Squashed tomatoes and stew. Parties for 7 year olds!!

[Tigermoth]

My son will be 7 in April. He wants to invite about 10 - 15 of his friends to his party. Many are his new school friends, and he has already been the their parties, so we ideally need to reciprocate. I don't want it in the house, though a really good idea might change my mind. For that number of children I'm on a budget of no more than £10.00 or so a head. I'd love to have the party outdoors but the weather in April is so dodgy. Any suggestions??

As a PS just thought I'd share this story with you. A few weeks ago, I took my sons to a local establishment billed as a 'Family-friendly pub'. It's got a playground, an indoor ball pond and serves lots of childrens food. A birthday party was in full swing. About 20 little boys were playing football. Some of their parents were looking on. The birthday boy apparently got hit by mistake by another boy who wasn't being supervised by his parents. To cut along story short, a fight ensued amongst the parents. The children were all standing by. About 15 parents joined in the fray, both men and women. It took three cars full of police and an ambulance crew to restore order. That's one party no one is going to forget in a hurry.

Where do you live? I was in Chester with MIL last week and we went to the new aquarium at Ellesmere port. There were a posse of 7 year old boys on a birthday visit having a great time, it costs about £5 to get in and then they had some food etc after - don't know what that cost. Anyhow, even if you don't live near Chester, could be similar near you?

The other story sounds fantastic! Made me chuckle at the end of a long day

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I agree with you Tigermoth - after an incident involving 10 little girls in bridesmaid's dresses going barmy on pink lemonade I vowed never to have anything in my house ever ever again! If you have an adventure centre nearby they might take children as young as 7 with 2 or 3 parents coming along (all kinds of opportunities for 'competitive Dad' I'm afraid, but the kids don't seem to notice!)

Tigermoth, our Leisure Centre does indoor football parties for up to 16. They play footie for 40 minutes and then have food in the cafe. Football works out at £45 and the food £2.50 per head. The hardest part is trying to get the parents to reply to the invite!! Good Luck.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'm passing them onto my son. At his age, he demands lots of input.
Emmagee, I live in south East London, but the aquarium suggeston is a possibility - there's always the London aquarium. An adventure centre sounds good, too. It's likely they'll be a few girls, so I've got to choose something reasonably unisex.

Also, with this awful foot and mouth crisis, I can't pre-plan anything involving animals or the countryside. As it is, it looks like we'll have to cancel seeing the in-laws for Easter in Cornwall. They tell me everywhere is closed, all the country parks, children's farms, even the beaches. They won't be open for at least two weeks after we have the all-clear.

So far my son is set on our local McDonalds or the local ball pond, so I may go with the flow.

Any more suggestions, please let me know.

hi, tigermoth!
my son was 7 last year and we took 6 LOVELY (!) little boys to see pokemon the movie - which deafened us but they liked it - then brought them home for pizza (but you wouldn't want to do that?)
thinking of an outing is less difficult than organising food...though you could do cinema + packed lunch each?
if he really wants to go to mcdonalds it would certainly save you a lot of organisation, although the parties i've seen there always seem to look a bit dull. what sort of parties did his friends have?

Janh, seems like your son had a great time. In our case, I'm catering for about 12 (hopefully lovely) boys and girls, so a cinema trip might be stretching it. Even with extra adults drafted in, think of the loo breaks and fighting over popcorn!

Many of his friend's parties were held at Mcdonalds and similar places, and yes, the whole thing seems a bit samey, and I have got another, more unusual, party plan up my sleeve.

However he's fairly set on Mcdonalds and he's never had a party there before.(Last year I took five of them to The Enchanted Forest at Groombridge Gardens in Sussex - not very birthday-ish but very lovely). Like it or not, (and I don't, much) a Mcdonald's party seems to be part of the childhood ritual these days.

In years to come, I don't want him adding a message on some internet site about his awful mother refusing to give him a Mcdonalds party when he was young...

Tigermoth, what's The Enchanted Forest? It sounds lovely.

Marina, The Enchanted Forest at Groombridge Place is in Sussex. It is a very old forest set on an undulating slope, part of the grounds at Groombridge Place (incidently the house featured in the film of The Draughtsman's Contract)

It sounded a bit too namby-pamby for my son so we avoided going to it till last May. It was lovely. There was a sea of bluebelles and all sorts of wierd and wonderful things to encounter as we walked round. Think dinosaurs,Romany gypsys, hippies, Bhuddists and Red Indians. Can't say more or it would spoil the surprise.

For us one of the best bits was the giant swing walk. Huge swings suspended on 5-storey-high branches. Sit on them and the arc is amazing. With the bluebelles it was like being in a Flake advert. In the case of my son, like being Buzz Lightyear.

Also lots of small animals, sandpits, climbing frames etc so suitable for toddlers. Forest lanes are OK for buggies. Just checked and it's open for the summer from April 1st. Phone number is 01892 863999.

Tigermoth, THANKS! Definitely a family summer outing in the making.

Yes, it sound great.

hi again, tigermoth! have you had it yet?

your gardens sound lovely but not a daytrip from lancashire...

this year sam had his 8th birthday at a local bowling alley - we were meant to take 6 but 2 were poorly, but we had older siblings and friends too and they all really enjoyed it! they had a special offer on for easter - 2 games each for 4 was only £18 (only? i'm sure they used to be about 50p a game in my youth). most bowling alleys do food too - you might like to consider it next year - good fun and a bar there too!!!

anyway i hope yours didn't/doesn't end in fisticuffs and your son will never have cause to reproach you for depriving him...

Janh. Thanks for your message. We're still counting down to the big day. Your bowling trip sounded fun. Definitely one to avoid, though, if some individuals in your party don't get on, otherwise you might need to take heed of Tiggers crash helmet suggestion posted on the flying food etc message board.

rozzy - my son had a creepy-crawly man at school last term - had his photo taken with a tarantula and a snake!!! loved it. i don't have a contact no. though, do you? are there lots of them? is it a franchise thing?

i think for swimming parties some people (eg me!) would need a lot of helpers...i would worry about supervising lots of kids in a pool when you don't know their swimming ability.

tigermoth, i think they find it so difficult to pick the balls up at all, throwing them would be out of the question! (dropping on toes, maybe..)
incidentally i forgot to mention they have a kind of miniature slide thing, only with an alley down it, which can be moved in front of the lane, so even tinies can be lifted up - with some help with the ball! - and have a go too. the bumpers down the sides of the lane mean everybody can knock some down. apart from certain people thinking they are entitled to win and being miffed when they don't - no names, no pack drill, but the birthday boy springs to mind - it is good fun and the time goes very quickly.