We had our 5 yo's party at our small house. 10 kids. Made an awesome cake from a mix with some decorations. Basic decorations. Some frozen pizzas, etc. $150. Birthdays are only expensive if you get sucked into the DC party machine.

Why are people doing favors?

We don't do that in my circle of friends. The parents don't want the crap. If they make something they take it with them. The favor is the play date party and/or cupcake.

Do the party at a splash park - simple snacks and cupcakes you make yourself. Everyone has a good time and not expensive.

Tips:
Make the cake yourself
Buy disposable table cloths and plate products from the dollar store
Make the activity/craft double as the favor
Do it at a time you don't have to serve a full meal. Ie 2-4pm, various snacks and cake is plenty at that time.
2 hour party max, then you'll have less time to fill and won't need to spend as much on activity/game supplies
Do an evite instead of paper invitations.

We do all of the above and kids love our parties, even if they seem cheap to parents, the kids love it!

I always have parties at home b/c I'm way too cheap to rent a place. Once I rented a pavilion at a park for like $50 bucks and it poured rain so I moved it to my house anyway. Probably still costs around $150-$200, honestly.

Just shelled out $400 for a bday party for 14 kids and their parents. It was at a bounce house place. My ds is only turning 5 so not a gull on drop off party yet. I'm hoping second grade will be the first one where 5 friends at home will be enough.

In the "olden day" we had 10 kids or less at home for 2 hours with cake. The end.

Have the party at home, invite fewer kids, make the theme low-tech, make the cake yourself and serve pizza. I used to do venue parties but I liked this year's low-key movie party.

I was hoping for some $ saving tips.

They are, but then they are suddenly too old for them. You're on the cusp of that already at 7. Sometime between now and 12, most kids stop having the huge whole-class parties every year. They might have smaller parties, or a big one every few years.

It's another phase of parenting you'll miss when it's gone: that total, pure excitement over having a party full of people and cake and ice cream, without the social drama of older kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS turned 7 and every year I say the same thing, these parties are so expensive by the time I rent the party/play space, get pizza, cake and snacks! but it's fun for our son and we celebrate his baby sister birthday at the same party. Does anyone else feel like this? I am not hurting for money but geez, now I know why my parents never had friend parties and just had family celebrate at the house growing up! Good thing this is a once a year event!

Sounds like your parents were level headed and refused to be followers and braggers.

Translation: This responder is passively aggressively calling you a follower and a braggart.

And when you do parties at home, costs can be just as expensive if you want to entertain a bunch of kids.

Not really. I assumed a party would cost about $700 if I did it at a place, which is what has to be done when you live in a tiny apartment. It's not like a birthday creeps up on you, so you just budget for it.

Anonymous wrote:DS turned 7 and every year I say the same thing, these parties are so expensive by the time I rent the party/play space, get pizza, cake and snacks! but it's fun for our son and we celebrate his baby sister birthday at the same party. Does anyone else feel like this? I am not hurting for money but geez, now I know why my parents never had friend parties and just had family celebrate at the house growing up! Good thing this is a once a year event!

Sounds like your parents were level headed and refused to be followers and braggers.

Yep just finished a party at the house and I thought it would be simple and doable. Hell no! Food, cake, decorations and party favors were expensive

DS turned 7 and every year I say the same thing, these parties are so expensive by the time I rent the party/play space, get pizza, cake and snacks! but it's fun for our son and we celebrate his baby sister birthday at the same party. Does anyone else feel like this? I am not hurting for money but geez, now I know why my parents never had friend parties and just had family celebrate at the house growing up! Good thing this is a once a year event!