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!

I always put on the invites to donate a book or donate to a charity we choose but everyone always buys gifts, some of them very nice and over-the-top gifts. I feel guilty because my kids are already spoiled and have everything so we often have unopened toys and gifts 2 years later.

My 16yo's party was way cheaper than my 7 yo's. They had an escape room, everyone ordered dinner at a restaurant, and ice cream, cake and party favors were jewelry. The 7yo had 35 kids, and it was a pottery party where each kid chose what they wanted to paint, then pizzas, goody bags, fruit, sweets table, drinks, etc. It was 1300. The teen's cost 800. But, when my eldest was younger, we had ridiculous parties as I thought she would be my only. Horseback riding parties, cheer parties with the whole gym rented out, party bus with game truck and food trucks cost over 6k but it was a special 10th birthday and 40 kids came. I do what I want because I love them and love to see them smile. I am not super-rich either just spend all of our money on our house and our kids.

We’re all in the minor leagues. There an article in the NYT about LA parents who spend anywhere from $15-75,000 on their little kids’ birthday parties.

We’ve done several pool parties for DC’s summer birthday. We’ve usually done it at a rec center. Renting the party room + tickets for the pool + food, decorations (minimal)+ cake (we DIY pretty impressive cakes) and favors (usually an individual water toy for each kid) comes to about 500-600. We’ve done both indoor and outdoor pools. We also did one a private pool club which was even cheaper and better.

we will be throwing birthday party the first time for my ES kid that invites his friends from school. We are going to book the venue for 12 kids (include him & his sibling), so I hope that it will be under control under $1k. I think we will do the popular ones bouncing house place.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Winter parties are harder. For my winter child, we’ve never done a whole class party. It’s always been under 6 friends at a venue of some kind: bowling, gymnastics, escape room, trampoline, pottery, climbing wall. I don’t think we’ve every paid more than 500 at the most. Not bc we can’t afford it, but principle.

Principle of what? Having a different kind of smaller party is fine if it's what you and your kid prefer, but that's a weird way to put it.

Mine had gone to a lot of all-class parties and we hadn't done it in prior years bc I didn't want a confined indoor space during Covid, so this year we decided to let him have the kind of party he'd seen for his friends.

We have always done backyard birthday parties with pizzas and simple games and they still range in the $500-1000 range.

After kid invites his whole class (+ siblings + parents) and we invite a few other friends/neighbors, a guest list of 12-20 easily grows to about 50. With pizzas, cake, decorations, games, adult beverages, etc., it easily adds up. Last year he only invited the boys in his class, but it was still probably 30 people total. We haven't gotten into drop-off territory yet (1st grade), so I consider it important to be a good host to the adults as well.

We've done that every year except for 2020 and I can't do it again this year. I already told kid if he wants a gaming system for his birthday, he can't have a big party. He can invite one friend over to stay up late and play video games and eat pizza.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Winter parties are harder. For my winter child, we’ve never done a whole class party. It’s always been under 6 friends at a venue of some kind: bowling, gymnastics, escape room, trampoline, pottery, climbing wall. I don’t think we’ve every paid more than 500 at the most. Not bc we can’t afford it, but principle.

$500 for under 6 kids is a lot!

It was a high estimate. Some activities are more expensive than others, with $500 being the most we’ve spent. Sometimes it adds up. Even something like bowling, once you pay for the shoe rental, bowling lanes, then they want to go to are arcade a bit and do a game of laser tag. Then parents come early to hang out before pickup and we’ll tell them the tab is open and to order a drink or food if they want. Canvas painting is also one of the more expensive winter parties we’ve done that gets close to $500, since it is around $40-50 per kid, plus the food, cake, etc. Sure you can have a home party for less and we sometimes do. But I don’t think $500 is over the top at all. Have you read some of the other responses ?

Apparently $1000 is nothing to what some parents are spending:

It’s a Toddler’s Party. How About a $75,000 Budget? https://nyti.ms/3ocdLAq

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Winter parties are harder. For my winter child, we’ve never done a whole class party. It’s always been under 6 friends at a venue of some kind: bowling, gymnastics, escape room, trampoline, pottery, climbing wall. I don’t think we’ve every paid more than 500 at the most. Not bc we can’t afford it, but principle.

$500 for under 6 kids is a lot!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just do cupcakes at the playground. 1:30-3:30. No meal provided. If you want to take it to the next level, add some chips and juice boxes.

I did a party like this and I had parents thanking me afterwards for blazing a trail to simplicity.

This is what we do. Before the pandemic we did them in community rec centers bc it’s cold out. Now we just do it in a park. We ask ppl not to bring gifts. Just cards. Sing songs, share cupcakes, run around. Kid picks theme for napkins and we use the free version of the digital invite. We can invite the whole class which feels inclusive.

Mehta do you do at the community center though? The kids just run around an empty room? I feel like you need entertainment or at least an activity so to keep costs down a parent we have to run in.

Yes, $1000 is about right.

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!

Hospitable? More like ostentatious.

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!

Anonymous wrote:Just do cupcakes at the playground. 1:30-3:30. No meal provided. If you want to take it to the next level, add some chips and juice boxes.

I did a party like this and I had parents thanking me afterwards for blazing a trail to simplicity.

This is what we do. Before the pandemic we did them in community rec centers bc it’s cold out. Now we just do it in a park. We ask ppl not to bring gifts. Just cards. Sing songs, share cupcakes, run around. Kid picks theme for napkins and we use the free version of the digital invite. We can invite the whole class which feels inclusive.