Daughters birthday party

Alye16

One of the best parties we did for our sons was superhero fancy dress at the local village hall with bouncy slide(we got a discount because the slide didn't get wet/dirty) The kids loved dressing up and we played lots of themed games. The music we used was all superhero theme music. Homemade food(made up in boxes) and birthday cake. Lots of juice as they get really thirsty. If anyone offers to help, take them up on their offer.
Have fun !

Janepig

Spendless wrote: »

I never did whole class parties and yes, mine didn't receive as many birthday invites back, though I agree either way they start tailing off around yr 3 to a select few friends.

Probably not going to be a popular view but if you do go down the shared party route, I'd do half of the class invites come from child A and half from child B. It was a personal bugbear of mine that the parents had halved the costs, my child got to go to one party but meanwhile I had to pay double on presents, and on one occasion treble when 3 did a shared party.

My take on that Spendless is that although you're going to a joint party between two or more kids (DD once had a party between 4 girls), and okay you have to take a card and present for each child, you'd be doing that if they had separate parties anyway. DS's best friend's birthday is in mid-October and there are five class birthdays in that same week. In the first year they were in school they all had separate parties and it was a nightmare having to fit them all in. So I see your point that your child is only having the enjoyment of going to one party, from a stressed out parent point of view I'm chuffed that I only have to fit one social event into all the other stuff me and my kids do!

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I was thinking solely of the cost. I didn't like kids' parties either, but I'm glad to say after the first one, my son asked if he could just go to the garden centre with three friends and have an ice cream.

He didn't care that he didn't get asked to loads of parties. He was like I was as a child and didn't like them much, I'm sure lots of children are the same.

That's a fair point about it being about cost, but for me, I like the saying "kids are like farts, you can only just about stand your own", so any amount of money is worth it not to have to entertain children at my home!! I know I probably should be ashamed of this attitude but I can't pretend otherwise!! :D

Jx

couponqueen123

Buzzybee90 wrote: »

Our village hall costs £30 all night. Can't say fairer than that.

our village hall costs £10 and you can bring own party food and dj most parents do this and the rich ones have a bouncy castle party and mega rich have swimming partys you could intivet the whole class to a disco easy and do party food and cup drink for £100 go farmfood homebargins poundshop

my dd just come back from a swimming party and it was 10.99 per head:eek: and 32 kids were invited and 29 turned up

my other daughter went a bouncy castle one yesterday and thats £190 for 1 hour up to 30 kids no food allowed and they provide jugs of squash

jemb

There are a lot on here saying when my kids were younger etc. I'm 29, and when I was a kid I had exactly what people are suggesting. Ie church hall, full class and a bit more from out of school activities, clown and pop and crisps. It's really not a case of things going up a scale as we all used to do the same in our school.

I agree with local hall, dj, magician, and then either pop and crisps or you can get little brown bags and do a little bag with a sandwich, crisps and a juice carton I so they all sit down for ten mins?

seven-day-weekend

Janepig wrote: »

My take on that Spendless is that although you're going to a joint party between two or more kids (DD once had a party between 4 girls), and okay you have to take a card and present for each child, you'd be doing that if they had separate parties anyway. DS's best friend's birthday is in mid-October and there are five class birthdays in that same week. In the first year they were in school they all had separate parties and it was a nightmare having to fit them all in. So I see your point that your child is only having the enjoyment of going to one party, from a stressed out parent point of view I'm chuffed that I only have to fit one social event into all the other stuff me and my kids do!



That's a fair point about it being about cost, but for me, I like the saying "kids are like farts, you can only just about stand your own", so any amount of money is worth it not to have to entertain children at my home!! I know I probably should be ashamed of this attitude but I can't pretend otherwise!! :D

Jx

:rotfl::rotfl:

I was the same - the only one we had was at my house but my friend did all the games etc. I just provided the venue and the food and kept out of the way

Spendless

Janepig wrote: »

My take on that Spendless is that although you're going to a joint party between two or more kids (DD once had a party between 4 girls), and okay you have to take a card and present for each child, you'd be doing that if they had separate parties anyway. DS's best friend's birthday is in mid-October and there are five class birthdays in that same week. In the first year they were in school they all had separate parties and it was a nightmare having to fit them all in. So I see your point that your child is only having the enjoyment of going to one party, from a stressed out parent point of view I'm chuffed that I only have to fit one social event into all the other stuff me and my kids do!

Jx

I've never had the experience of too many parties to fit in in one week, mine have had party invites randomly selected, so it may have been that with separate parties he'd have not been invited to the other ones. Still can't get away from the feeling that it costs me double, treble etc for one party experience. On the last time it happened when he was in yr 6 I asked him which child was in his class and who'd handed him the invite and bought for that child only.

bossymoo

DS will be 5 soon. We are having a shared party but not with a school mate. DS is in reception and there are 3 classes, 86 4-5 year olds:eek:

So we invited friends we see outside of school, then he chose 8 more that he plays with most, from the three classes (it's fairly open plan, so they all mix). Out of those 8 only half have replied so far. The party is next Saturday!

He and the other boy have several friends in common, and the other boy has invited another 12 I think.

I bet we only have 20 between us in the end. So £100 for each child. It's at a massive playgym with a "motorway" and lots of bikes and scooters. They do the food, party games, face painting, party bags and helium balloon for each child. We just have to bring the cake(s). We have exclusive use of the gym and they charge only for who attends, with a minimum of 15.

DS has only been invited to one party so far (apart from those we see outside of school) and I'm sure there must have been others. So I'm sure people won't mind if he doesn't invite all 86 (OMG can you imagine, I'm surprised more teachers aren't on Valium :rotfl:)

Oh, me and the other mum have told our "invitees" not to feel they ought to bring a gift, and definitely not for both boys. I haven't told school friends its a joint party.

ska_lover

I'd be considering not having a birthday party OP, rather a family day out. You could have a great day out for £100 - why you could even have a sun holiday for £9.50 and take the whole family away for a weekend

valk_scot

Best party we had was when DS turned 10. We pitched our two biggest tents in a distant corner of the local campsite and had a birthday sleepover for ten (him + 9 friends). DH and couple of other dads did the overnight part and the midnight walk with campfire on the beach and I ran the catering supplies....fish and chips pre-ordered from the local chippie, bacon and egg rolls in the morning. I don't remember how much it cost but it wasn't silly money. It was regarded as the best ever party of the year at school, apparently. You do have to have a cooperative campsite though, preferably with a quiet corner where you won't disturb the other campers. And the camping gear for that many people.

Janepig

Spendless wrote: »

I've never had the experience of too many parties to fit in in one week, mine have had party invites randomly selected, so it may have been that with separate parties he'd have not been invited to the other ones. Still can't get away from the feeling that it costs me double, treble etc for one party experience. On the last time it happened when he was in yr 6 I asked him which child was in his class and who'd handed him the invite and bought for that child only.

It's a fair point you raised and one I'd never even considered really. I guess it's a different experience if you've got one form per year where the birthdays are spread out over the whole year, but with my two you've got the birthdays of 30+ kids within the space of only afew months, plus they get party invites from kids at rugby, gym, etc... and also invites from the children in the other class occasionally. It does get a bit manic, so for instance in October last year when DD's best friend had a joint swimming party with two others I was just grateful to get it out of the way in one go, I'd never really thought of your point of the extra presents in return for one party. It's a good point, but I still prefer joint parties!!

Jx