Does anyone have the "old fashioned" birthday party at home anymore??? It seems everyone opts for Chuck E. Cheese or some big bounce thing place. DD got invited to a party at an amusement park type thing. She said she didn't see the birthday girl until it was time for cake and gifts I thought the idea was to celebrate "with" the honoree.

Just seems to me like everyone is trying to out do each other.

We have the at-home in the pool type party, where everyone stays together and celebrates WITH the birthday girl.

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I used to do the pool at home thing, and then trying to get the landscaping/grass perfect (we have a huge yard, it never is), the prep work, the expense, it just gets to be too much.
What I do like is having a pizza party at the local pizzeria for ext family, and on BD or weekend nearby, I let the birthday boy choose two friends and we go to the movies and to the chinese buffet. Works out cheaper and less stressful for me

We still do the home birthday parties! We usually do a craft, a scavenger hunt, pizza and cake. I've allowed each kid to have one party at a pool or roller rink. But they like the home parties.

We recently went to a backyard birthday party where the dad sat on a stump and played kid songs on his guitar. The kids loved it and sang along - it was probably the most memorable kids' birthday party I've been to in years! Everyone was complimenting them. It was so simple and fun!

This was the first year we did a birthday party out of the house (kids are 7 and 10). It was just getting to be too stressful to get the house ready in time and then keep the kids entertained at the party for 2 hours without wrecking the house. We did a bowling party, which wasn't too expensive - the price was about the same as a home party. And by the way, I used to say that I would never have an outside party. I have to say, this was the easiest I've ever done, and the kids had a blast! I may never go back to home parties.

My older 2 got theirs at home (slumber parties), but the youngest got hers at Michaels. Frankly, the only reason (here in VA) to have it home imo is a slumber party, lol. Otherwise, it's just as expensive. $200 (!!!) for a jumping balloon. Crazy. In El Paso we paid $80 or so for the balloon and tables and chairs.

One of the best things about having it else where is that there aren't people running all over your house, you don't have to clean up afterward, and best of all - when it's over, they leave and so do you!

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We had DD's party last year at home, the first one in a long time. It was November, we did a pool party, I just had to watch the weather to make sure it was going to be at least in the 50's and sunny, we heated the pool and the kids had a blast (winter swimming is a novelty for most kids!), we also cooked hot dogs on the grill and some chips and I made cupcakes and we had drinks. The party cost me less than $20 and was the easiest for me. We didn't have to pick up cake somwhere, drag everything to the bowling alley or skating rink ( the last parties we did) which is 25 miles away. Plus I saved myself 50 miles roundtrip in gas, plus the 15 kids that showed up, all their parents saved 50 miles roundtrip in gas. So it was quite successful. This year DD wants a slumber party, but I think if the weathers nice, I would encourage the pool party again, as it's over in 2 hours instead of overnight, LOL. I think people are getting back to the house parties for whatever reason, gas prices, the economy, etc. ALL the parties DD has been to this whole year have been house parties, slumber party where they made their own individual pizzas and decorated their own small cakes and watched movies, to slumber party and ordering pizza, to an afternoon party where they decorated their own "birthday cookies" and played guitar hero to a campout which was probably the most fun for all of them. A friend lives out in the country and they had a campout in their pasture , cooked hotdogs, played outdoor games and told scary stories. People are becoming more inventive with their at home parties and the kids are loving it.

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That's odd & RUDE in my opinion..When my DD was a teenager she went to a Birthday party at a Water park.The parents paid for the tickets, drinks and lunch..Cake & gifts were done at their house.The kids had a blast & they hung out together at the park .

DD went to another Party where it was a " Girls Day Out Theme Party " .. 3 close friends---The Birthday Girl was turning 13.....The Parents paid to have all the Girl's Make-up ,Hair & Nails done. Then it was off to Olive Garden for Dinner, Cake & Gifts were done at home, They also took the girls to the Movies & had a sleep over ..The next morning they took them Jet Skiing on the Bay.. A lot of simple things all bunched into one made it a truely rememberable day.

Honestly I think kids expect way too much from their parents & thats where all the Fancy Parties are coming from. We did the common Bowling & Chuck E. Cheese Parties when my kids were little. I never tried to break the bank when it came to their party. They had nice birthday parties & my money splurge was done on my child's gift.

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We've never done a bowling or skating party. Also proud to say my children have never had the desire to set foot in Chuck E Cheese. DD has had a pool party 3 or 4 times. Last year DD had 4 friends to a pizza buffet then to the movies and then home for cake and gifts. This year DD had 8 friends to the movies then we grilled burgers at home with cake and gifts. DS's bday is in July and just impossible to gather enough friends to have a party. We give him a gift and $50-75 since we're not out the money for a party.

About 5 years ago I gave my kids the option of a birthday party or $150, guess what? I haven't had to do a party in 5 years and my kids love having the money. Infact my youngest plans at least 6 months ahead of time what he is going to buy with his money. I hate doing parties, even at Chuckey Hell as I call it. We always do something on the day, or go out to their favorite restaurant, but no parties anymore. When my oldest turned 5 however we did a huge party at home with a space theme. We rented a moon bounce and had it all weekend so we really used it alot. I also made a "bubble room" in black with glow in the dark stars etc, the kids and their friends still talk about it 10 years later, so that was a great memory.

I refuse Chuck E Cheese and my kids know it. We used to do at home parties when they were small and had a handful of friends but now that they are in school, we can't handle home parties. Our back yard is not fenced in and there is no way I would be able to wrangle 9 year old boys to stay in our yard and not invade the next door neighbors trampoline (or have the neighbor kids at our party...which they would not be invited too). If we had a fence, we could maybe do it. We tried one year but it rained and had to move it inside....stressful and chaos...not fun.

We did my 7 year old DD's party a few weeks ago at Nick N Willy's pizza. They got a tour, saw how to make pizza, learned how to throw a pizza and got to top their own pizza to eat. They enjoyed it. I'm probably going to have DS invite one friend to stay the night. We don't have a good house for slumber parties...too much they can break or ruin until our basement is finished (ie: we win powerball). Most kids (in my experience) do not respect my stuff or our house enough to have a pack of them over and I'm not willing to have my home destroyed for a party...call me selfish. I will spend no more than $100 for a party so I like the idea mentioned of party or cash...my son would take cash We have also rented out a pool for $100 and did a double party for both kids (up to 50 kids could have came for that price). It was fun but now the kids don't want a shared party

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Just a side note:

When I think of Chuck E Cheese I think of GERMS GERMS GERMS and rude kids and cardboard pizza. Can you tell I am not a CEC fan?

hee hee

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That is so cool!How old were the kids?

We usually have the parties at home. I did a pool party at the town pool once -- fun and low stress, and one at a local hair salon -- the girls had their hair and nails done. I didn't like that one so much. I don't have a party for them every year, either. I'll be having two this fall as one turns 10 and one turns 5. It will be the little one's first birthday party with people other than just family so he's already talking about all the things he wants us to do at his party and I just laugh when he tells me that I'm invited!

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Cecilia

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Wow! That party seems over the top to me. I bet it was "rememberable" (cute saying...my daughter uses this too).

Lately we've been doing pool parties or sleepovers, depending on the season.

Rebecca

We still do the at-home parties. We are in a small town and even something like going to Chuck E. Cheese would be a novelty for our kids because it would require a round trip of 2 - 3 hours driving!

We do have a bowling alley and have done that a time or two. Even then, though, we started out at our house with the cake and ice cream.

Typically, the kids come over, we do something outside like a balloon pop relay, a dart board thingy my husband makes up with balloons on it that they toss darts at, and the when the balloon pops there is a note he's put in it leading them on a hunt for their prize (look behind the wood pile... and then they'll find another note there saying to look under the grill... and there'll be a note there saying to look somewhere else, etc... and in the end they'll find a candy bar or something).

After a few of those kinds of games, we do the cake/ice cream, and then open the gifts, and then they usually have about a half an hour to play with the stuff they just opened with their friends. It seems like when a kid gives a gift they themselves wish they could play with it - lol - so for about 30 minutes, that happens... and then the parents come pick them up. I usually just make a cake and put some of those hardened sugar decorations on them along with the candles.

I have to say.... most kids go home telling their parents it was the coolest party they ever went to, even the kids whose parents do the 3-hour round trip to Chuck E's and laser tag!

I think the challenge of an at-home party is:

the time of year your child's birthday occurs
where you live
the size of your home

My kids were November and January and we live in NY. I have a tiny house with no dining room, just a small kitchen and a tiny living room. It was always a challenge for parties. We did not have a party every year. Some years we had it at McDonald's with a play area. Some years we had it at the bowling alley. A few years we did have it at home and if the weather cooperated we did crafts, games and cake. In January (all boys) I put a big table in the garage and we painted t-shirts. For my dd one November we dipped candles outside in the backyard (everyone had coats).

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Two years ago for my son's 13th birthday, we rented a fishing boat (no fishing) and we took 30 of his friends out in the ocean, to see fireworks, we had subs and cake, and nobody got sea sick, we got glow in the dark necklaces etc... everyone had so much fun. it really didnt cost that much, and it was something different

That's all well and good if one has a pool at home. I think there are a few of us that don't. And I'm so happy about that right now, since I don't want to have a party at home.

But we do have a small community pool that is available for members for free. We aren't members. But my daughter is friends with someone who is, so for the second year in a row, since it was such a hit, and such an easy party last year, we are doing it again for my grandson. She will order pizzas and buy jugs of that horrible cool-aid stuff and have a cake and some water games with little prizes. He will be 8 and she will invite the baseball team plus a few others. Perfect party for active little boys.

And I like CEC. Grandpa and I babysit at CEC. There are days when there is no one to play with and nothing to do and we grab our CEC bag which contains, CEC cups, (so we never pay for sodas), tokens, coupons for more tokens, book for Grandma to read and off we go. He often finds someone his own age to play the games with and if he doesn't he seems happy enough playing them alone. I never pay more than half price for the tokens, (and often less), so for two hours of entertainment, we have free sodas, and usually use about 7 to 9 dollars worth of tokens. We seldom buy food, but frankly the CEC here has pretty decent food. I think it's like all chains. Sometimes they're good and sometimes they're not. But I agree with the CEC birthday party haters. I don't like them either.

My boys are 22 months apart and we did their first birthday's together when one was 4 and the other 2 at home. It was a nice day and the kids were to play outside. Had a jumpbounce thing and a blow up climbing wall and games with prizes. It was horrible. Most parents dropped off the kids and these kids would not listen or stay out of my house. My house and yard was trashed at the end of the party and I told myself it was not worth my sanity. Then we started the big CEC parties and the such for a few years and I got tired of people dropping off thier badly behaved kids for me to watch with all the other kids also). So we stopped that this year. We are taking them to Carowinds for the day instead of a party and they could not be happier.

DD had an at-home party once and had a great time, but unless I will allow her to have 8 friends spend the night (I won't...unless they are stacked on top of each other, we usually venture out.

My favorite parties for DS have been when we went to the movie. It was the same price as skating, bowling, etc (about $10 per kid), they get a tour of the concession area and the projection room, and then they SIT QUIETLY during the movie! The theater then has a spot for cake and gifts and it is a done deal. The cost included kids' packs for the kids so they got drinks, popcorn and candy, I just liked that I didn't have to entertain them the whole time. Call me lazy..but it worked for us

Our CEC doesn't do the free drink promo. If it did, I might go more often. We only go in the winter when it's nasty out. We go right when they open and the kids play for an hour and pretty much have the place to themselves. Then we go eat lunch somewhere with "real food" LOL I spend maybe $5 in tokens for the hour with 2 kids. I just won't do a party there...too chaotic

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Our backyard is way too small and we don't have a pool. We've never had an at-home party. We also don't do a friends party every year...we just can't afford it. We did have one this past year for my daughter's 10th birthday. I had promised her she could have a friend party and since she was turning double digits it was special. We decided to have it a skating rink and she was only able to invite a certain number of kids because of the cost. We were pretty much broke at that time and I saved up the money for the party and that was her gift. Other than one girl falling and cracking a tooth (I felt so awful!) right before she left, they had a great time.

Our son will be 5 on August 9th and we're thinking about having a friend party for him. Unfortunately, school doesn't start until August 25th so we're considering delaying his party until September so he can invite his new school friends. The weather should still be nice (We're in Texas so it could still be hot) so we're thinking of having it at the park. Our daughter has gone to a few parties at the park and it's cheap and easy. One of her friends who has a very athletic family gave volleyballs as a party favor and they all went and played at the sand volleyball court.

You can rent a small pavillion at $10/hour or $50 for the whole day and then they have grills, the playground, horseshoe poles and a volleyball court (that the little ones like to use as a sandbox). I figure at 5 & 6 years old they should be quite entertained with just the playground. I was going to keep an eye out for summer clearance stuff like bubbles and such that they can have in a party favor bag and even use while at the party. When we were at the park last weekend someone was having a party with little kids and they set up a small table with a bunch of different bubble blowing sets.

peapie

We have kids with birthdays in Feb, Mar and Apr. We live in PA. Outside (ie: yard) is not an option for us, so we do at home inside. I have told the kids they can plan an outside party at 5, 10 and 15 (or 16 if the girls want instead of 15). They each get $250 for those parties. My son just did his first bowling party and had fun. I do like the at home parties with pin the tail, cake, pizza, crazy kids running and balloons...

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This is a good thread - my girlfriend had a party at home for her 4 year old. They played pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and had a pinata - then she gave them all squirt guns and set them loose in the backyard. The kids had a ball.

But there are always those sour apples - there were 3 moms sitting in a group and I guess it was over-heard that they made some kind of comment about my friend not being able to "afford" a nice party.

It's such a shame that people are like that.

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Mary

We've done both home and away parties - from a sleepover with pizza dinner and video game playing (i.e. cheap) to lego-building and racing parties (cheap) to paintball parties ($$) and Six Flags trips ($$$). In my opinion, it's all good. Never been about one-upping or out-doing anyone.

My motivation has always been to make my birthday kid happy and feel like a king for the day. COuld care less what other people think about it.

cj/

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For my girls ages 4-5-6 they got to do the big Chuckie Cheese, Jeepers or whatever deal they wanted where they could invite their whole class.

Ages 7,8,9,10,11,12 they get to have 3 friends for a sleepover and we go out to eat somewhere more than fast food, less than a nice restaraunt (Steak & Shake, Bar-B-Q, wherever they choose) and then do whatever they choose. It's been bowling, craft place, Build-A-Bear, stuff like that.

We skipped age 13 and then when oldest was 14, she had 7 friends over for 3 1/2 hours from 6-9:30PM. We had pizza, snacks, birthday cake & ice cream. It was the easiest ever - they took off and ran around the neighborhood for probably an hour and a half after the pizza. They came back with barely enough time to open gifts before parents arrived at 9:30.

I think that's it, I don't think they need any more birthday parties beyond 14, but we'll see what her friends are doing maybe at age 16. We're not doing anything for age 15.

Oh, these are totally separate from the family ones. We have a small family, so grandparents and aunts & uncles & cousins all come over for a separate party. In our family, these go on until age 18. That's just having everyone over to our house for dinner and cake & ice cream and presents. We've attended all the older cousins and they attend our girls. There's currently 1 more younger one after my youngest in the family.

Lisa

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We just plain do not have the room to have a party "at home". It's been about 1/2 and 1/2 with us on the invites we have received for my kids (10, 7,5). However, I do not feel comfortable leaving my kids at someone else's house even for a birthday party. There are certain cases where I will though, my 10 yr old will go to most anyone's since at this age we now know just about every friend's parents, and trust that she will "take care of herself" should something come up. My 7 yr old has only been able to go to one party at home and that is because the child's parents is a teacher at the school whom I know quite well.

My 5 yr old just got invited to another birthday party at home for this upcoming weekend. He will not be attending. Not only would I not feel comfortable leaving him, at this age, with other people (that we do not know very well) in their home, but my son also has a speech impairment. Most people have a very hard time understanding him, and he will become quite shy if has to repeat himself multiple times. Leaving him with someone else that he does not know is not of my comfort level.

When my oldest was in Kindergarten we did a pizza party at a local restaurant. When we sent out invites I told the parents to feel free to stay and join the party! I wish that more parents would do this for their parties. Sometimes it's very awkward knowing if you are supposed to stay, or if the parents are ok that you would like to stay.

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We live in AZ and my son's birthday is in August. This year I think we will use our bouncy waterslide and have pizza. Or do Gameworks In the past we have always had his parties somewhere, Jeepers, Makutu's, Bowling. My dd's birthday is in December so she always has home parties. I can just rent a bouncy and have games. I think at home ones are easier, but August is tough here to have it at home.

Do y'all always just drop your kids at parties? Every party I've been to for younger kids, the parents normally stay. I would never drop my 4 year old off at any party regardless of where it is. I've dropped our 10yo DD off at a few parties when they were at someone's home (like sleepovers). If it's a public place, we usually plan on staying anyway so our other kids can "play". If it's at someone's house, the other kids stay at home and one parent goes.

peapie

I also do the money or party with my kids. They have family parties from 1-4 yrs. and the year they turn 5 they are given the choice every year of $100.00 ( the approximate amount I would have spent on a party) or actually having a party. My oldest DD who is turning 8 this year had one party at the age of 5 and decided she would rather have the money. It's great not having all the fuss. My next DD who will be 6 this year took the money last year as well and plans to do so again this year.
As my 7 yr old puts it I can save half every year between now and 16 with what I have in the bank now I can get my own car. (Can you tell she's a planner)
I do make them a cake or pie depending on which child it is (7yr would rather have pumpkin pie than cake) and we have a small family party with us and siblings, adn we each give birthday child a small gift.

I always go to the party with my kids and decide once I get there, whether I am staying or leaving. If its someone I know well, thats different.
I have been the only parent that stayed before and the people hosting the party never seem to mind my staying.

No. We do it like you. Plus, I've never even seen anyone drop off a kid under 5th grade grade. The parents all stay.

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For my daughter's third, we stayed home and made pizza dough from scratch for individual pizzas. We made a pizza toppings bar and let the kids, with some help, make their own pizzas. They loved it! And it was an easy thing to do. She wanted a princess party and we had several dressup dresses from buying them marked down after Halloween. We found inflatable shields and swords for the little "knights" that came and tiaras and wands for the "princesses". We even played "pin the kiss on the frog", a variation of pin the tail on the donkey, of course. Then we looked for hidden dragon eggs (a dragon came through the other room while they were eating and laid eggs full of candy, stickers, etc). the kids had a great time! They talked about the dragon eggs for days and making their own pizzas. And all in all it was very inexpensive. I found decorations at $ Tree and my mom made a castle cake.

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I've always enjoyed parties at home. My dd's are 19 and 20 now, so we've had alot of sleepovers. I always had fun right with them! I am so looking forward to having my baby boy's parties! I'm sure they will be at home too.

When my older two were younger we had all home parties. We were living on a military base and would invite all our friends to bring their kiddos over. Dh would BBQ and we would have tons of food. The kids all played outside and had a blast.
Now that dh is out of the military, we still have at home parties for the older two but the youngest has had her last two parties at CEC. Since we have to invite the whole class, it's just easier to do it that way. Dh had brought up that it was costing us more to do it there then at home, but when I added up the cost, it was about the same. The only difference was I didn't have to cook and my house wouldn't be destroyed afterwards. A HUGE perk for me..lol

We've had alot of parents ask if they could stay. I never tell them no. They usually take the child's siblings and go play in the game area during the party. If we have extra goody bags, I pass them out to the siblings so they get a little something to take home too.

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4 of our 5 kids have summer birthdays so we usually have them at a park shelter. It costs from $40 to $60 a day depending on what park. Then we have a blast with outdoor games, cake, ice cream - the works!

Our winter baby (well, she is 13 now ) usually chooses a bounce place or something like that.

I haven't had a home party in years because of the chaos. Too much birthday for me. lol

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