to think that birthday parties are a priviledge for the rich?

[BlueberryPancake]

We are having some work done in our garden (necessary work!) and struggling to know what to do for DS birthday party in November. Our house is not very big and usually we just have some games outside with about 10 of his friends - rain or shine! We can't use the garden around his birthday this year.

So I was thinking of getting an entertainer to come over, a storyteller maybe, and I have made calls to various people based in London, and there is nobody who will come to your house for under £140 (I would like someone for just 40-50 minutes, but apparently they only have 2 hour packages).

I have been quoted cheapest £140 and most expensive £500. The average is £200.

Plus food, and gifts for DS.

So I called a few places where we could go to, and have found nothing under £200 (including food) or £130 (without food) plus entertainer!!!

Is this it? Are birthday parties for rich kids? Am I late on the uptake and everyone spends that kind of money? We have been to many parties and I have been wondering how much it costs other people, but THAT much!

(That second link really has some great Peter Pan games for the kids, and food idea's.)

When dd1 turned 5 we went to soft play (I was pregnant and couldn't be arsed wasn't really up to entertaining children

It was around £7 a head iirc

There were 12 of them altogether - less than a hundred quid.

This year she turned 6 and we went to Pizza Hut and the cinema - cost more per head but she was only allowed to invite 5 people.

Spend a lot on parties if you want to / can afford to but ime the children don't care how much you've spent and will have fun regardless of what you do.

Gosh, I feel really extravagant now having an entertainer and hall! And I thought we were being quite modest - like the OP said, some of the prices are sky high and we've gone for the cheapest we could find (although the entertainer is fab so no relation to price!).

I do agree though that the size of the party has no relation to the fun had! But it's my dd's first birthday party at her new school and she asked for a big 'whole class' party. She's always loved big parties but I think she's had such a tough year being new that she deserves it if that's what she wants.

I remember having entertainers or magicians when I was a kid so it doesn't seem like a new trend to me. What I don't like is the trend for discos - that just seems too grown up for 6 and 7 year olds. There's plenty of time for that!

Still, next year definitely going to steer dds in the direction of a couple of friends over. Much much easier and I'm sure they'll have just as much of a good time.

YABU, You don't have to pay out loads for a birthday party

Hire a hall somewhere. Fill it with balloons ad music. Let them run around and create havoc for a while. Play some organised games. Feed them. Play some more games. Send them home. Simple and cheap. Exhausting, but simple and cheap. And because it isn't in your home you don't have to clean squashed cake off the carpet. Hurrah!

OK, I did a peter Pan Party for DS when he was 4.

Make the cake: I made a cake iced to look like a treasure map, with small plastic PP figures here and there. (from Polly Pocket etc).

Make it fancy dress, but specify 'no swords'in the dress code (really important, unless you want non-stop wailing as they will whack each other). Plenty of scope f girls if they don't want to be pirates etc.

We did musical statues to various songs from the Disney peter pan film ('oh never smile at a crocodile)...when the music stops I shout out the name of a statue they have to make. 'Captain hook / pirate / croc / tinkerbell) best statue gets a miniscule prize - no-one is 'out' - continue till all have a small prize.

'What's the time, Captain Hook? The same as 'what's the time Mr Wolf' - be really scary when you turn and chase them

A treasure hunt - for choc gold coins

'Sleeping Lions' - but it's done as Nana the dog checking to see if the Darling children are awake

Pass The parcel - to loud soundtrack of ticking clock, and finish randomly when it goes off....

Make it 2 hours maximum, nvite no more than 10 guests. preferably 8.

V small party bag, buy a big plastic mat from ELC - the one that has islands and sea on it for use with thier pirate ship, sit them all on that for a picnic tea, which should be simple. Hot dogs followed by a mini milk ice lolly! Carrot batons if you must.

This year for my DS's 7th birthday I just did cup cake and cookie decorating, musical bumps, pass the parcel in my rather small 2 bed flat, and I have some snazzaroo face paints so I also did that for them myself. Thankfully one of the parents offered to stay, else I would have been a bit overwhelmed with 8 under eights!!!

Morrison's value crisps, snacks, sweets and minisausages. Homemade cheese/ham sandwiches and cake. I also reused old candles, tablecloth, left over plastic cups/plates/bowls (plain not expensive disney or whatever). Cheap ballons and party bags with some inexpensive toy tat from tesco.

They loved it. It cost me under £30 in total.

How about a hall? Our local chrch or sports halls are around £20-30 for 2 hours hire at a weekend, cheaper in the week.

You could then set up some activities in there:

Football nets - football party, nice and easy to set up but would take some organising and refereeing.

Put out various activities - sports day style party

Craft party - can easily do this yourself

Bouncy castle - if hall is big enough, but around here this costs aout £60-100 depending on size; cheaper in Nov as off peak. Obv this is a much dearer option.

Disco party - trn down lights, turn up music, throw in some silly party games

Cinema party - see if there is a big screen or TV you can use, throw cushins on floor, show film, serve hotdogs and popcorn

Of course parties arent the reserve of the rich.
My local soft play does play and eat deals after school for £5.
I took Ds and 4 of his freids from school then back to urs for a birthday cake.
Less that £50.

only if you have more money than sense do you spend lots.do ours at home. im the caterer.some squinty home made cake and tablet.food and wine for parents,just a big ole help yourself buffet

my friend did a picnic in park,that was nice

Can't you hire a local hall and do the rest yourself? Last year we hired our church hall for DD2's birthday, we had a halloween party (much to the horror of my mother who thought it outrageous to do so in the church hall even though the vicar was cool about it!) and we had a brilliant time, all the kids dressed up, we did the usual party games plus got some beads and made jewellery (we had DD1's friends over too), made our own food. Whole thing came in at around £60 incl hall hire and food for 20+ children.

Name change here, although a regular.

Agree with lots of the ideas for DIY parties, but if you are not that confident at doing the entertainment yourself, music franchises (Jo Jingles, Monkey Music etc) will often come and do some entertainment for an hour or so at a cheaper rate than magicians etc. I'm not sure what the London rates are for this but outside of London they are defo cheaper.

My dcs have never been to a party with an entertainer, people just aren't that well off around here. But they've been to some great parties! Biscuit decorating, treasure hunt, musical bumps (if living room is too small to accommodate musical chairs)- it's not that difficult to keep a bunch of 5yos happy.

we spent more for dd's party at home than for her soft play party. It was a combination of me over-catering massively on the food (we were eating stale ham sandwiches for 3 meals afterwards) and dh not understanding that 'a prize in every layer' for Pass the Parcel didn't mean a BIG prize in every layer

Most soft play places charge a tenner a head inc party bags, even if you invite 10 thats still pretty cheap.

Birthday parties are fab, and they don't need to cost a fortune.

Last year I did Pirates, and this year the theme is going to be Cowboys and Indians.

For pirates, I got some pirate bunting, a big flag and balloons off Ebay and did buffet food. I also made a pirate ship out of the box that DS's new bed came in and make a treasure chest birthday cake.

I managed to find a CD in Early Learning called Fish and Ships with all sea side songs on.

For party bags, I found some pirate colouring books which were great, and then put in some crayons, a balloon, bubbles and boxes of raisins as the children were too young to have chocolate gold coins.

DS was too young for games, but will be doing a themed pass the parcel and loads of others this year!

For Cowboys and Indians, I'm going to make a TP (SP?) out of some long garden canes and a sheet which I can print with native signs and am going to do a making and doing table where the children can make their own Indian hat with feathers etc or decorate a Sherrifs badge. I'll also be scouring the internet and library for other ideas of games etc that we can do.

Aparently, Cowboys like to eat beans and sausage but 3yr olds are too messy with beans for me and so I'm going to do buffet food again.

Party bags this year are going to have little cowboy & indian men (similar to those little play soliers) and I'm thinking of putting either water pistols or some cork guns that I've found, (though I'm going to give this some thought as I don't want parents being unimpressed with me putting guns in the party bags so this may have to wait till next time!)

I'm going to make a cake in the shape of a totum(sp?) pole this time I think.

The best thing with doing themed parties, is that everyone (including parents) can get dressed up and have fun - and, I get to collect a box full of themed birthday stuff to put away in the loft until we decide to do that theme again.

HTH, and hope that you have a great day whatever you decide to do!

Sarah x

we once did a pottery painting party. you can buy plain pottery - like flowerpots - off the internet and get a load of cheap paints and get the kids to paint them. Remember to make sure that they wear old clothes or bring an apron though. In our case, the flowerpots were used instead of party bags

We just did the same here...