What to Do for My 4 Year Old's Birthday Party (Eastside)

You know what, my son, who will be 4 this winter, is begging me to have his party at Chuck E Cheese, and I'm considering it. As much as I cringe and don't enjoy the place much myself, a little friend of his had her party there a few months ago and the kids all had a really great time. The mom decided to have it on a weekday (much less crowded) and didn't do the official "party" but bought a bunch of tokens for all the kids, paid for pizza and drinks, and brought their own cake. It just so happened that another child had the official "party" going on and my son's little friend was just as happy watching the performance they put on for their group, as if it was all for her.

Another idea is to rent a room at a community center, we've had friends do that too, and you can bring some games and fun things for kids to do, food and cake, and it worked out really well and was cheaper than a "party place".

Good luck!

Hmmm...this is a hard one...and I can't wait to see what others have to say.

One place to check out would be churches/synagogues. I'm religiously unaffiliated...but a womens gab session I used to go to started renting out a big room at Eastshore Unitarian Church when we'd do multifamily potlucks. No one actually belonged to the church. (www.eastshoreunitarian.org/ )At the time a couple years ago, we paid 25 dollars. We had the place for about 3 hours, and it had to be spotless before we left...but that's just common sense. If you belong to a religious organization, that would probably make it even easier.

Another place to hit up would be to see if any of your friends who live in an apartment/condo could book the cabana. Those usually run around $50-100.

Good Luck!!

Hi MJ - I would still have his party outside!! This is washington, unless it's snowing I would have the kids at the park. There are a lot of parks that have convered areas so if it is drizzling you can eat dry. Also, on the invitation I would just tell people to bring extra clothes and shoes....most kids like getting dirty, and it's definetly cheaper than going to a gym or something.

Hi,

Have you thought about/heard about Farrell Mcwhirter in Redmond. It's still around 125 dollars but we considered it for my daughter's 3rd birthday. You can either do a pony riding or a farm party (feed the animals) or wagon ride. There is plenty of room for kids to run around there too.

http://www.ci.redmond.wa.us/insidecityhall/parksrec/recre...