Childrens Birthday Party - questions & ideas (merged)

Mado

PS Bad Mum

Do you sleep sometimes?
I wish I could manage to stay up and surf at night and run a house with 4 kids.....

Edinburghlass_2

Mado, as she is 8 now how about Harry Potter with the new book coming out there should be plenty of themed stuff again?

Have a look in the Scotland Board about the launch in July, they are theming up part of Edinburgh Castle for a reading by JK.

I/we loved the sherbety type sweets they brought out with Harry Potter logo, hopefully they will bring them out again

frizz_head

Edinburghlass wrote:

Mado, as she is 8 now how about Harry Potter with the new book coming out there should be plenty of themed stuff again?

Have a look in the Scotland Board about the launch in July, they are theming up part of Edinburgh Castle for a reading by JK.

I/we loved the sherbety type sweets they brought out with Harry Potter logo, hopefully they will bring them out again

If you do decide to do a Harry Potter party, pm me, as I did one last year, and have loads of recipe ideas for 'potions' and 'magic spells', as well as a template for Hogwarts Acceptance letters which we used as Invitations.

bad_mum

Mado wrote:

PS Bad Mum

Do you sleep sometimes?
I wish I could manage to stay up and surf at night and run a house with 4 kids.....

Yes I sleep sometimes, but have only just discovered this site and it's addictive! Besides that, it's half term!! :j

On the party theme My freind had a brilliant one which was in her garden and was organised round the idea of a villiage fete, with a coconut shy, egg & spoon race, splat the rat and a marbles into a flower pot game (using wooden spoons to pick up the marbles) You need a few freinds to help you run the 'stalls', but otherwise it is a cheaper alternative and one with a theme where all the children are occupied with some activity or other the whole time. Small prizes were given at the end of the party for the winners of each stall game. Hope this is helpful.

bad_mum

How about clay pigeon shooting?
not sure if there's anything like that up with you, but had a friend take her son and 4 friends and they had a great time!- not sure if its age dependat, although I suppose the same sort of age limit would be on paint-ball.

andyrew_2

We ended up taking him and 6 friends to LaserQuest in Edinburgh. They had 2 games and we provided some snacks and drink and hired the room for an hour. Without the cost of food and drink, it came to £72.00 but they had a fantastic time with some of the boys saying it was the best party they had been to. But considering they had to be taken back to Dunfermline they would say that wouldn't they.

Well we have now told him that was his last party but who knows what will happen next year!!

Thanks to everyone for there suggestions.

bad_mum

Edinburghlass wrote:

Bad Mum, I really think you would be better starting a thread in the Discussion Forum regarding your views on birthday parties as the posters here and on other threads are asking for suggestions for upcoming birthdays and don't really need to be told whether they should have a party or not or the venue.

Yes this site is about money saving but as Martin always says it is also about making the most of the money you have.

This is a suggestion,
it's saying to have a birthday tea - a party at home (small party that is) to save all the panic of finding something outside the home, as bindiboo asked for help with this, as dates were becoming harder to get booked up etc.

And yes the question was about a venue. I never said that they should not have a celebration, just one on a smaller scale may be helpful. (I always view a party as something with about 15 or so children, organised catering and bought entertainment)

Pink-winged - isn't your idea of a home party the same as my birthday tea, just a different name? :think:
Also you said making memories is well worth doing if you can, well what about when you can't? I find it increasingly hard, but do try to give my children a small party/tea every year, they do look forward to it. I can't afford a big do each time, but to be fair to my children, give them a 'real' party every so many years (that way I know I can cover the cost.)
My boys are 4 yrs, 6 yrs, 8 yrs and 11 yrs.
I thought I was being helpful in suggesting something that is easy to organise, and still a lot of fun.

Edinburghlass - this is making the most of the money I have.

I didn't mean to cause offence or confusion, I will word my replies more clearly in future. :doh:

Pink.

bad_mum wrote:

Pink-winged - isn't your idea of a home party the same as my birthday tea, just a different name? :think:

I didn't mean to cause offence or confusion, I will word my replies more clearly in future. :doh:

You didn't cause me any offence or confusion bad mum

At the time I posted I was reading your first post on this thread in conjunction with another post of yours here. I see that has now been substantially edited.

As Edinburghlass has said, perhaps this is one for the discussion board or pm.

Pink

Edited to say: I see that you have now edited the post that I have quoted from. Just for the record I am not mis-quoting you.

bad_mum

Pink-winged - I was reading my reply, then it seemed to make more sense if I explained more fully, yes I know you're not mis-quoting. And yes I discovered other boards to put views on.(hopefully the right ones) I realised I need not be so abrupt!

But I still think a home party/tea is a good idea!

bad_mum

:doh: Now I've also discovered the quick reply so I don't need to go back in to do editing !