OK so here is my delema.. I am in Bensalem Pa. Just outside of NE Philly and Levittiwn, 5 mins from Street Road. My home is way to small to have a birthday party in, I come from a huge family with tons of kids. My 8 y/o son is involved and has many friends, so the only fair way for me to have him a party is to invite everybody. I am looking for a reasonable place to have a party for 30-50 kids that is reasonalble, we have already done Burger King and Dairy Queen (this was an awesome idea if anyone is interested they even threw in face painting lunch and icecream sundaes that the kids got to create on thier own), The Pizza Buffet and more. We looked into booking a pavillion but the area alone is $75. That includes the pavillion and that is it!! I am thinking about Silver Lake Nature Center... THey are offering a 1 hours nature trail excursion, and a themed array of events, the theme is our choice, ( we are thinking Dinosaurs and reptiles, others were bugs frog, butterflies, birds) this includes a craft for them all to take home and a scavanger hunt a guilded tour of the nature trails and games related to outdoors and nature. then we have access to the party room, bathrooms, giftshop, museum kitchen area or thier pavillion for another hour(the pavillion of course we can have longer if nec.( it is outside) However as clever as the idea is, it is $12 per kid and parents are free.I still have to do food and cake and a pinata or party bags/gifts ( can usually get creative with this I do NOT believe in giving bags full of candy) for the rest of the guests. I am wondering if anyone has any clever ideas or other locations that are affordable. I have called the bowling alley's and the brunswick zone,The pretzel Factory, lazer tag, Bouncing off the walls , ect.. they are all so common and over priced. PLease help , The ages of the kids range from his 2 y/o brother to his 15 y/o sister........ Thanks in advance, I'm really tired of racking my brain on this one....Oh yeah and the best part.. he was a memorial day baby so I am competing with the picnic's and parties that weekend, future weekends are out due to graduation parties and baseball games...
Thank you to everyone who responded. In my area the parks require a rental fee of $75 and we would have a 3 hr time limit. That was my first option , So My sister has a membership to the local YMCA, ( Levittown branch) The deal is phenominal... $175 for an unlimited number of kids, they supply the cake and the invitations, we supply the paper products and the juice.... They have a number of choices and themes... we chose the Y Zone, (a sports themed organized party a craft and other sports related activities), it sounds great and I'm sure they will all have fun. Thanks again to everyone....L.
Do you have a YMCA near you? They hold all types of birthday parties and do all the work for you! It's great!
I feel your pain! July starts my "birthday season" for my three sons. It is so expensive to do parties outside the house. I assume the pavilion you refer to is in a park. $75 is not bad if you spread the cost among what sounds like a large number of kids. I had my son's birthday last August at a park under a pavilion here in Hatboro. We timed it so it was not a meal time: just served snacks, drinks and cake. This saves on the money. Then the park had the playground for all ages and the open fields and basketball courts. We took all kinds of balls, scooters, etc. The kids really enteretained themselves and the budget wasn't killed with the per child cost and main meal food. Good luck and let me know how you make out. I'll need some cost-conscious ideas of my own coming up!!
Hi,
I see that you have already decided on the Y but I wanted to tell you about another location in your area. Sports Zone in Southampton is right off Street Rd. It's great for kids of all ages. There is a kiddie area in the back with ball pits, tunnels, mini rock climbing wall, etc. Then they have a basketball court, batting cages and games for older kids. I don't know what the cost is but they are pretty reasonable for open play, I think it's $5 so maybe their party prices are reasonable as well. They are unusual b/c they are great for all ages, even adults will have a good time. Check them out for next year. Also, Chic Fil A does birthday parties and the one in Newtown has a play area. McDonalds in Penndel has a play area as well. There's also a new place near you, I think it's called SportsPlex, did you try there?
Hey L.,
Why don't you do a bbq in the park? Create your own agenda of nature trails, if the park has it? Frisbee games, dinosaur hunt, such as getting a portable sand box and dig fake bones in there. Baseball game, basketball, what ever you think will interest the kids. I'm not familiar iwth your area so well but I'm sure you can find multiple parks with activities. I'm sure you can even rent a trampoline. See if you need to make reservations or get a permit which i'm sure it's very inexpensive, with the park.
I was always known to be a child with very expensive taste but my best days were always at the park with my family having a bbq and playing tennis and frisbee.
Anyway, it's just an idea if you are really tied down to a budget.
My 7 year old daughter just went to a birthday party at The Springhouse in Eighty Four, PA. (Not sure where your from.) They went on an hour long tour of the dairy farm which included, petting and feeding the calfs, hand milking a cow, watching them milk the cows, bottle feeding a calf and touring there milk processing room. It was really interesting and informative, even for the parents. After the farm tour, they went down to the party room at the resturant, had a snack, cake, opened presents, and at the end the kids got an ice cream cone and a treat bag. Now I'm not sure how much it costs, I think I heard it was $5.00 per child. Their phone number is ###-###-####. All the kids had a really good time. It was something really different.
Would you be able to have the party at a relative’s house that has more space or at a smaller, local park that may have cheaper rental fees? You could do a very casual BBQ type event with races, games, etc. You can incorporate a theme into it. I don’t live in your area so I don’t have any ideas for venues.
It sounds like you’re having trouble coordinating this for a number of reasons - the number of guests, the holiday, other events and your budget. What if you have a smaller party (maybe with family only) which may be easier to coordinate and less expensive. Then you can include your son’s friends in separate simple celebrations - send a special treat to school for him to share with his classmates or take cupcakes to enjoy after the next baseball game.
Enjoy your son’s special day. :)
Hi L.!
What about Dave and Busters and do a buffet style? I'm not sure how much it is but I think everyone might enjoy that. Also, a friend of mine had a party at our local community park. She rented the picnic area, got a bunch of pizza, a pinata, and the kids had a ball. The area was covered in the event it rained. They did their own things too - the younger kids ran around the playground area on swings, slides, etc. and the older kids could play basketball, baseball, etc. It might be cheaper than $12 a kid.
Have you thought about having it at a local park maybe? You could do hot dogs and burgers.
