How much do you spend on your kid's birthday party?

[Anonymous]

DS wanted his party at his karate school this year. For $250 they do everything but write the thank you notes. I have a toddler and an infant as well, so it's worth it to not have to drive around shopping for all the party kids and food.

[Anonymous]

Party *goods*. Autocorrect is killing me lately.

[Anonymous]

Wow...I don't do parties every year for my kids and didn't do any parties for them until about 4, but I admit my parties are a lot more expensive than $500 (though this year it will be much cheaper b/c we are doing one at home and a joint party for 2 of my kids together).

My problem is that my themes are always pretty elaborate. Oh well, we all have fun anyways...

[Anonymous]

My twins' 4th birthday party with 20 kids cost:
$300 for the location, which included the activity paper products
$50-homemade cakes and pizza
$30- goodie bag stuff

I think it's too expensive, but the most expensive part is the location, and our house is just way way too small. More inexpensive locations are outside, and considering that it was 102 degrees during their party, I was glad we did it inside.

[Anonymous]

This will be our first "friends" B-day party for DD who is turning 4. Here's the breakdown of cost:

Venue:$120
party favors:$15
Cake: $30
Food:$50
Paper goods and balloons:$25

So even when done cheaply, it still costs around $250 with the most expensive cost being the venue.

[Anonymous]

This is going to come across really bitchy, but for those who spend as little as $15-30 for favors for 10+ kids, why bother?

I mean, let's face it, nobody wants a bunch of cheap toys/stickers/candy anyways, so why feel obligated to do favors at all.

Unless these are something cute or handmade or something. But I can't stand the crap favors my kids get full of cheap little plastic shit. Save yourself the money and just send them home with a cupcake or something...

[Anonymous]

Previous poster: Are you serious that you think that people should spend more than a buck or two on favors? That's ridiculous As for nobody wanting a bunch of stickers/candy/etc. My kids go nuts for stickers and candy, and so do all their friends.

[Anonymous]

I spend way more than $500 on our bdays. Think pony rides and a petting zoo, literally. I don't do goody bags anymore since I am a major hater of more cheap plastic crap. I do an item. A book per child, lollipops, etc. I have food and drinks for the kids and adults since we usually have some adults. I buy a cake, don't have time to bake and decorate a cake. We budget for it and it is our choice how we spend our money, why should anyone else care? Kids and adults have a great time at our parties and we have fun memories from all of them.

[Anonymous]

$600-$700, not counting gift, for my 2 year old. But it was mostly for adults anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Previous poster: Are you serious that you think that people should spend more than a buck or two on favors? That's ridiculous As for nobody wanting a bunch of stickers/candy/etc. My kids go nuts for stickers and candy, and so do all their friends.

No, my point is that if you are going to spend $1, don't bother with anything at all. Seriously. Who wants a sheet of cheep stickers and some cheap candy? Because anything even half decent costs more than that per person when you look at buying favor bags, etc. as well. If you don't have more to spend, fine. Just don't do anything at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I spend way more than $500 on our bdays. Think pony rides and a petting zoo, literally. I don't do goody bags anymore since I am a major hater of more cheap plastic crap. I do an item. A book per child, lollipops, etc. I have food and drinks for the kids and adults since we usually have some adults. I buy a cake, don't have time to bake and decorate a cake. We budget for it and it is our choice how we spend our money, why should anyone else care? Kids and adults have a great time at our parties and we have fun memories from all of them.

I'm totally with you on this. I agree on the goody "item" idea and believe you have to have food for adults and children (if adults are staying). I find it so tacky when adults are staying at a party and the host just puts out a bowl of chips and salsa for them and then feeds the kids pizza (offering none to the adults).

[Anonymous]

I used to run kid parties as a teenager - I must have had a *lot* more energy then!

My kids' $300 parties were money well spent for me. I did run some on my own, but they took hours of planning, 'cause kids run wild if you don't start the next activity before they start getting bored. The parties I ran at home had one adult per 4-5 kids, and a list of about 15 games and activities.

I stopped getting theme party goods - balloons are more fun, even without helium (try a nose race), and a lot cheaper. Giant's cakes were more popular than the more expensive ones, and easier.

As for goody bags, I don't like (or trust the safety of) the cheap favors. Alternatives: craft stores have fun stuff, including bandannas or bridal favor bags instead of spending money for the goody bag itself. Carabiners were a hit one year.

We used the hands-on children's theatre several times: they bring costumes and scenery and the kids act out the story. I tried to do this myself one year, and, while it worked (and the birthday girl wore the costume to school a dozen times after the party), it took weekend after weekend of sewing and planning.

A plea for fruits and vegetables, not chips, by the way. They complement pizza and cake really nicely, and the adults can eat them too. Talk about models and choices...

[Anonymous]

I like having parties, and we budget about $1000/month for parties in general. My child has not yet turned four, but we probably spent about $300 for her first birthday (strict budget that year), $600 for her second, and $700 for her third. They were all afternoon/evening parties with casual dinner and drinks, mostly adult (approx. 50 adults throughout the day/night and 10 kids), at home where my husband and I do all cooking and making of party favors (homemade lollipops that match the theme last year, among other things), craft projects using materials from AC Moore, handcrafted signs, invitations, hats and menus, and lots of drinks using ingredients that match the theme. It takes a ton of work, and I will not compromise with the quality of the materials (but buy the cheapest I can of the appropriate quality. But, we love it!

This year we are struggling to figure out what to do because we think we need more space than available in our small condo to accomodate the larger number of kids expected. We may end up doing two - one similar to our prior and another just for kids somewhere outside of the house. Most likely this would make us break the $1,000 mark in total, but we have a lot of people who really like our parties, and we love the project, so I would hate to stop them.

[Anonymous]

15:46, is that a typo? $12,000/year on parties?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is going to come across really bitchy, but for those who spend as little as $15-30 for favors for 10+ kids, why bother?

I mean, let's face it, nobody wants a bunch of cheap toys/stickers/candy anyways, so why feel obligated to do favors at all.

Unless these are something cute or handmade or something. But I can't stand the crap favors my kids get full of cheap little plastic shit. Save yourself the money and just send them home with a cupcake or something...

You ARE really bitchy. The reason I'm only spending $15 on favors is because the venue provides coloring books for all the kids, which I am supplementing with a small pack of crayola crayons at $0.75 each, and a balloon.