7 y old birthday party without breaking the bank

[Anonymous]

We live in a high SES area and buy cheap cupcakes and party trays from Walmart deli. Go in person and put in the order for the chicken trio and get all popcorn chicken. Kids love it. You can also order sandwich roll ups. We have gotten so many compliments on the food and people ask where we have ordered from. We have done a mix of at home and venue parties over the years. I can’t remember what either of my kids had for their 7th party. Don’t worry too much about making these memorable and special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- Yes, it was a custom cake(small, 6 inches) and 40 cupcakes. I know, I felt terrible as I paid it. I assumed it was the NOVA craziness, now I feel even worse

That math ain't mathing. Even if the 6 inch cake was $100, how do you spend $500 on cupcakes? That's $12.5 each. That's more than Georgetown Cupcake.

The math ain't mathing because this OP is a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did a birthday party last year at NOVA wild, the old roer's zoofari. It was costly and not special. This year, I want to keep it simple as a backyard party, but would I regret it? its going to be in june, so I was hoping to have a low key thing but would the guests come inside? We just had another baby, do you think hosting at home would be difficult with the little one?

Last year, I paid 600 for the cake and 2000 for the venue. Is there a way to keep it lower than that without disappointing my kid?

Excuse me, you paid WHAT for a 6 year old's birthday party????

Backyard parties are great. Rent a bounce house, serve chick-fil-a. It will cost you a lot less than $2600.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My oldest has a summer birthday. We always had his parties at a playground with a splash pad. We chose parks where the picnic shelter could NOT be reserved & showed up early. Free venue. We got Costco cake (or made it ourselves) and served lots of snacks, brought a cooler for drinks, etc. Usually there was a theme for the cake, paper plates, etc. Cheap, plenty of space for siblings, and the kids always had fun.

Good you showed up early. When my kids were little we had gone to a playground and me and the other parent were chatting while sitting on a bench next to a table and someone showed up with their stuff and asked us to move because they were having a party. I could have refused but decided to move to another bench further away from where my kid was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WHAT?!? That is insane. I have 3 kids with birthdays all over the year. With warmer birthdays I tend to do home parties (cake+food and a bounce house all for under $1000). For the colder weather kid I either do a venue like a bounce house or something special with her and a handful of friends. I refuse to spend more than $1000 for a birthday party. That is nuts!

I also have 3 kids and I don’t think we even spend $2,600/year for all 3 let alone on one party!

Even with a venue (or performer), pizza, and cake, we can generally keep it around ~$600 per party. OP spent that on a single cake!

[Anonymous]

A park or your backyard is the best at this age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My best NoVa “whole class” elementary parties under $1000 total to date -

1. I paid the “Captain cookie” food truck to come to a park and handed out coupons for our guests to get 1 item of their choosing. I borrowed or bought yard games we’d use again - corn hole, giant jenga, ring toss, etc. I had coolers of assorted Gatorade, water, and seltzers.

2. Rented the community room at a local church or pool. Paid performer - magician, Great Zucchini, snake and reptile guy, petting zoo, etc. Safeway cupcakes, Pizza Boli’s pizza, carrot sticks and ranch dip, apple slices, water.
Paid my teenage neighbor and her friend their hourly babysitting rate to cut the carrots and apples, assemble the goody bags, serve pizza, and clean up.

3. Game truck + Taco truck in the pool parking lot when it was not pool season. We are members of the pool and I arranged it with the manager.

4. Bought Kiwi Crate robots for 15-20 4th graders. Served pizza and ice cream sundae bar in my yard.

5. Hired a company to bring 2 ponies made to look like unicorns to my cul de sac and had pony rides. Served lunchables and ice cream sandwiches per BD kid’s request.

Some of these don’t make sense. What were 21 kids doing while 2 of their classmates were riding unicorns?

Playing yard games left over from the cookie truck year. Waiting their turn. Watching their friends ride the ponies. Honestly 2 ponies for 25 kids was overkill. I should have had 1 pony, but the pony people said 1 pony per 15-20 kids and the additional cost was minimal. I think it was $350 instead of $275?

[Anonymous]

Wow. Most kids parties at places I’ve seen are like $300-400. I get a cake from Wegmans or Whole Foods for like 50-60. If you have a party at home you can also do a sundae bar which is great.

[Anonymous]

Pool party is great, especially if you belong to a pool and most of your friend’s kids belong to the pool. We get to the pool during the serence swim and grab a couple of tables. The kids get there when the pool opens. It tends to be not crowded on a Saturday or Sunday at 11:00 AM but warm enough to enjoy. Order pizza for the first break. Break out a cake from Wegmans at the second break. Kids go home or parents can come and swim with them after the 2 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Most kids parties at places I’ve seen are like $300-400. I get a cake from Wegmans or Whole Foods for like 50-60. If you have a party at home you can also do a sundae bar which is great.

What places?
SkyZone, UltraZone, DC Zoo, MyGym, Little Gym, Karate place, Escape room, Lego play place, Scramble, Jumping Joeys (rip), the pseudo Jumping Joeys in Fairfax, etc. are all $20-30 per kid with an 18-24 kid cap per party. Sometimes that includes food and/or a favor. Add in cake and tip the party room host and you’re looking at $600-700.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did a birthday party last year at NOVA wild, the old roer's zoofari. It was costly and not special. This year, I want to keep it simple as a backyard party, but would I regret it? its going to be in june, so I was hoping to have a low key thing but would the guests come inside? We just had another baby, do you think hosting at home would be difficult with the little one?

Last year, I paid 600 for the cake and 2000 for the venue. Is there a way to keep it lower than that without disappointing my kid?

You and I are very different people. We invited 20 kids to SkyZone for my kid's 6th bday. SkyZone got $500 which included 1 hr of jumping time for the kids plus 1 hr at a party table AND included pizza and drinks, napkins and plates. I paid about $40 for cupcakes. Including everything I paid for the party (the venue, food/drinks, goody bags), I spent $600.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did a birthday party last year at NOVA wild, the old roer's zoofari. It was costly and not special. This year, I want to keep it simple as a backyard party, but would I regret it? its going to be in june, so I was hoping to have a low key thing but would the guests come inside? We just had another baby, do you think hosting at home would be difficult with the little one?

Last year, I paid 600 for the cake and 2000 for the venue. Is there a way to keep it lower than that without disappointing my kid?

You and I are very different people. We invited 20 kids to SkyZone for my kid's 6th bday. SkyZone got $500 which included 1 hr of jumping time for the kids plus 1 hr at a party table AND included pizza and drinks, napkins and plates. I paid about $40 for cupcakes. Including everything I paid for the party (the venue, food/drinks, goody bags), I spent $600.

Oh yeah and this was in 2023.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did a birthday party last year at NOVA wild, the old roer's zoofari. It was costly and not special. This year, I want to keep it simple as a backyard party, but would I regret it? its going to be in june, so I was hoping to have a low key thing but would the guests come inside? We just had another baby, do you think hosting at home would be difficult with the little one?

Last year, I paid 600 for the cake and 2000 for the venue. Is there a way to keep it lower than that without disappointing my kid?

You and I are very different people. We invited 20 kids to SkyZone for my kid's 6th bday. SkyZone got $500 which included 1 hr of jumping time for the kids plus 1 hr at a party table AND included pizza and drinks, napkins and plates. I paid about $40 for cupcakes. Including everything I paid for the party (the venue, food/drinks, goody bags), I spent $600.

NP. We've done mostly venue parties over the years (our backyard is small), and this what we've spent. We did Scramble last year for a 7 year old's party for a similar cost, plus a cake from Walmart. Expensive, but not $2600.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did a birthday party last year at NOVA wild, the old roer's zoofari. It was costly and not special. This year, I want to keep it simple as a backyard party, but would I regret it? its going to be in june, so I was hoping to have a low key thing but would the guests come inside? We just had another baby, do you think hosting at home would be difficult with the little one?

Last year, I paid 600 for the cake and 2000 for the venue. Is there a way to keep it lower than that without disappointing my kid?

Sounds like the baker who did your cake really took advantage of your naivete. That is completely outrageous. And there are PLENTY of venues that charge A LOT less than that. Just go to a trampoline park or indoor playground and get a cake from the grocery store. Depending on how many kids you invite, your cost should be closer to $500 or so for everything--venue, food, cake.

I wouldn't do a backyard party personally I don't really like a lot of people in my house. Yes, the guests would come inside to use the bathroom and to get out of the heat and if it rains that day they'll be inside the whole time. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Local playground, bags of chips, juice boxes, and grocery store cake. We’ve done a few like this and all the kids loved it.