Reasonable amount to spend on a Birthday party????

[Tothemoonandbackx]

It's my DD's 3rd Birthday coming up, and I've decided to throw a party for her at my house, inviting close family and friends, because last year we couldn't have anyone over (local lockdown) I wanted to make this one extra special, Ive just been adding decorations, plates, cups etc to an online basket, and I'm not even half way through and it's come to £45 already, that's before, a cake, food, drinks and party bags for the children coming. What would you say is a reasonable amount to spend on a party???? I know things will depend on the amount of people etc, but I was just wondering how much people have spent before

I usually spend around £300

Although that's not an at home party. I've never done a party at home. I always book somewhere

My 3 year olds was £210 plus homemade cake but we hired a soft play place.

As much as you can afford and want to spend!

I invested in some bunting which gets used for any birthday party every year and a good quality cake topper with "happy birthday" so it can be used for all birthdays.

I have a nice tablecloth that I use for special occasions and that's it. We buy a couple of balloons but that's it.

For an at-home party I'd say around £150, since the kids got to school and parties are whole-class I've usually hired a hall (quite reasonably priced around here) and so its usually about the £250 mark when adding on the extras for that. Ive found that multiple crafts and activities for 30 kids tend to cost close to the same as a small bouncy castle so now hire a castle for the hall instead (castles around £80 for the afternoon).

Plates etc are cheaper in the supermarket, ditto decorations. So as a rough breakdown for 30 kids plus parents for tea and coffee/ snacks

£5 on plates
£5 on cups
£3 on napkins
£5 on tablecloths (which I reuse for future parties if clean enough).
£15 on decs (which again I reuse every year)
£50 on hall hire for 4 hours
£80 on bouncy castle/ activities for 30 kids
£25 on party bags- (I buy large paper sweet bags, multipacks of pencils, erasers, stickers etc)
£40 on food
£30 ish on a cake (I bake and decorate this myself)

That doesn’t sound terrible, last one I did we spent about £150 on the kids but more including booze for the parents. Just don’t overspend on Insta worthy decor because 3YOs won’t notice and would generally prefer loads of balloons!

Birthday parties are incredibly expensive

About £100 for a party at home with 8-10 friends, this includes food, cake (1 bought 1 made), party bags, pass the parcel, decorations and plates, tablecloth and napkins.

I always used to go to a ball pond play area and hire that and they did everything except the cake. For 8-10 children used to cost about £120. That included food and drinks and a play host. No cleaning up either.

The correct answer is whatever you can afford.

@careerchangeperhaps

The correct answer is whatever you can afford.

This. I reckon I end up spending about £15 per head on the kids parties. Rarely more than 10 children attending.

Oops forgot to add. I also invested in plates from ikea. Small side plates are 50p each. I have about 20 or so. Also 2 packs of ikea cutlery. Much cheaper in the long run than buying paper plates and cutlery and much more sustainable x

Definitely recommend investing in Reuseable items rather than disposable plates etc. For that age group I would also recommend the sets of 10nbooks for £10 from the works instead of a party bag. Cakes are so so much cheaper to make yourself. So basically you can spend as much or little as you want.

I'm spending about £300 on my son's first birthday party 🤣 believe me you are fine!

Do you need the plates, cups and tablecloth? Presumably you already have these things, and then you would have more money to spend on food etc.

I was going to do it at home too but then realised (knowing me and my anxiety about pleasing) I would have spent stupid amounts so I just paid for entry at soft play for 7 children and 8 adults. It came to £25!! £10 on a cake. I bought £15 worth of snacks for the kids whilst there. £15 on the party bags.

About £250-£300

DDs birthday cake I get hand made to order though so that bumps up the cost.

No right or wrong answer, whatever you can afford!

I dread to think how much I have spent on my 3 over the years and still have 2 21ts to go
I Don't think about the money though,I think about the brilliant times we have had with family and friends,and the fab memories