Anonymous wrote:My DD's school has a practice of inviting all the kids in the class so we're having to budget for 25 kids and nearly every place I've reached out to is charging around $1000 for a party (sometimes a lot more). Is this normal? Is everyone spending this much money on birthdays now?!

Ridiculous. Unless your children 's school is footing the bill for your child's birthday party they don't get to dictate who is invited.

Ha! Here I was feeling guilty for spending around $200 for whole class home parties. I'm lucky my child has a June birthday and we have a large backyard. We usually have Costco pizza (DH picks up,) pinata, Costco cake & ice cream and some water guns or slip n slide from Aldi. Dollar store plates/napkins/goody bags and balloons, and I re-use real tablecloths and birthday banners/decor.
I don't buy water bottles, just put out those large bev dispensers with ice water, iced tea and maybe some big jugs of juice to pour. Put out some bowls of popcorn/chips whatever for before the pizza arrives. We have never hired entertainment and yes it devolves into mayhem with that many kids but its still a blast.

Haven’t gotten thru whole thread but I just threw my first actual party for my 5 year old, winter bday so park not an option. Had to invite whole class and with venue plus food it was $1000 give or take. I was stunned but asked around and everyone is doing it- even people with multiple kids. Some people seem to buddy up to defray costs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SAVE MONEY AND DON'T DO GOODIE BAGS

Hell yeah.

I think goodie bags are dumb and I try to avoid them. I caved and did books as a favor (kids couyoick a book from a basket)

Speak for yourself. My kids love goodie bags. I always put effort into them. My kids pick out their favorite little things and other kids often tell us they love our favors.

Anonymous wrote:SAVE MONEY AND DON'T DO GOODIE BAGS

Hell yeah.

I think goodie bags are dumb and I try to avoid them. I caved and did books as a favor (kids couyoick a book from a basket)

Hmm we invite 10 kids to sky zone or similar type of place and pay about $350 for everything (the venue/admittance for 10 kids, the party table which includes the pizza and drinks, the cake, the goodie bags.)

I recently vented about siblings. Our party cost $2000+ for an all class party. Some people accused me of going over the top. It was a party venue with pizza and cake. I think the norm is 1000.

I did a paintball party last year for my older kid and it also cost me $2000. This is unfortunately the cost when you are inclusive. I invited all the boys in 2 classes.

Just invite the 2 or 3 best friends and do something extra special (maybe more pricey) still save a ton of money and the birthday kid is super happy. We've also had whole class parties at the park, made our own sub sandwiches, fruit platters, chips, dips (vegan homeade) due to dairy allergies, cupcakes and juices, waters and spent way less then $1000. Costco and being willing to put some work in goes a long way in saving money. I also had a table set up with painting for kids who needed a rest from the running around. Kids were laughing, running, jumping, painting and all went home so happy! Found some great deals on character water bottles and filled them with candy for the favors. It was a lot of work but seeing all the kids so happy was worth it.

We recently went to a home party. Mom planned games and kids danced to YouTube videos. They had pizza and cake. It was such a good time. There were probably 15 kids and most parents stayed to hang out. I had just as much fun as my child. I really enjoyed the company of the other parents.

We have like 10 kids over and they play laser tag or soccer in the back yard. Pizza, cake, done. The kids love it.

Our youngest just turned seven and we celebrated by taking him and two friends to a jump place and back to our place for pizza. Afterwards, about 15 neighbors (both kids and parents) came to our house for a pretty last-minute fire pit/happy hour and some ice cream cake and games in the backyard. It was very relaxed, and everyone had a great time. His birthday was close to Easter and spring break this year, so it was hard to formally schedule something, but this ended up working out well. I do think that we were lucky to catch so many friends who happened to be in town!

We have done several venue parties (susally $500+ for 20 kids + cake and party favors) and park parties with entertainment ($250-350 + food+ cake + party favors). We usually have food/snacks for both kids and adults (when kids were younger) and have never spent less than $400 and probably never more than $600.

My 4yo told me he doesn’t want a birthday party next time. Maybe he’ll get a really nice present instead

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my son was in preschool, a classmate (mixed age, Montessori) had her birthday at the Marriott conference center in formerly White Flint. There was a bounce house, video golf, cotton candy, a candy bar, pizza, heavy appetizers for the adults (bacon wrapped scallops, shrimp, pasta bar). It was over the top. They must have spent $10K. But I do not remember her name or her parents and I don’t even recall how old she was, maybe 5 or 6. Save your money for things that really matter. I’m sure the girl barely remembers too!

DS went to a birthday party when he was 4 that was at a country club where they had rented out the ballroom and also had the pool closed down for only the party guests. They had Batman and Superman there and some assorted princesses, every kid got a birthday-gift sized "goodie bag" (given to them by Batman) and there was an open bar in addition to an insane amount of food. I can't imagine how much they spent. There were about 25 kids there, plus parents.

Some people are extremely hospitable. Some people are cheap.

If you have a park party with juice and cupcakes, I hope you say “no gifts” on the invite!

Seriously? Geez this area is crazy. We do park parties and they are so much better than the MyGym parties we did pre-pandemic. Kids can run around, no need to limit numbers so siblings can come too. Snacks, juice, cupcakes or cake, party favors. People are welcome not to attend if they don't want to. But they do, so it can't be all bad. Even these parties are much fancier than the basement pin-the-tail-on-a-donkey parties I had as a kid!

I just read an article in the New York Times that people are spending 75 k for kid’s parties in California.