Birthday Party Feedback

I don't think it's cheap at all but cake before lunch? I wouldn't do that. We did cake/punch only parties with light snacks (cheese/crackers, fruit, etc.) but they were always after lunch, usually from 2 to 4. Giving kids who have probably barely eaten breakfast a tummy full of cake and ice cream that early in the day sounds like a sugar induced disaster waiting to happen.
If you MUST do it in the morning have some substantial breakfast type food available upon arrival, like bagels & cream cheese, fruit, cereal/trail mix, etc. and then do mini cupcakes instead of a big cake.

Are you looking for votes? If so......I vote for feeding the kids a "meal", pizza, sandwiches, something. You are hosting a party that will either end or just about be over at lunch time. That means to me you serve lunch.

If you don't want to serve lunch? Have the party AFTER lunch.

Most of the kids are going to want to splash anyway instead of play games.

I don't think it would be a disaster. I just don't think it's a great idea.

if you party at lunchtime - 12 ish - 1ish, you pay for lunch.

Order a bunch of pizzas and have them delivered.

If it were me, I'd go with two hours of private splash pad time, add in some healthy, hearty lunch fixings/ snacks, cake offered the last 20 minutes or so.

I actually need to take umbrage with something in your SWH: "we live in a ghetto area so once it opens up it will be flooded with unruley unsupervised people that don't know how to act in public.(i cannot controll this, it is the park district that laid out those rules) the actions of the ghetto folk make it so that anyone with a brain will only go there for a private rental.
and the ghetto don't understand what a private party is, if we are serving food in the hour before it opens to the public every Tom, Dick, Harry and their siblings will want to eat too and will make an uncomfortable situation for anyone still there."

I'd lose the 'ghetto' references in your SWH. "Ghetto folk?" After all we have heard about other peoples nosy, noisy neighbors from all sorts of neighborhoods on this site? To identify one group of folks as "ghetto people" acting like beasts comes across as... well, rather Dickensian at best, really stinking racist and classist at worst. When someone comes up to you and goes to take stuff, you say "Oh, this is a private party. These are for our group, thanks." In short, you are making your problem bigger by not listening to what your husband is saying, complaining that the other parkgoers are 'cheap' but you are the one with a problem spending more money? Hmmmm...

It sounds cheap to me to offer only 1 hour of splash play. These guests are taking the time out of their day for your party and 1 hour of splash will fly by. You invited these children so provide ample time for them to enjoy the party. No, don't make them pay for more time, you take care of that.

Secondly, serve lunch. It can be simple pizza, hot dogs, sandwich tray, chik filet tray, veggie or fruit tray... Many options in food.

You're having the party right at lunchtime. If you want to do cake and ice cream only, change the hours of the party to not be around, during or ending at mealtime.

A disaster... Not necessarily but more planning should go into this. Your plan does sound cheap.

It's completely understandable if you want to save money. Don't overspend. It's cheap and economical to have a party with games, cake and ice cream at your home. No need to go overboard with the party in order to have a fun party. Do what you can afford.

sorry - if you have a party at lunch time? I am with your husband. Lunch should be served. Even if it's simple finger foods.

I don't get the problem. You can rent from 9-1 so you don't have to worry about other people until 1:00. Seems like plenty of time. Personally I would have the party from 10-1. 9 is early... Kids play from 10-12 and then you serve pizza or hotdogs or a big sub sandwich, none of which is expensive, then cake. People eat between 12-1 and can leave before 1:00 if they want. I always try to serve the cake pretty quickly after regular food so people don't feel trapped. If they want to stay until 1:00, they can. And if they want to stay after 1:00 and pay $1, they can do that too. But the party will have not looked cheap at all if you feed them and give 3 hours of access to the splash pad. I think everyone has already said you need to offer real food if you want to serve cake before lunchtime. Breakfast and then cake for kids? Not cool.

It makes it look like you are trying to get the guests to pay for the party. If they want to play a reasonable length of time, they pay. If they want to eat lunch, they pay. Oh and bring a gift. Unless they are asking for a million bucks pay for a couple more hours and order some pizza.

Your what happened doesn't make a lick of sense. If it doesn't open to the public until 1:00 how could you have made them pay a dollar for the public use? More so I have to agree with Nervy, your attitude towards other people when you are trying to be as cheap as possible? Kind of a pot/kettle situation don't you think?

Rent it from 9 - 12 eat pizza or something easy and cheap along the way, have the cake at 11:30 and let them decide if it is too much to say when it becomes more crowded with the public.

Could your party run say 11-1 pm? Or 10:30 start if you want to give kids some time to get changed before and after.

I'd do an 1-1 1/2 hours of splash pad, then have pizza and cake.

I used to not feed if we did 2-4 pm for example, or we'd do snacks and cake.

Then I found it just easier to plan around a meal time and offer pizza. Or hot dogs or whatever was easiest that kids like. Because 1) it kills time 2) kids are so much better behaved if well fed 3) some kids will come hungry no matter what the time and 4) the kids won't be wired on just sugar.

Not sure Id go as dramatic as disaster... But if it were me I'd serve something more substantial than cake if you are doing a 10-12 timeframe. I mean, the kids are gonna wake up, eat breakfast, and come play hard in the water for an hour, then eat cake and leave at NOON... So the parents then have wet, messy, sugared up kids that are probably still hungry for a real meal. I'd bring a cooler full of Lunchables, order a few pizzas, or serve a cheese pepperoni and cracker tray and a fruit/veg tray.

The problem is that you're ending the party *at lunch time*. When my kids were younger and had bigger parties, I used to schedule them for 2-4 to avoid having to deal with serving a meal. But if your party begins or ends around meal time, you have to feed them real food. And expecting people to pay money to use the splash pad for more than the hour isn't cool either. Pay for 2 hours and either move the party earlier or later or plan on serving a simple lunch like pizza.

I think your idea would be fine if the party were not right at lunch time. Can you do your basic idea, but order a couple pizzas to have right before the cake?

ETA: Given your parameters, splash play 9-11, pizza and cake at 11, wrap up by noon.

Your idea of cake would be okay if it weren't at noon time. The kids are going to be famished after several hours of play. I guess I don't understand the part about having your guests pay for the splash pad. Party guests shouldn't have to do that...

It does seem cheap. Cake before lunch? Not appealing to parents. And not sure why your husband should plan. Ordering pizza is not hard. He works. You stay home so not obviously his job to do this.

I, too, don't think that any of this qualifies as a disaster. However, it does seem confusing.

To rent a party thing (splash pad, bounce house, whatever) from 10 to 11, then close it down for an hour for cake, then re-open it, will just end up in a big kerfuffle.

And yes, if you're having kids be active from 9 - 1 outside, cake won't suffice. But it doesn't have to be lobster sushi and caviar. Simple hot dogs or pizza or a crock pot of taco meat with some simple fixings on the side (bags of tortilla chips and bottles of mild salsa) would be great. Pizza could be delivered. Hot dogs could be kept hot in a crock pot or a thermal cooler (they keep foods hot as well). Plastic bottles of ketchup and mustard and relish, bags of buns and potato chips, juice boxes, paper plates and there you go. Just choose one item (hot dogs, tacos, or pizza) and stick to a simple menu. Very little planning needs to go into it.

My suggestion would be to keep the splash pad open the whole time, have a "serve yourself" lunch table, and then close down the splash pad for good, and serve the cake and the party's over.

How about rent from 10-12 and then have lunch and cake from 12-1.

You don't say how many kids you are having - that would be helpful to know.

I'm not a big believer in expensive birthday parties - I think it's out of hand and families are going broke. These kids are 6 so they don't need champagne and caviar, that's for sure. They also don't need (and IMHO shouldn't have) huge extravaganzas on birthdays. These parties get so expensive for the host family, but also for the guests whose kids are invited to 25 parties a year, with transportation and gifts! So scale it back.

If you want to avoid paying for lunch, then you don't have a party around noon. Kids will be absolutely starving after an hour of splash play, so you have to feed them. I'd do pizza and cake, and say that the party is from 10-noon, with bathing suits & towels needed from 10-11 and something semi-dry to put on (even a sweatshirt) afterwards. Give them food, open the gifts (unless you are having a huge number of kids, which makes it impossible for kids to enjoy watching this part), and skip the games (there's no time). Make it clear to parents that this is well supervised because the splash park will just be open to the party guests (if I understand you correctly). Then you have a good "excuse" for ending it before the public crowds come in.

Alternatively, I'd have a party at home - we followed the "year rule" - if you were 6, you invited 6 friends. If you were 7, you invited 7 friends. You can have this at your house from 2-4, put out the sprinkler, play some yard games, and have some snacks (something semi-healthy like veggies/humus and fruit kabobs which look cute and are easy to make, plus cake or cupcakes), open presents (which you can do when there are only 6 guests!), and send them home. Kids melt down after about 2 hours so I think you're on the right track keeping it shorter.

I think your husband needs to get on the team of solutions and not on the team of criticism, and do some work here.

You really need to offer lunch if it is a noon party. Make it simple. Order pizzas, or a 6 ft turkey sub, slice some watermelon, wash some grapes, drinks, cake, done.

If the place doesn't open to the public until 1:00, could you serve lunch and cake at 12:00 with presents following? Could you rent the splash pad from 10 to 12. If you serve food at noon, you should be able to begin clearing the food by 12:30. Wouldn't that be enough time for you to feel comfortable before the general public begin to show?

Rent the private pool 9-12 some guests will come at 9 others will come at 10.

Get all the kids out and a serve hotdogs and a drink outside of the pool area. Afterward lunch, sing Happy Birthday and give a cupcake. Good bye.

If parents want to take them back to swim it is on their dollar.

ETA: And oh yes, food is one of the things I look forward to at a party. Fun and food. After all, I am bringing a gift...

I don't really understand your SWH...most people are encouraging this party idea but you seem to think you need to look into other things?

I think it's great. I agree that I would let the kids play in the water from 10-11, maybe even 11:30. Open presents and have cake the last 30 minutes and send the kids home for lunch. I would see nothing wrong with this option. I think if your party is over at noon most parents would not expect you to have served lunch. I think the kids will love it and I don't see why you shouldn't make it easy on yourself.

A splash pad party sounds like so much fun for 6 year olds!

When we have birthday parties that fall within 11am-1pm, we do have lunch as part of the party. The kids will be hungry after running around and playing, so you will need something more substantial than cake.

What I would do it rent the splash pad for 2 hours but have the party time frame be 9am-1:30pm. Example schedule (be flexible):

Splash from 10-11:50
Lunch 11:50-12:10
Spash from 12:10-1:00
Cake at 1:00
(if you do gifts, do that with the cake)
Dryoff/change/leave 1:30

There is no need for you to plan games, focus on using the splash pad. The kids will create their own games. Ask the park if water toys are allowed.

I think only one hour of splash play is not enough for 6 year olds. My daughter is 7 and she would never be ready to leave the pool after only one hour. And I think you definitely need to offer real food. The kids will be hungry. Even pizza is fine.

ETA: We have big parties, but they are in our back yard and pretty simple. And apparently, we're kinda kid-famous for them. It's amazing how big a deal cheap foam swords and kid-created games can be. We provide simple snacks and pizza. Reading other responses, I agree that in this timeframe, pizza is a good idea. As I noted below, paying an extra $20 or so for everyone to hang out, rather than having a hard deadline is also wise. But I also think that your husband should be willing to at least provide thoughtful input.

Original: A disaster? No. I might pay the $15 or $20 for friends to hang out longer, but I see nothing wrong with your plans other than setting a hard time deadline for 6 year olds. Honestly, it sounds like your husband is being kind of a jerk in how he relates to you. Good luck!

If you don't want to serve lunch, do the party from 9-11. I've never served lunch or dinner at my kids' birthday parties. (And I've served cake at 10:00 and never had a parent complain.) I always time my parties so they end before a meal time. I'd have to say that my kids have attended very few parties that have included lunch or dinner. Honestly, I can only remember 3 in almost 9 years. One was a sleep over, one was at Chuck E. Cheese, and one was pizza after the bounce house. Most of the parties my kids get invited to are in the 9-11 or 1-4 time frame.

I do NOT expect food when I go to a birthday party. But since you are talking about a party that is scheduled for when most kids eat lunch....well? You might want to think about that.

Most kids want to eat lunch by noon, just saying.

Have your party from 10-1. Rent it from 9 - 1 so that you can set up and the kids that get there early can splash and the later can join in. At 11:30 everybody out and dried off to eat and presents/cake. Go home by 1 pm.

Do serve lunch due to the time that you are scheduling party. If this is too much, then have it at home and use the sprinklers for running in and out of water. Plan better for the next party.

the other S.

PS It is a kids party not adult so you don't have to plan as much for activities. The water should be enough either way.

At that time of day I would feed the kids. Lunch for 6 year olds can be very simple. Cheese and crackers with fruit or pizza or sandwiches or hot dogs. I would do the party from 10-1, food and cake at noon. No need for games, they are playing in the splash pad.

I'm not against spending less on birthdays - with 6 kids, we are ALWAYS looking for inexpensive fun for parties. However, I think that I would not be serving cake at lunchtime and then send kids off sugared up and hungry for real food. Why not just pay the entrance fee of a buck each for all the kids at 2 p.m. rather than the likely much more expensive private party fee earlier in the day and let the kids swim for an hour, cake and presents for an hour and then swim another hour. Tell parents that the party ends at 5:00 p.m. but that you have paid for them if they want to stay but they have to come supervise. Most kids will be ready for dinner at that point anyways. I think another poster mentioned that kids per year of age is generally a good number - I agree. I also always shoot for an even number of guests if I can for obvious reasons. I personally shy away from parties where the entire class or grade is invited.

I don't think that 6 year olds need a "private" party - it is much more fun with more kids around. Especially at a pool!

Good luck.

To me lunch time is 12 and that is right when your party is ending. So to let the kids play first and then have cake and ice cream sounds great. I would tell the kids to arrive at 9:30 though to give them more time. The birthday parties my kids go to usually last two hours...one for the activity and one for cake and presents. Have fun!