To be shocked at kids party prices

[4babiesforever]

almost 4 year old has been getting invited to birthdays parties at nursery and from a club he goes to over the past year and a bit and has now asked for a birthday party of his own this this year.
AIBU to be shocked how much it seems to plan a birthday party for kids or should I have expected this?!

• will be inviting up to 30 kids (nursery class, some pals from club, and lots of cousins lol). cant fit that in our house and I thought th cheapest option would be to hire a community hall as DS would like a bouncy castle. he would like a theme and I’m thinking I could make a lot of the decorations from cardboard, a friend has offered to dress up lol, but even so adding up the cost of hall hire, bouncy castle, and food it all adds up. I’ve been trying to think of an activity that could double up as party favour to take home for example painting themed plaster cast models (I’ve seen kits that have several peices), and making themed cookies to take home (or price of the cake) or books from works etc but still adds up (and I’m planning in a way do I don’t even have to spend on an actual ‘gift bag’) I will provide food for adults as my family would have to travel. everyone I try and cost everything up it comes up to £300/400 - is this normal?
  or does anyone have any good tips? AIBU to be so clueless about this all or to ask for advice please oh ps - theme is ocean animals Tia x

If you have the money to spend then do it.

But having taken mine to this kind of party at that age, they couldn't even tell you who the birthday child was.

For that kind of price you could have a nice weekend away as a family - before school holiday prices kick in. We used to love a little caravan holiday and in the pool, soft play etc .

I'd do a small home party so they get cake etc but limit it to cousins and any kids where you have a relationship with the parents. Doubt your child will view it much differently.

If you do go ahead, cheap activity options:

We were given a glitter tattoo set (think was from home bargains). It's a stencil and Comes off easily. Very popular with my daughter's friends.

Get some bean bags or hoops for little games.

Decorate a Digestive biscuit with icing pens.

But with 30 kids and a bouncy castle it will be utter chaos however we'll you plan.

Oh and sticker books from home bargains also make excellent party bags. You can get for 59p.

They also had little mosaic stickers things for about 60p that were very popular. Worth a look there too.

Also handy for pass the parcel

I always think a few games tweaked to match the theme are worth having up your sleeve. If you have someone or you would feel confident you could not bother with the bouncy castle cost to save money.For example Pin the fin on the fish, shark tag, under the sea disco (with balloon as the bubbles) sleeping sealions (when they need to calm down a bit) Magnetic fishing challenge etc. Google party games and the theme for ideas. They could build a boat out of cardboard boxes and sit in it for the party tea of sailer snacks. Sea shanty song and story time optional!

If you’re going to invite that many kids it’s going to cost a lots of money, that’s only £10 a child. I always had about 10 kids max and did it home. Cost a lot lot less.

Ways to make it cheaper are

• Looking around for a cheaper hall (they vary by us a lot, but many don't allow for bouncy castles if you check the small print so you need to be careful).
• Joint party with another child
• No bouncy castle, party games instead (I happily do this as a primary teacher but can't say we've been to any other parties over the years where there's been more than pass the parcel. And not everyone has the skills to direct 30 excitable children).
• Smaller guest list

I think there is a limit to how cheap you can do it. Party bags are going to be an absolute minimum of £1 each so that's £30 straight away. As you say, bouncy castle hire is what it is. PPs who have done cheap parties aren't necessarily talking about parties in the past 3 or 4 years since prices have really done up and realistically most 5 year olds aren't going to be happy being dropped at an unfamiliar house so to do it at home you really need space to accommodate parents too. There's no need to provide parents with more than tea/coffee though.

I’d wait until reception for a full class party. That’s a good way of meeting parents and getting to know the kids - you’ll likely be dealing with the same bunch of peeps throughout primary school so it’s a good investment. We did 4 or 5 full class parties in various soft play or trampoline places but only because mine shared the party with a few other kids. Otherwise it was too expensive.

See if you can get away with a smaller gathering this year.

If doing for 4th nursery , then likely to do the same again for 5th and school
but hopefully by 6/7 smaller Parties do close friends

but yes that’s the cost. Def need either bouncy castle / entertainer for that many kids

hall £45/60 for 3hrs
bouncy castle /entertainer £100/150

leaving food an party’s bags

a book/sticker book from poundshop , bag of sweets and slice of cake for party bags

food can do boxes for kids so sarnie. Crisps , cocktail sausage s, party rings , cut grapes /raisins , frube

adults - Iceland and couple of French sticks - pate. Phili - crisps - pizza cut into slices is cheap and easy

they don’t need a massive meal but nice to offer food is 11-1 etx

This is a good point. How many of the nursery kids are likely to go to the same school?

Your child probably won't remember at least half of them by their next birthday. At least by primary school it's a more useful investment in their social relationships.

@op as it's nursery, keep the invitation lost small. Spend the money at reception stage when the primary relationship lastsnfkr seven years.

Also, I remember the under 6's didn't eat that much: plate it up for them: 2 finger sandwiches, fairy cake holder of crisps, half a dozen halved grapes, half a satsuma, two party rings and give them juice in a carton but have extras.

Party bags: balloon, glittery pen, eraser, stickers, bubbles, slice of cake. (I bought two little cakes and sliced and wrapped one before the party) I tried to so little books or packets of cress - they like a bag of cheap sh1t and it's about your dc's infant cred.

Parties used to cost £100 to £150 in the early noughties so your price sounds about right. Ours had a choice: a nice birthday present or a party. They always went party.

Your pay back is that ypur child will pribably be invited to another 15 to 20 parties. That's 30 to 40 hours of freedom to go shopping, have your hair cut, read a book, etc

I think that’s too much.
I hire a hall for around 100 quid for 3 hours.
bouncy castle 50 quid.
I usually do crafts, face painting, pin the tail on the donkey, pass the parcel etc. all very cheap to buy bits for. Food is usually butties, crisps, biscuits, fruit and juice.
party bags are next to nothing on temu.
and a cake for around 15 quid from supermarket.
I’d say just under 200 quid.

Mine was at the school nursery so is still friends with pretty much all of them.

£10 per kid isn’t at all expensive for entertainment, food and a gift bag especially if you’re also doing refreshments for their accompanying grown ups. I don’t think you can make it much cheaper and with hall parties the big costs are the hire and bouncy castle so culling the guestlist isn’t necessarily much of a saver. Not to mention that parties at home are hard with winter babies when you can’t count on having the run of the garden. I think it’s just one of those things to suck up in the early years and then by the time they’re 8 they’ll want a sleepover and pizza with 3 friends which costs you next to nothing but have you up half the night and you’ll be missing the big parties that were all over and done in 2 hours!

They definitely can cost that much, but they don't have to.

Hall hire isn't particularly expensive. Food for a 4 year old isn't expensive - jam, cheese, choc spread sandwiches, cheap frozen pizzas, biscuits, carrot sticks, jugs of squash/water.

If he wants a theme, then just ask kids to come dressed in that theme (optional, but we've had cowboy parties, superhero parties etc. No need to go overboard on decorations, some themed balloons, paper plates, supermarket cake will do.

Party bags don't need to be expensive - some stickers/bubbles/sweets and a slice of cake will be more than enough.

Skip the bouncy castle, and play some traditional party games - pass the parcel, musical statues etc. Sleeping lions can take ages! All very cheap to do.

I don't think I've ever catered for the parents, or taken my kids to a party where I was catered for, other than perhaps a sandwich or biscuit from the kids table leftovers, so I wouldn't worry about that.

At the end of the day, he's four. He'll have fun if he's just running around in circles with his friends - kicking a balloon about and playing some games. When he gets older, cut the guest list and take a dozen kids bowling or similar

Sorry if already asked but does leisure centre do a party package? Takes a bit of pressure off some of the setting up. Can sometimes then get castle, soft play stuff and music etc all in. You can then bring food you’ve made.

but yes it’s around 300-400 I’m afraid. Especially with that many kids - and party bags.

I’ve been to a few parties with party games and no central activity and it looks pretty exhausting and not all kids will join in - meaning they bored. It ca be a long time to fill!! That’s only my experience though.

but agree with the dress up and a few balloons. Kids won’t notice fancy decorations.

I did a book and a freddo for party bags this time went to the works got ten books for £10 really lovely ones too

My eldest is year 11 and I remember spending about that for a class party in reception.

hiring a hall and bouncy castle is expensive. You might as well invite the whole class as the hall and bouncy castle are the bits that will cost. I second the idea of trying to find another child in the class with a birthday close by to do a joint party. Or dump the bouncy castle, hire a hall if you can find something cheap and run party games yourself.

Go for a 2-4pm time slot- then you just need to provide a few nibbles to keep the kids happy and not a full meal. This keeps food costs down, you also definitely don't need to cater for the adults too.

Maybe you could do a party for his friends from nursery and any activities he does and a separate get together with cousins etc who are older. I can see if you have lots of family attending why you may feel the need to cater to the adults.

Missed it was nursery. We managed to do a 90 minute party at that age. Plenty long enough - I think most parents were relieved!

This is the annoying time and I hate parties that do this time

kid don’t really eat much as not that hungry when food comes out 3/3:30

but then don’t went tea 5ish and then hungry 6/630

Normal, if not more.
We paid about £100 for the hall, £250 for the entertainment, then another £100 for the decorations and party bags and then another £150 for the food. Baring in mind I made lunchboxes and went to Aldi for the ingredients to try and save a bit - all in all it came to a lot

Most people don't do a "whole" class party except for reception/y1, then its common to share with at least one or even two other parents to reduce the cost.

Despite trying to be careful with budget our hall ones cost upwards of £400. Usually over £500.

We started at age 3 and 4 with soft play and role play village types which were cheaper at about £18 pp and we invited about 20. But the hall ones for 30 have always been more.

We did one for DD (3) in Dec. Hall was 190, bouncy castle 110, food we pulled together ourselves but probably circa 50.
We got basic bags from card factory and put in stickers and some plastic kids party toys. Everyone was happy. I made the cake.

It cost a fortune imo but my in laws wanted to see one and they're both ill, one terminal, so we decided to go ahead.

Next time we'll probably do home party for 4-5 kids 🤣

I’ve been to a few parties with party games and no central activity and it looks pretty exhausting and not all kids will join in - meaning they bored. It ca be a long time to fill!! That’s only my experience though

Keep it short. Perhaps an hour and half. By the time people have arrived, played a few games, had food, played another game, it's time to go home.

I agree that, at four, some children won't want to join in. But at that age, parents are generally staying, so I'd ask that they look after their kids if they won't join in. Or call out your instructions - 'Mums, dads, it's time for pass the parcel, please bring your child over to sit in the circle' There should be plenty of adults around, and giving them a clear instruction really helps.

then another £150 for the food. Baring in mind I made lunchboxes and went to Aldi for the ingredients to try and save a bit - all in all it came to a lot

£150 ! That's a lot in Aldi for a kids party. As a cub leader, I take a group of 40 kids and 10 adults away on a one night residential, and the budget is £200 for all food for the whole weekend - dinner, cooked breakfast and packed lunch. So you should easily be able to do a basic party food lunch for 30 pre-schoolers for a lot less than that.