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

I’m learning lol

I learnt the hard way thinking a village hall would be cheaper, hahaha! I wish I’d just booked the local soft play, would have been cheaper and less stress.

@Stickyicecream
@sunshineandrain82
thanks - I see now that for what we are planning this is the norm, and compared to some a good deal. I’m not against paying it at all, I think I was just so naive about it all and had no idea the cost lol when the price of the party will more than any gift we have gotten him lol (including birthday meal with family).
and that I will be making decorations and using things we already have - i don’t want to be spending to much on single use items.
I think DS will have a blast and will be so happy 😃
it will be worth all the money and effort!

lol. I have liked and will probably do that next year - a couple of DS cousins are a bit old for that so this year will be including everyone as it’s DS first party 🥳

Never ever seen cake put into party bags. Always cut and served as pudding to the party tea. But maybe that’s area dependent??Agree cupcakes are good though as no cutting required!

Definitely have them sit to chill and decompress. Individual boxes are good because it avoids any stress of serving them- 4YOs can be grim with poking stuff and not taking it or licking then putting it back so I would avoid a buffet for this age. Boxes also really good if you have any allergies as it controls who gets what.

It’s too young to understand ‘adopt an animal’, if it comes with a soft toy that’s better but they’ll literally think that’s it and not get the context. Honestly they’d all prefer the bag of tat.

But whatever you do I’m sure it’ll be worth the time and effort and DC will love it!

I mean, fair play to you.
I can only dream of goody bags like that lol good for you x

And thats what matters 🙂

At that age, we just invited a group of their friends to our home and had sandwiches, crisps, cake and party games. They all enjoyed themselves.

Christ on a bike. What kind of party is this?

How old are your children?

Because definitely when I was at school this was the typical party; you went to your friends house for tea and games. McDonald’s if someone was really pushing the boat out. Now - I’ve only been invited to one party at someone’s house which was a fucking nightmare. A load of kids piled into the conservatory which doubled up as a playroom and the next day we all got an irate WhatsApp from the host with a photo of broken toys. It was six of one half a dozen of really because as much as I think a lot of parents weren’t supervising very well (I was, because I know my own ds is very careless with toys and belongings - we’re working on it) the host should really have anticipated a certain amount of destruction!

£300-£400 was about the norm 15 years ago for hall hire and an entertainer or a package at soft play or the like. We often shared with another child whose bday was close and split the cost.

@arcticfoxxMy kids are 20 and 17. They both had lots of home birthday parties when they were little and we never had any issues at all. We didn’t have toys out for general use because we had party games and/or structured activities like art and craft. The party went on for about two hours so just enough time for games plus tea and then they all went home.

Well yes, that’s what I mean times have changed and your children are quite a bit older.

Party games often don’t work brilliantly with under fives and some kids just aren’t into crafts.

My girl is 17 and we did the "at home" parties.
Under 5s managed just fine with Pass the Parcel, Musical Statues and Pin the Tail on the Donkey (they especially thought that was hilarious).
So what if some kids aren't into crafts. Some absolutely hate bouncy castles, an "entertainer", face painting and loud music 🤷
No party will be what every child enjoys.

I bought white mugs then some porcelain pens/ceramic markers, and let the kids decorate their own mugs to take home. Needs grown up assistance for writing names on them neatly, but it's generally a calming activity.

Mugs less than £1 each and a pack of 10 ceramic markers for £5 - I got a couple of packs.

Oh that’s a cool idea but I did just give a couple of kids a child size mug as part of their birthday gifts lol but think I’ll keep the might idea for future :)

Yes, children’s parties are indeed expensive. Because everything has gone up. My dd is having her 6th birthday party this weekend and it has cost her dad and me over £700. She has a small class size and we’ve got 14 attending. We hired a hall, bouncy castle, music system, face painter and candy floss stall. We also are including party bags. And our daughter wanted a rainbow sponge cake.

I have grown up children who say that they have really fond memories of their childhood birthday parties so I think it is worth it but, really my dd is unlikely to have a whole class party again. Maybe one more next year? But as they get older, the parties get smaller.

Btw we got our party bags and fillers from Curious caterpillar - they were very reasonably priced and also eco friendly and the quality is great. I was making them up last night and my mum was impressed with them.

If she’s 17 I’m kind of guessing it’s been a while since she’s had a party with her friends.

People can do whatever they like obviously, but it’s only on here I’ve seen home parties pushed.

I think no activity is better than stickers on a bag, sorry

It's only on Mumsnet that I hear of people spending £100s on birthday parties.
I am amazed people can afford it.

I agree that sticking things (not just "stickers") on a bag sounds like a really dull craft - but I've run it with probably dozens of children (previous leader of children's group) over the years and the vast majority will sit and put a lot of effort into producing their masterpiece. And at 4, particularly if they don't get to to this sort of thing at home, they will lap it up. Unless they really don't like crafts, but then no craft activity will suffice.

These are pretty young children, if you want a craft activity you are limited to some variation of colouring, cutting and sticking

I have to budget through the year. My daughters is midsummer and I start paying around now then when hers is over I start thinking about my sons in December.

But have you honestly never been to a party at a village hall with a bouncy castle or a soft play type place?

Oh I’m not ‘pushing’ any sort of party @arcticfoxx, just talking about the sort of parties we did because I think for some parents it might be nice to hear that they actually don’t have to spend £££ or invite the whole class to provide a nice party for their child. Even when my children were little (which as you point out was a while ago), home parties were becoming somewhat unusual; many children were having parties at soft plays, leisure centres etc. We were probably seen as old-fashioned or stingy or whatever by some parents, but our children and their friends had fun so it doesn’t matter what other adults thought about it.

Yes I've been to them.
Personally I thought the parents were nuts for spending so much. 50% of the kids didn't seem to be having a good time.
They were just loud and chaotic.
In my personal opinion they were horrible.