Where Was Your Favorite Kids Birthday Party?

Gymnastics is always a favorite for boys girls and all ages.

Bowling is fun and I know some karate places do parties too.

I know that you don't want to throw a home party, however the I think the best parties are at the home

Our house! We had a manicure party where all the girls got their nails done. Started with a salt scrub on their hands, dried, put lotion. Then they got to choose from about 10 colors for the nails. I also had those little nail stickers that they could apply after their nails dried. Each girl got a goodie bag with a bottle of polish, nail file, and a trial/sample size lotion and a sugar cookie cutout like a hand. They loved it, and it maybe cost me $50-60. We had cake & ice cream. I got the polish and nail files from the dollar store and Walmart. I recruited my daughter's grandmas to do the painting. We had 2 stations set up and I did the scrub. It was fun and my daughter wants to do it again next year.

My daughter had her last 2 parties (turning 9, then turning 10) at the indoor pool at a local rec center. It had the massive slide and the shower thingie and the fountain thingie, so not *just* a boring rectangular pool. I'm not sure if 7 is too young to let a bunch of kids loose in a pool, but I can tell you that they were the easiest parties for me. The rec center handled *everything* from ordering pizzas to supervising the kids in the pool to servng the cake, we just had to show up. And the kids all had a fantastic time...who DOESN'T love swimming when it's freezing outside?

Paint your own pottery could be fun, too, but you always get that one kid who's done after 5 minutes, then gets bored and starts bugging other kids...

honestly, our best kid parties were the ones we had at our house, with just pizza, cake, movies and a sleepover. but we did the 'your age plus one' rule so we didn't have as many kids as you're planning.
we did the pizza hut, macdonalds and chuckie cheese parties. the kids enjoyed them but i think they were pretty forgettable. the 'theme' parties they liked best were at the laser tag place.
but they all had a BLAST when we just partied and hung out here!
:) khairete
S.

Just having a sleepover when my son turned 7. He wanted it to be a Rock Out birthday party! I ordered Paper Jamz guitars on ebay that were $5 each. He invited his 3 best friends and we had pizza and an ice cream cake. It was the easiest birthday party EVER and my son was delighted. If you are inviting 12 girls (crazy!) I guess you need a place.
Bowling is super fun
Swimming
Rock climbing at the gym
Ice Skating
Nature Center (our local environmental center does bday parties)
Gymnastics place
Horse back riding
Laser tag (do they still have these places?)
Roller skating

My favourite is go-carting. For $10 per kid we get a round of mini-golf, a go-cart race and a bumper boat ride. We bring our own food and cupcakes. They also have a play structure to hang out in while waiting for parents to arrive. I'm lucky that my boys birthdays are in the summer so outdoor parties are an option.

Look into the community nature centers. They offer great parties for kids with a variety of themes. Just google nature centers in your county or community and you should be able to find a good one.
Have fun!

We've done the paint your own pottery place and loved it, and if memory serves, it was for my daughter's 7th b-day. The only problem is that there's no running around space, so if there's a child in the group who is the done-in-10-minutes type, you'll need to have an in-your-chair type of follow-up activity prepared (painting, coloring, board game, cards, etc.). You do NOT want a bored, energetic 6 or 7 y.o. wandering around a ceramics place with nothing to do.

If April brings good weather, and you've got a good back yard, a fancy tea party in the back yard with croquet or other lawn games is both fun and economical.

A birthday party we did when my daughter turned 10 was a bit of work, but oodles of fun. My American Girl obsessed daughter wanted a Felicity party. So we got busy, and she did a lot of the prep work. We researched recipes and made colonial era treats (queen cakes), made a mob cap, hit the thrift store for costume parts, and researched colonial crafts. On the day of the party, her friends came in colonial costume if they wished. We had herbal tea and treats and made crafts at the kitchen table. For party favors, each guest went home with copies of kid-friendly colonial recipes and craft ideas, the crafts they had made, and a colonial craft my daughter had made for each of them. It was fun, educational, and relatively inexpensive.

We had my daughter's 7th birthday a couple of weeks ago and I loved her party! It was at our local Humane Society. They did a great job. The kids got a tour of the facility and got to interact with lots of different animals. Dogs, bunnies, snakes, lizards and turtles. The kids loved it and it was also nice to be supporting the Humane Society.

hmmm i bartered for this one

at our house

cinderellacompany brought an entire tea set, table fancy chairs, games, dress up clothes for 10 girls

real horse drawn carriage, my momdressed up as a fairy godmother and turned a pumpkin into a real horse and carriage...they still ask M. about that 2 years later. They walked to it via my aisle runner from when i married my ex

we ended with fireworks at the end of the night

it was by far the fanciest 4 year old party ever. my daughter wanted another...yea without the bartering that would have costs 1000's. i bartered for the food as well and she got a cake suitable for the cake boss show

for her 6th we had a hige sleepover party. Huge success! around 15 kids came to the party i believe around 8 slept over. super fun and cute

We've done most of our parties at home but a few fun location parties were Build a Bear and gymnastics (trampolines, trapeze, foam pit, the kids love it!)

Any chocolate stores/ice cream/frozen yogurt places where they can get a tour and make a treat in your area?
My faves have been a gymnastics center where they tumbled and used a trampoline and bounced and we had gym to ourselves, could bring our own food and then there was a mini splash park at local pool that had maybe 3 parties going on at same tim. ordered pizza and brought a cake.

I have older boys (10 and 7) so maybe my answer will be a bit different.
My kids want to PLAY. They went to one at a school in the school yard. Played kick ball, basketball, on the park, soccer, and just plain ran around and had fun. THey loved that party.
THey went to one called Elevated Sportz. It's an indoor trampoline park. Left that place a sweaty happy mess!
When my son was 8 he went to an indoor race car place. LOVED that.
My older son just went to a paintball party. While he had a great time, he did come home with some nasty bruises!

Do it at the park. Save your money.

One of the favorites was, I took my daughter's class (all girls) to the Ritz- Carlton in Tysons Corner. We went swimming in the indoor pool, got dressed up and ate dinner in the private dining room and then everyone stayed over for a slumber party-the best!

April usually has pretty mild weather - consider a park where you can rent a shelter (make sure it's covered just in case). There are places where kids can go to take cooking lessons - they look like a lot of fun. Check with local movie theaters - they usually have rooms you can rent - see a movie then go to the room for cake, etc. You can make that as fancy or as simple as you want. See if there is a local tea house nearby - they will host fancy, princess tea parties with finger sandwiches, etc. Gymnastics gym to let the kids get a gymnastics lesson and burn off energy (or a karate do jo or a soccer clinic - whatever she likes)! See if there is a costume jewelry/bead place nearby that will let them come and make jewelry. Rent/reserve a private room at a neat/fun/interesting restaurant - my oldest son has always loved the Japanese hibachi show so we've done that twice over the years. Find a community center with an indoor pool that you can rent. Check out Groupon/Living Social/SweetJack/etc. to see if you can land any deals. I've done that twice now - once for a bounce house rental and then for a bounce house place party deal. Good luck!

Bowling party? We did it when DD was younger and invited way too many ppl. I think maybe 7/8 years are a litte more mature the might actually get to play. Enlist some moms or dads ahead of time to stay and round up the kids etc. Or see if hubby can stay and help. 12 kidsby yourself is headache inducing :)
I know you also said inexpensive.. I would say a nicer/bigger playground. Like not too far from us is Clemyjontri with a carousel but dont think the carousel opens until summer.
And it's annoying the weather being so iffy in April.
Another thing besides boune house thats indoors is Rebounderz in Sterling, a trampoline place: http://rebounderzsterling.com/index.php
A paint your pottery place is fun but yes have a few additonal activites or the kids that get done quickly.
There is a salon for girls in woodbridge which is further from you but google? It's called Spariffic and its just for girls bday parties where they d manicures and pedicures and moni kid friendly facials.
My DD went to a movie birthday they they all went for fro yo afterwards which is a very inexpensive dessert. And the movie the went to is a cheaper theatre with 2nd run movies so that was cheaper. universitymalltheatres.com
I am looking into a minigolf package in Northern VA are at Topgolf, its cheaper sun trough thurs and includes food & balloons etc.
Is she into video games? You could have a game truck come to the house and its up to 16 players etc. http://www.gametruckparty.com/
IS she athletic? You could have it at Dulles Sportsplex: http://www.dullessportsplex.com/Parties.html
I was also looking at The Pink Bicylce Tea Room in Occoquon for a fancy tea party:http://www.pinkbicycletearoom.com/
actua;ly check out www.our-kids.com in their party planning section too for some ideas.
Good luck!
pammy

At a park with a playground. I had them do races, etc.

I have a little boy who will be 5 in May, so his "best party" probably won't help much! To date, though, his best party was at a zoo. The kids had a private animal show, delicious lunch and we included the families and the package included tickets for each family to tour the zoo that afternoon after the party.

I think the Michaels/ JoAnns would be a great time for them at that age! If you do it somewhere with a chain restaurant within walking distance you could include lunch or appetizers as well. Make a craft at 11:00 and then walk to Fridays or Applebees... Chili's... McDonalds (tell the restaurant ahead of time) and have lunch. Parents would pick them up from there! No real "booking" required!

Do you have an aquatic center near you?

Bowling is one of my favorites.