We didn't start friend parties until age 5. Then, we just had a party at a non-meal time at a playground. We made the cake and bought some snacks. We have done a piñata some years. About 5-10 kids and their parents come. Fun and inexpensive.

The cheapest home party I've seen is one of the most popular to attend in my dd's class. Each year the birthday girl has everyone over to see a movie on their projector. That is the entire party. They serve popcorn and cupcakes and then the children are picked up. Even for 25 or 30 kids, there's no way that costs more than $50 unless you do bakery cupcakes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Well, she has a point. This is self inflicted suffering. You do not need to have a birthday party. You simply don't. If you don't like doing it, you're only doing it to put on a show for others. The End.

Um, how about that you're doing it for your kid??? If all the other kids are having their birthday parties at cool bounce house places and you're just having yours at your house or park without even an entertainer, the kid is going to feel embarrassed and lame. Don't pretend that kids in this age group (6-12) don't notice these things.

If your kid is embarrassed by a nice, well organized at home party with 8 friends, that's on you and how you raised them. Sorry, but sounds like your kids are little shits if they throw a hissy fit over not getting a $700 party.

+1

"Without even an entertainer."

Ha ha ha ha. You are ridiculous, pp, and I hope this was a joke post, otherwise your values are whack.

Kids love home parties. Parents generally seem to enjoy them more. Every time we have a home party, people who are used to the venues thank us and say they had a blast. I know they're telling the truth because their kids next party follows the jobs home script. Food, set out toys and games, cake, play. Kids have a blast and parents chill out, sometimes with beer, sometimes not. So much better than bounce house or Lazer tag.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Well, she has a point. This is self inflicted suffering. You do not need to have a birthday party. You simply don't. If you don't like doing it, you're only doing it to put on a show for others. The End.

Um, how about that you're doing it for your kid??? If all the other kids are having their birthday parties at cool bounce house places and you're just having yours at your house or park without even an entertainer, the kid is going to feel embarrassed and lame. Don't pretend that kids in this age group (6-12) don't notice these things.

If your kid is embarrassed by a nice, well organized at home party with 8 friends, that's on you and how you raised them. Sorry, but sounds like your kids are little shits if they throw a hissy fit over not getting a $700 party.

+1

There is a happy place between "blow out in rented space" and "family party." Frankly, a family only thing sounds
Terrible to my eight year old self. Poor people still have birthday parties for their kids, just do what poor people do. I see them having them all the time in public parks. Kids still have fun!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Well, she has a point. This is self inflicted suffering. You do not need to have a birthday party. You simply don't. If you don't like doing it, you're only doing it to put on a show for others. The End.

Um, how about that you're doing it for your kid??? If all the other kids are having their birthday parties at cool bounce house places and you're just having yours at your house or park without even an entertainer, the kid is going to feel embarrassed and lame. Don't pretend that kids in this age group (6-12) don't notice these things.

If your kid is embarrassed by a nice, well organized at home party with 8 friends, that's on you and how you raised them. Sorry, but sounds like your kids are little shits if they throw a hissy fit over not getting a $700 party.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Well, she has a point. This is self inflicted suffering. You do not need to have a birthday party. You simply don't. If you don't like doing it, you're only doing it to put on a show for others. The End.

Um, how about that you're doing it for your kid??? If all the other kids are having their birthday parties at cool bounce house places and you're just having yours at your house or park without even an entertainer, the kid is going to feel embarrassed and lame. Don't pretend that kids in this age group (6-12) don't notice these things.

When I was a kid, I didn't want parties. I preferred something at home with just close family and my cousins. Don't speak for all kids.

"Ouch! Putting my hand on a stove hurts!"

Take your hand off the stove, and don't put it back on.

"Problem" solved!

OP, what would you say to me if I complained that, "Oh, gee! Mazerati's are sooooo expensive!" You'd probably tell me to sell it and buy a Civic, right?

Well, here's a thought. Invite a few friends over for games, cake and small snacks like cheese and fruit. It will cost, as PP says, about $150 to keep it basic, or even less than that.

If you're going to play the Big Birthday game, you don't get to complain about it. Make a different choice, or own the choice you've made.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Well, she has a point. This is self inflicted suffering. You do not need to have a birthday party. You simply don't. If you don't like doing it, you're only doing it to put on a show for others. The End.

Um, how about that you're doing it for your kid??? If all the other kids are having their birthday parties at cool bounce house places and you're just having yours at your house or park without even an entertainer, the kid is going to feel embarrassed and lame. Don't pretend that kids in this age group (6-12) don't notice these things.

IME kids love home parties and they aren't embarrassed or feel lame.

My experience is the same. My kids always have more fun at home parties. We go to bouncy houses and stuff like that all the time. Those are the parties I have to force them to attend.

We didn't do the invite the whole class thing. Ever. My kids were allowed to invite the number of guests that matched their age. I made exceptions for maybe one extra. So at six, they had seven guests for example. The 20 kids you barely know meeting at a venue feels less like a birthday party and more like a field trip to me. We have been to several when I couldn't have told you the birthday kid was.

When my kids were little, we did small old-school parties. Homemade cake, ice cream, party games, and a small gift bag. Parents dropped off. We had a blast! One year we did a Star Wars party and built a Jedi training obstacle course. The kids made light sabers from fun noodles. Another year we did a camping theme sleep over with tents in my family room, smores, popcorn, and movies. Flashlights tag, of course! So many others over the years. We have five kids. When they got older, they chose one or two friends and went to a movie or to an amusement park. By 15, we were mostly doing family parties.

For all the talk about minimalist living and keeping it simple, it seems y'all lose your minds over Birthday parties.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Well, she has a point. This is self inflicted suffering. You do not need to have a birthday party. You simply don't. If you don't like doing it, you're only doing it to put on a show for others. The End.

Um, how about that you're doing it for your kid??? If all the other kids are having their birthday parties at cool bounce house places and you're just having yours at your house or park without even an entertainer, the kid is going to feel embarrassed and lame. Don't pretend that kids in this age group (6-12) don't notice these things.

IME kids love home parties and they aren't embarrassed or feel lame.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

I was born in '76 and had exactly ONE birthday party at home - my second birthday. Every other one was at a place, there were at least 20 kids (I had a lot of friend-groups), and they were 2.5 hours.

I was born in 78 in an umc suburb (not DC) and there was always one or two kids in my class every year who did a whole-class rented venue party. I specifically remember the other parents talking about how they threw those parties to compensate for other things. Like, Tara's dad was under indictment for stealing serious money from the childrens hospital, and laura's family looked like they had money but turns out it was all a facade. In fact, my mom has become friends with laura's mom in retirement and it turns out they have zero money, had to sell the $2m home, and her mom now works minimum wage to pay the bills.

I kid you not. The ONLY kids throwing expensive parties in the 80s were people who felt they had to prove something. Given the old negative reputation, i'm not sure how these whole-class monster parties became the norm.

Oh, that's an exaggeration. I was born in 1972 and grew up in solidly middle class neighborhoods in small crappy cities. I distinctly remember some designation parties--roller rink, ice skating, and even a Chuck E. Cheese party in about 1982 or 1983. None of these parents had anything to prove. Agree that the majority of parties were at people's homes but it wasn't weird to have a low key party out of house. I think back then they basically just charged her admission the the roller rink, though--they didn't have all these bells and whistles and two teenagers paid to keep the kids in line.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Well, she has a point. This is self inflicted suffering. You do not need to have a birthday party. You simply don't. If you don't like doing it, you're only doing it to put on a show for others. The End.

Um, how about that you're doing it for your kid??? If all the other kids are having their birthday parties at cool bounce house places and you're just having yours at your house or park without even an entertainer, the kid is going to feel embarrassed and lame. Don't pretend that kids in this age group (6-12) don't notice these things.

So, don't.

My kids (I have 4) get 1 big blowout party like a bounce house place, and then all other birthdays are mostly small family get togethers or they get a couple friends for a movie or crafts at our house.

When parents go overboard, the blame is solely on ourselves.
Don't buy into upper class excessiveness (on many levels)