How much are you spending on birthday parties?

[Anonymous]

$1000.00 for a kid's birthday party?! Some of you have more money than brains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please do more home and playground parties! We enjoy them just as much. Do some organized games. With that many kids you could have teams even!

As I said, just the taco truck we had at our backyard party was $1,000. When we had a playground party the permit was $120, $400 for the bubble man, over $2,000 for the crepe truck (entitling each party guest to one savory and one sweet crepe), etc.

For a kid's party? Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have 3 kids so we try to stick to ~$500 per party but even that is tight and we often go over and spend closer to $600-700. This is for basic play place, rent a park pavilion, nature center, etc. type parties.

I just don’t know how to feed and entertain a group of kids for less than that. We aren’t as over the top as the bubble and crepe people, but do stuff like hiring a character, renting a bounce house (those can be $400+ easily), plus pizza. We don’t even do the whole class, usually just the same gender kids or set a cap and let our DCs pick that number (like 12-15 kids). It’s a lot of money, I know plenty of people can’t afford this.

Don't rent a pavilion, just show up at a "first come first served" one.

Don't serve a meal, hold it in-between meals.

Focus on the cake/cupcakes/donuts/treat and realize that EVERY other thing is not needed. It can be 90 minutes long and your kid will have a blast.

The only thing I'd do is make sure 1-3 of their closest friends can definitely attend. After that, it won't effect your kids level of fun.

[Anonymous]

Ds says his favorite birthday party was the one in our backyard with Nerf guns. Cake, chips and soda for food. The kids didn't even really care about the food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please do more home and playground parties! We enjoy them just as much. Do some organized games. With that many kids you could have teams even!

As I said, just the taco truck we had at our backyard party was $1,000. When we had a playground party the permit was $120, $400 for the bubble man, over $2,000 for the crepe truck (entitling each party guest to one savory and one sweet crepe), etc.

Your problem is hiring someone else to do the catering at your outdoor party. I'm not saying it's wrong or unappreciated, it's just bound to be very expensive.

If you had grilled something in your backyard, I doubt 40 hamburgers, chips, fruit, and birthday cake would've come to $1000. Let alone crepes for $2000!

[Anonymous]

To whomever said food trucks aren’t for rich people, they are. We make $170 a year right now, (crossing $200 soon) and we could never afford that. Food trucks are absolutely a rich thing to do. Ultra high net worth people get catering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please do more home and playground parties! We enjoy them just as much. Do some organized games. With that many kids you could have teams even!

As I said, just the taco truck we had at our backyard party was $1,000. When we had a playground party the permit was $120, $400 for the bubble man, over $2,000 for the crepe truck (entitling each party guest to one savory and one sweet crepe), etc.

For a kid's party? Why?

I hate park parties. During Covid? Fine. Any other time, I think they are the worst.

[Anonymous]

The best birthday party we had was at a playground. We had Costco cake, drinks, finger foods, and balloons as favors. Maybe the whole thing as around $200-$250? No organized games and non need to rent a shelter, so the only cost was food. The kids had such a blast!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please do more home and playground parties! We enjoy them just as much. Do some organized games. With that many kids you could have teams even!

As I said, just the taco truck we had at our backyard party was $1,000. When we had a playground party the permit was $120, $400 for the bubble man, over $2,000 for the crepe truck (entitling each party guest to one savory and one sweet crepe), etc.

For a kid's party? Why?

I hate park parties. During Covid? Fine. Any other time, I think they are the worst.

The best kid’s parties I’ve ever been to were in a park. Also, crepes suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please do more home and playground parties! We enjoy them just as much. Do some organized games. With that many kids you could have teams even!

As I said, just the taco truck we had at our backyard party was $1,000. When we had a playground party the permit was $120, $400 for the bubble man, over $2,000 for the crepe truck (entitling each party guest to one savory and one sweet crepe), etc.

For a kid's party? Why?

I hate park parties. During Covid? Fine. Any other time, I think they are the worst.

The best kid’s parties I’ve ever been to were in a park. Also, crepes suck.

Pp here. My oldest is now a teenager. Of course we went to the playground and parks all the time when kids were younger. Since we went to the park all the time alone or for play dates, I did not enjoy them for parties. I loved home parties best.

I think the worst was a hot sticky July park party with no activities. I have also sat under a pavilion during a rainy day.

[Anonymous]

The kids are older now, so it's very cheap. Cupcakes in the back yard. When the kids were in elementary we mostly did parties at organized places like a trampoline park, and when they were in preschool we did parties at a park (those were my favorite). The parties at commercial places were maybe 300? These days they'd be more expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please do more home and playground parties! We enjoy them just as much. Do some organized games. With that many kids you could have teams even!

As I said, just the taco truck we had at our backyard party was $1,000. When we had a playground party the permit was $120, $400 for the bubble man, over $2,000 for the crepe truck (entitling each party guest to one savory and one sweet crepe), etc.

For a kid's party? Why?

I hate park parties. During Covid? Fine. Any other time, I think they are the worst.

The best kid’s parties I’ve ever been to were in a park. Also, crepes suck.

Pp here. My oldest is now a teenager. Of course we went to the playground and parks all the time when kids were younger. Since we went to the park all the time alone or for play dates, I did not enjoy them for parties. I loved home parties best.

I think the worst was a hot sticky July park party with no activities. I have also sat under a pavilion during a rainy day.

But did your kids enjoy them for parties? I did a party at a park once and it was fantastic. The kids loved the playground, it was easy to invite younger siblings, and as far as I could tell the parents had a good time talking to each other (I was concerned about that so I looked carefully). We also did trampoline parks and places like that sometimes but as far as the kids went, I think they had just as much fun at a park. Note that not everybody has a home that works for home parties. When we did this we lived in a 900 sq ft, two-bedroom apartment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a birthday party in our back garden this past fall, and just having the taco truck was $1,000, never mind the decorations, the ice cream truck, party favors, or the animal entertainment.

A taco truck, ice cream truck, and “animal entertainment” all for one backyard party? That is over the top. You could just order pizza or grill burgers and hot dogs like a normal person? Or you know, scoop ice cream yourself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please do more home and playground parties! We enjoy them just as much. Do some organized games. With that many kids you could have teams even!

As I said, just the taco truck we had at our backyard party was $1,000. When we had a playground party the permit was $120, $400 for the bubble man, over $2,000 for the crepe truck (entitling each party guest to one savory and one sweet crepe), etc.

For a kid's party? Why?

I hate park parties. During Covid? Fine. Any other time, I think they are the worst.

The best kid’s parties I’ve ever been to were in a park. Also, crepes suck.

Agree. LOVE park/playground parties. Younger siblings can roam and play, parents are welcome to stay and chat. Kids always have a blast, even if no planned activities. Give them some bubbles and let them loose to go play. Our favorite one included a pretty intense game of kickball

[Anonymous]

We spent about that for whole class preschool party at a playspace, once you include food (just simple pizza etc) and favors etc.

All the ppl saying house or playground parties - I love those too but weather is a big question mark. Both my kids have winter bdays so we are basically stuck with party venues. We could host at home if kids could be outside for part of the time but seasonally it's unlikely.

I will say my DS loved his party - it was exactly what he wanted. So that made it worthwhile.