HELP/ADVISE PLEASE:5th birthday b4 christmas in northamptonshire

onredbull

Hiya:hello:,

I'm looking for some help and advise on what to do for my son's 5th :bdaycake:birthday which is a few days before :xmastree:christmas.

There are a few important points to outline/explain which I have listed at the end which may need to be took into consideration, but I would love to here from any1 else that has experianced similar or ideas/suggestions and comments that they could share please. I would love to know what other people think regarding situation.
I would like to send my Thanks :T to you all in advance aswell as Thanking you after:T .

STOP !:eek:
Before you move onto the next post as you may be thinking
"Its too early"
I was thinking of doing something in November.

The reasons for this is:-
1st & 2nd Birthday: Organised small party tea for friends (family live along way from me - in different parts of UK) and only 2-3 friends and babys turned up as too close to christmas/no money/christmas work & other partys ect so I was very dis-appointed, although ds didnt know any different.

3rd Birthday: I invited a few friends to a soft play centre where it cost approx £8-9 per child for 1.5 hrs of play and buffet food which was at the end of November. Nearly every1 i invited did turn up.

4th Birthday: After trying to arrange and re-arrange which week-end/date best suited a few of my close friends, so I could arrange something that would suit all and trying too hard to please every1 else, It was eventually too late and did not manage to do anything for my ds. Myself and ds had small b.day tea at flat together.

:bdaycake:
:bdaycake:PLEASE NOTE:bdaycake:
I live in a first floor flat and No garden/outside area for children to play or hire anything.
The weather in November/December will probably be v.cold so I will need an indoor venue.
My ds was so dis-appointed :(last year and it broke my heartand even now, when we go to a b.day party he asks when his birthday party will be and why he doesnt have partys.:(
Some of my friends are on low income and are v.skint around xmas.
There is only myself and ds in our family.
My parents live away east and we will go there at xmas and my sibling lives west and we will see her next year. We live in Northamptonshire.

:bdaycake:
I was thinking of hiring 1 of those party buses or fire engine or something similar but cant find any local to northampton.
I really would like to make it special for ds. He is at the age where he knows about birthdays now.
:bdaycake:
I have been saving up all year and will have approx £100.00-150.00 but that is maximum.
I DONT WANNA SPEND ALL THAT UNLESS I HAVE TO.
As I would like to use some towards present.

Hope you can help and soz for so long.

sweetpeas_2

hi redbull, what about something at ur house again? you can do a buffet type tea for 10-15 people for about £50 easily and then all you need is £10 for party bags with few balloons/toys in, £10 for decorations-balloons, banners and £5-£6 for a cake. you just need a cheap cd with some party songs on then-which i have seen some of in woolies for £3 and £4 last week.
so bet you could do the whole lot for about £80, then £50 for gifts, which is plenty aswell.

hope this is some help xxx

Gettin_me_own_back

What about the steam train place, cant remember what its called but its in S. Northamptonshire. Have been with boys many years ago, all staffed by volunteers who might be able to help lay on a special treat.

hardpressed

Gettin_me_own_back wrote: »

What about the steam train place, cant remember what its called but its in S. Northamptonshire. Have been with boys many years ago, all staffed by volunteers who might be able to help lay on a special treat.

Were you thinking of the Nene Valley Railway?

laurawaite

is there a church hall/cricket club hall/conservative club hall or anything like that near you that you could hire out? they are normally pretty cheap. then you could hire a clown/magician/entertainer/disco/bouncy castle or whatever you think he would enjoy. then you would just need money for a few balloons/banners, a small buffet and some party bags. not sure exactly how much that would cost but i would say less than £100 if you shop around.
or my local swimming pool has a function room that they hire out and they have people that dress up as rory the tiger and play games etc - do you have anything like that near you? again not sure of costs but the only other indoor thing i could think of would be a soft play type place but they tend to be expensive.
or you could have it in your flat again which obviously cuts down on venue hire cost, you could still hire some kind of entertainer if you wanted to. although the downside i have found of having parties at home is getting everyone to leave at the specified finishing time!!

full-time-mum

Hi,
There is definitely a red fire engine in the area - I think it was advertised locally. Try Primary Times.

My children are girls but we've hired Redwell Leisure Centre in wellingborough in the past. Its around £40-£50 and you get 45 mins in the hall and can choose a bouncy castle or football party and 45 mins in another room for eating. You have to provide your food yourself and don't have much time to set that up but it does work. Try other council run centres to see if they offer similar. I go to 99p shop for party bags and choose one of the activity paper type things and wrap up like a parcel and hand out with a piece of cake. I'm sure there would be something suitable for boys there too.

Angelraesunshine

most Leisure Centres have the facility to hire the hall with bouncy castle etc like the post above for the £50 i know the one near me does too. food you could do cheaply yourself. Party bags now i pick up all my stuff by looking everytime i go shopping for what on sale reduced you still have time to do this, i do tesco, asda and the pound shops are good i also use ebay. i mainly do parties from home but this year i will have to do parties in dec and jan at halls or the leisure center as we have building work going on and is not safe for all the other kids. but my party bags are almost ready for both and i have only spent a few pounds really.

Your son if 5 should have school friends and the leisure center might be the best way to go if you can find one close by as lots of kids can go and you will have help. so it should be more than memorable.

full-time-mum

Coincidently, DD has just been invited to a go-kart party. Don't know if it is of any interest to you but look here.
I think you would have to pay more to hire a room for food afterwards but there is nothing to say you have to provide food (so long as you make it clear on the invite that there won't be any.)

Other place DD has been to is Kids Kingdom at KLV in kettering. You can hire the play area for exclusive use. Party we went to just provided juice, bag of crisps and birthday cake.

Smashing_Blouse

How about bowling. Did this for my daughter last year, she is 11, but she was the oldest group as the others were all little ones. She loved it. Food 2 games, shoe hire, party games and a camera.

There is one at sixfields and if you collect Tesco vouchers you can use the as money towards the cost.

http://www.tenpin.co.uk/home/party_packages/kids_parties.stml

onredbull

A BIG :T "THANK YOU":T TO YOU ALL
FOR YOUR QUICK RESPONSES AND FANTASTIC SUGGESTIONS.
I WILL LOOK INTO THEM IN MORE DETAIL (cost/facilities ect) LATER THIS WEEK.

noggin wrote: »

hi redbull, what about something at ur house again? you can do a buffet type tea for 10-15 people. hope this is some help xxx

Hiya noggin, Thanks for your idea.
RE: My flat is V.Small, and I still have loads of Clutter, :shhh: (used to read tips and chat on 'Old Style' forum - but over summer hols, I seem to have lost my motivation, and have been buying things i dont need on impulse. (:rolleyes: Also I didnt have time/got distracted/had to keep kids entertained, every excuse going :rolleyes: ) I need to get myself back on track with my de-cluttering, sorting and throwning out !!!


Also a big Thanks to laurawaite, Angelraesunshine, full-time-mum and others for ideas of hiring somewhere and something/some1. I will look into places of hire, I know Lings Forum is the closest and do partys but they have a minimum age, as I've enquired last yr or yr before. I thought Minimum Age was 6 or 8 but I will check.

If any1 on here know of any pretty cheap entertainers/entertainment or know of any discounts that could be used to hire a clown, magician, entertainer, disco, bouncy castle ect.

Im very interested in looking into "red fire engine" in the area from full-time-mum.:A
"Try Primary Times." Is this sold at newsagents ?

Also Thanks 4 advise & links for "Go Karts" and "Bowling." My ds is always asking to go bowling. Does any1 know which 1 is better/cheaper out of the 1 at sixfields and the 1 at wellingborough(by tesco)?

:bdaycake:

jamtart6

can you hire a hall cheap and do something like a spy themed/harry potter themed/cowboy themed party (google all of them for lots of ideas of how to put parties together yourself for very little £££) poor poor DS! i have friends with bdays at xmas and they always get overlooked! I'd def do it in November!!!