Childrens Birthday Party - questions & ideas (merged)

Glad

the sports hall at our local sports centre can be hired for an hour for £15.

Son would invite all of his class and divide into 2 teams with dad as referee and play footy and penalty kicks. Hubby would take them through warm-up etc pressups and other exercises and they loved it. I provided tip top drinks for half-time which are £2 for 24 at aldi/lidl,

the centre also provided a small room for 30 mins after for them to eat in, all food was homemade, plates of sausages, crisps and biscuits and then home.

It would be worth ringing local sports centres to ask if they do this, lots of places are cashing in on the birthday parties now, some may have small cafes where they could eat a childrens meal afterwards,
another option for the food would be to take them all to McDonalds after and all have a happy meal £2 per head, but you would need people to help you transport the there.

jellyhead

we did the laserquest thing for spud's 8th but it's closed down now. it was £9 per head for the full birthday package though, i couldn't invite everyone. for his 7th we hired the roller skating room at the leisure centre, they have disco lights and music (cassette only, we made our own). skate hire was included and a member of staff put them on. it was around £45 for the room for an hour. i brought bottles of drinks for the cloakroom then handed out party bags. we could incite around 30-40 kids so that was fun

eml_3

Thanks for all the ideas. I have been busy making bookmarks for the party bags and planning some games. I can't believe how much some of my friends have spent on children's parties - one paid around £70 for tableware and party bags! I got some plates and cups (reduced) in Big W but may well go for boxes next time.

I refuse to spend a fortune on plastic tat to put in party bags when I know that most parents will be binning it before long. I think the idea of personalising something to put in the bags is so much nicer - thanks!

Most of the parties that my daughter has been to have been either in soft play centres which charge at least £5.00 per head (with a minimum number) or have been run by children's entertainers, who charge a fortune. Old-fashioned parties where you play games seem to be few and far between so I hope they enjoy it!

minap

Where is the cheapest place to find childrens partyware eg party bags, gifts to put inside them, etc...

jellyhead

my nephew recently went to a party where the mum had made her own party bags. whenever i've looked at bags the cheapest has been 89p for a pack of 8 from wilkinsons. they do pretty cheap gifts though, little plastic soldiers with parachutes are always fun for the boys. i would also buy cheap notepads and pencils or gel pens, just a 9p notepad from asda and a pen or pencil from a pack is always appreciated.

i went to one recently where the mum had not only bought proper bags but she'd also bought thankyou cards to put in them saying thank you for coming to my party. the handmade bags at my nephews friends party were just paper printed on the computer, folded over and stapled to close the bag (just a cheap small freezer bag), it thanked children for coming and had his name on etc.

how old are the children and how many are you expecting? one year my sister went to the works and bought a load of books at 99p each or less, she wrapped them in cheap paper from rolls at tesco and gave children a book instead of a party bag.

i print my own invites using a template in publisher. i only had a black and white printer so i bought bright coloured paper, it cost more than white but there were enough to do invites for several years. having your own invites is good if you need to write extra information such as whether parents are expected to stay, if own roller skates are needed etc. or if you want space to give a few options for RSVP-ing such as tel, mobile and email.

jstallan

My wife just walked into McDonalds and asked for 20 of their Happy Meal boxes (just the boxes and not the food)... They handed over the boxes for free...

Poppy9

In Wales - Hyper Value

Else Wilkinsons, Poundshop, cheap card shop.

You could use plain brown paper bags and make potato prints on each one and write the childs name.

jellyhead

jstallan wrote:

My wife just walked into McDonalds and asked for 20 of their Happy Meal boxes (just the boxes and not the food)... They handed over the boxes for free...

with or without the toys?

aeuerby

I'm making my own bags up this year. My daughter is 8 so I have decided to buy cheap nail varnish, bath stuff, moisturisers etc to put in the bags - not too sure what to put in the boy's bags yet!.

I'm a bit fed up of seeing these bags with pads and pens/pencils. We have enough of those now to open our own shop!!!!

I would be quite happy if my daughter came home from a party with just a piece of cake and had a good time instead of a bag full of tat!!

jellyhead

lol! children are happy if a bag just contains sweets.