My daughter will be 4 on October 28 and wants to have a birthday party. The few parties her preschool friends have had have all been someplace. I have been researching a couple places and they seem very pricey. I have a few questions:
1. if convention seems to be to have a party someplace, do you think it would be horrible to throw her a party at our house?
2. we live in Park Ridge and I'd love some ideas of birthday venues. We're looking at probably 15-20 kids from ages 2.5 to 5 (mostly around 4).
3. what do people think about late morning parties - say 11am to 1pm (lunch included). All the parties we've gone to START between 1 and 2 which is right at nap (and leads to very tired, crying children, IMO). Plus, my 2.5 year old son wants to be at his sisters party.
TIA!
TOTALLYY!!! a home birthday party is a great idea, you can decorate however you want, you have room for naps incase some of the kids get tuckered out, you have comfy places to sit. sounds better than any other place, plus if you son gets bored or needs a break from the festivities he has his own area!
good luck
Hi C.:
I totally agree that the "location destination" B-day parties have gotten out of control. If you have the space, I'm sure your house will be fine. Plus, that age range might be able to do some activity together (Birthday bingo, pin the tail on the cake etc).
I also think the time seems totally fine, thats when I had my 3 yr old party.
Good Luck-R.
I feel all the out of house parties have gotten too crazy and they start so early. However, I do have a suggestion that I think your daughter would enjoy.
Host a "tea party" at your house. The girls can dress up, especially if any of them have the disney dress up stuff, they can play for a bit, but the lunch can be little sandwiches, and just little finger food for the girls. Maybe as an activity let them have a little lip gloss or eye shadow and just be silly.
Good luck to you, I lucked out this past spring when my daughter turned 4, she just wanted 1 friend to spend the night.
A., WAHM of 2
I think a home party is great, we have and go to kids parties at home all the time. If you are having at home when opening gifts so it is not crazy have 1 child help open the gift at a time and then give the party favor, so all the kids wait and it is not to overwhelming for your child. B.
C.,
You sound like a great mom.
Have your party WHERE and WHEN you want to have it! I have had really fun parties at my home. I find it very satisfying to be able to be creative. My other suggestion is to reduce the size of your party by about half. I have had 2-day headaches from parties that were too big. Also, many people suggest having one guest for each year of the child's age.
Have a great party!
Amy
Hi C.,
My son turned 4 in June, and we hosted his party at Chuck E. Cheese. We had about 12 kids, and it cost under $200. We had the party on a Saturday from 4 - 6 pm because of the nap issue (we also have two other kids, age 1 and 2). That time worked out well for a lot of families. The kids had pizza and cake, which I'm sure sufficed for their dinners. We also bought the $1.99 Chuck E. Cheese goody bags, which were nice. I also bought 2 large pizzas and sodas for the adults accompanying their kids.
In the long run, I actually think it was cheaper than having a party at home, because you still have to buy food, drinks, party decoratons, etc. You also have to worry about games, goody bags, etc. When our other child turned 2 in May, we had a barbeque, and by the time we bought all of the food and drinks, it added up to at least what we spent at Chuck E. Cheese's (and we didn't have any formal games, but there were toys everywhere). The clean up was monumental--lots more work.
It is not at all horrible to have a party at home; we've been to those, too, and they are nice. It is just a lot of work on the family hosting it.
Good luck, and try to enjoy it!
R.
The main reason I avoid hosting birthday parties at my house is because I don't want to have to deal with the clean-up afterwards. It can become such a big mess! I think having a party at your house is a really nice idea, definitely not horrible. But be prepared for a big mess to clean-up when it's over!
As for location ideas, I'm familiar with parties being held at the following locations:
Brookfield Zoo
Children's Garden - Morton Arboretum
Children's Museums
Gymnastics schools
Gymboree (playandmusic.com)
Movie Theaters
Our park district also has several options for hosting parties, so you might want to check yours (and the ones around you) to see what they have, too.
I have the same issue with the starting time for parties as my almost 4-year-old still naps from about 1 to 4pm. We have one coming up next weekend that is from 2 to 5pm, and I'm still not sure if I should keep her up or just go late. She's so much happier when she naps, but I don't want her to miss special occasions. Anyway, for her birthday parties, I've always hosted them from 11am to 1pm, just as you suggested. I've never had a problem with that timing (other than some party locations that do not offer those times).
Good luck!
I have a 5 year old, 3 (soon to be 4 in two weeks) and a 1 year old. We have always hosted big parties at our house for family and friends. The best parties were the times when we rented a big jumpy and then we had face painting, and a craft. The jumpy entertained everyone. The price tag was always higher then budgeted for due to the decorations, balloons, food and drink, the jumpy rental...you get the idea.
This year we are seriously considering Leaps and Bounds(I think that is correct,located in Lisle and Glenview) for my son's upcoming party. Adults and children can play. I believe you can have 20+ kids and adults are free. You can choose to have pizza and/or cake served. I don't know about the time windows.
When we saw the price, it was definately less-expensive than hosting, without the clean-up. Are you really going to feed and entertain 20 children and adults cheaper than party destinations? If the timing is truly a consideration, then have it at home and know going in that it is going to be a big clean-up job.
We have had all of our birthdays at home except one (because of naps). We asked our daughter's school if we could use the gym and the gym equiptment for 4 hours. My husband catered the meal and everyone had a fantastic time using scooters, basketballs and hula-hoops. She even got to ride her brand new bike in the gym. We gave a relatively small donation to the school and had a really memorable party. It was still on the pricey side.
Just some other ideas.
