So Jack attended his third birthday party of the year and it has me thinking about what exactly we are going to do when his birthday rolls around. For all his other birthdays it was just an immediate family affair that mostly consisted of myself, Andy and the two boys and sometimes Ann when she was able to be in town. Now that he is getting older and has already been to three birthday parties for his school friends it seems that he wants to go a different route than what we normally do and I am not sure what to do.
One of the birthday parties he attended was at a big party place called Jump Zone. He, of course, loved this and immediately started asking if he could have a party there as well. I do not have that kind of money to put out there for what amounts to an hour and 45 minutes of kids running wild over blowup slides and trampolines.
The other two were held at the kids houses and seemed like they had plenty of fun there as well. The only problem I have with this option is that our house isn’t exactly “party ready”. We only have the one bathroom in working condition as the other bathroom is in the middle of being remodeled and will probably be nowhere near completion when January rolls around along with Jack’s birthday.
The basement is the other option, but the problem remains the same that we do not have another bathroom and I am afraid to have that amount of kids and only one restroom. Plus, call me whatever you want, but I get a headache just thinking about the amount of noise that having all his friends from school will create.
The only other option I have come up with is maybe having the party at McDonald’s so that the kids can eat then run wild in the Play Place. This seems like the best option right now, especially since in January it will likely be snowing and freezing outside and having the kids in our backyard frozen to death is not very appealing. The bad thing about this option is that it requires the adults to basically stay the entire time and many parents really just want to drop their kids off and go. Not that I blame them. It is hard to stay around that many screaming children for any amount of time, much less the two or so hours that a birthday party occupies.
So I am looking for ideas on what to do for a party and figured that the sooner I start the better. Christmas will not even be a fading memory and then Jack will be six. What I do this year will probably set the precedence in the years to come. I want it to be fun for the kids, especially Jack, as well as easy on the adults. I am open to anything as long as it doesn’t cost too much money. I am not one of those parents who will spend hundreds of dollars on a birthday. I am more of a give them cake and ice-cream and call it a day kind of person.
3 comments:
Have it at your house. Limit the number of kids. Mail the invitations. And then cake, ice cream, pin the tail on the donkey, and one bathroom will be plenty.
You don't have to invite all 18-35 kids (however big his class is). Lots of people say you should really only have as many kids plus one as the age of the child having the birthday. (Ignore immediate family in that counting or else it would still be a family affair.)
Other fun, cheap activities include a treasure hunt in a box of sand/beans/packing peanuts/shredded paper, cookie decorating, coloring pages contest. Don't worry about party favors. Have it only last an hour. Maybe have a snowman contest outside, or a game of fox and gees in the snow, weather permitting.
Keep it simple and explain in 6 year old terms that each family does things differently and we have a thing called a budget. Then ask for his ideas.
Good luck.
Thanks Clorinda. I think we will probably end up having it at our house and it may be a boys only affair considering there are 27 kids in his class. I like that rule about the age plus one. It makes sense. We'll see how well it goes when January rolls around.
Gabe didn't get his first partytill his last birthday. Kate and Jonathan had a combined party last year. they each got to invite 2-3 kids. Gabe's was combined with one of his friend's as well. start out small, then the expectation of ginormous, the whole world has to come, is not an option!
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