-one else booked you'll probably get something else off the price. Goodluck!

mrsdwhite

I agree that it is a bit of an expense for a 4 year old. Trouble is with me doing the party is that I live above a pub and I'm not too sure about a group of 4 year olds running around the flat making a lot of noise which will be heard in the pub below.
I could look into getting princessy bits and creating a princess party of my own, perhaps I could look at village halls.... I think I fell in love with the idea of the princess party TBH

netz_2

how about a church hall - they usually hire them out for about £30 for the afternoon. A friend of mine did a princess party for her 6 yr old, she ordered a happy meal for each child from Maccy D's (£2 each) and got her oh to collect them mid party. Had lots of party ring bicuits on tables she'd covered with a pink sheet. She bought some pink glittery nail varnish from grahams (99p a bottle) and each girl had their finger nails painted. Lots of music and old fashioned games - party sorted. Think the whole party came it at less than £50 and after running round like mad for a couple of hours the kids came home shattered. Sounds good to me. Good luck x

cord123

Hey I did a princess party for my step daughter - got all the kids to dress up then we did pin the tiara on the princess (ordered online!) decorating crown cookies (that i made the night before) and did a princess pass the parcel... little sweets and each layer having a bracelet, necklace etc... look in wilkinson, they have 'pinata' packs for about £3 with 8 of each necklaces, brush, bracelet, wand etc... think there are 6 differnt things the girls loved them!

Personally I am finding that now they are older they want bigger parties so do the cheap parties while you still can!!!

apesxx

For my DD's 3 birthday i hired out the space centre at our local sure start. it is a sensory room with lots of light tubes and then has a soft play area. it was £15 for an hour and then i took some sandwiches, crisps and drinks and they had a little lunch in the cafe area outside and sent them on their way with a party bag. Was a fab day and cost less than £50. maybe see if you have anything like that in your area.

DD is having her birthday party in a few weeks at soft play, that is £112 for 15 children and she is only having that there as her nana has given me £50 towards it as i cant afford the full thing. last year i just took her and 2 friends to a soft play centre and then mc d's afterwards and took a cake with us and sang to dd and she loved that just as much as a party.

sweetilemon

If you love the princess idea but not bothered about where it is I'm sure you could find somewhere less costly to hire! I take it the pub you work in doesn't have a family area you could hire? Its hard to suggest venues when I don't know your area but if your thinking 12 people then you could think about a smaller room so maybe council run play places, hotels or sport centres.

Mimi09

If you google 'cardboard palace', you can buy a huge princess palace that the girls can climb in. The idea is to paint / felt tip/glitter/ stickers etc it. You're daughter would have a lovely keepsake with all her friends artwork that she can play in. I think they cost £40ish

mrsdwhite

Thanks everyone, some really helpful suggestions there. I've not organised a b-day party before so had no idea what they should cost. I will look into the local village hall and probably do my own princess/pirate theme. I'd probably feel more of a sense of acheivement doing it myself anyway.