How much do you spend on DC birthday parties?

[didyouseetodaysrainbow]

DS is 9 this summer. All his friends have had big parties like laser quest, trampolining, hiring soft play etc. All these look to be in the region of £200 once you've sorted food and party bags as well. It feels like a lot of money. Anyone have any ideas of parties that are really fun but cheaper than this? I know we could do less kids but I feel bad not inviting all the kids back as he's been to their party. We had a house party last year which was cheaper but took us about a week to recover from, his friends are wild, never again

I wish we lived where you are! Our London council soft play charges over £400 for a soft play party, and you have to supply food and party bags on top!

The cheapest we've been to is a party in a public park, with picnic rugs and a camping table. There was an entertainer but I suppose you could make up your own games. But that's dependent on weather so we've been too nervous to try it.

We set aside £400 for birthdays, that needs to go on party/activity, present, cake etc. Sometimes they're picked a party which costs c£250. Other times they've opted for a bigger present, some years we've done things like a Legoland stay. We've always been quite open with them with the budget so they understand the limitations and pick what they really want, it's funny how rarely they pick parties when they understand the cost!

Depends on the party anything from £300-£500 I generally set aside £1k per child’s birthday.

Dc1 turned 9 in February. We took 10 friends (plus him and his sister) to a trampoline place for 2 hours of jumping followed by food. Think all in it worked out at £396 (33 x12). I budgeted £500 for his birthday and gave him the choice of a few presents/big party or vice versa. He wanted a big party and to be fair, he got £150 plus a few presents just from the party as most people gave cash. We're a very long way from London.

Parties my kids have been to have included small groups going bowling and then for pizza/mcdonalds. A gaming van which was a bit hit and I thought surprisingly cheap. Camping in someone's garden. Ice-skating. Got an invitation to a paddleboarding one after Easter that dc1 is excited about. Rock climbing was a success but that was smallish groups. Any local museums do birthday packages? Dc2 to went to one in a local Science museum and loved it.

Our local council pools do a good package with inflatables. That might be an option? Next year dc1 wants to try an Escape room.

£200 is very cheap!

Usually around the £300 mark for their parties, sometimes higher sometimes a little lower dependant on numbers. We usually end up with around 20 kids and it's about £15-16 a head for softplay party with food. Birthday cake on top but they supply the party bags.

As eldest is getting older she wants to try something different. Trampoline places here are £21 a head with food. Have to do ur own party bags too! We will do lower numbers for this type of party.

I would expect to pay £400-£600 for the type of activities you mention. Does your child have any friends with birthdays close in date that could have a joint party? We've always teamed up with at least one person and shared the costs, which makes a big difference but your child doesn't enjoy it any less.

DD’s most recent one was a community hall with a guy that brings small furry animals and cute reptiles that the children could hold/stroke. 14 kids in total, hire and animals cost £310, food £100 cake £100 and party bags were about £60. Presents we won’t go into 🤣

I like to have £800 saved for birthdays depending what Dd wants to do for it.

Parties are usually in the region of £500 here. So expensive!

Trip to McDonalds
Picnic in the park
Trip to the local swimming pool

I know a kid who is apparently going to Costa with her friends for her 8th birthday?! 😂

Kids just want an opportunity to be with their mates outside of school and have the freedom to muck about and be silly for a couple of hours. Chuck in a few balloons and a bit of cake, happy days.

Sometimes I did spend a bit, mostly they just had 2 or 3 friends round for tea after school.

We spend £400-500 but this includes a party for their friends, party bags and family party plus food and cake. We have one DC so this may be a factor.

I should say I don't think it is necessary to spend so much. You could have a smaller party at home, at a local village hall or take a few kids for a meal or film.

Or ask if they would prefer a day out a theme park instead perhaps taking a friend along.

Swimming parties can work out cheaper, we did one recently for 30 kids that cost £130 for an hour and then instead of food we gave them all a sausage role and a carton of juice in their party bag, with the usual extras. Reckon it cost £160 all in for 30 kids. Very positive feedback all round. Up north tho!

A sleepover and a pizza can be great fun though if it’s just a few, and agree with a PP that a trip to a coffee shop with a few mates is also fun for them.

Recently had party for ds aged 5.

Hired a hall which cost £80
Bouncy castle which was £125
Goodness knows what on food and decorations, I'd suspect about £100 - £150 including cake.

Probably could have done a soft play or trampolining for cheaper lol

£200 seems about average where I am. My son's last party cost £189.50 for 10 kids in a trampoline park, with pizza and unlimited squash. £15 on party bags and I made the cake.

My daughter's having a party at the local village hall (£10 per hour to hire), I'm hiring an entertainer for £130 and will lay on chicken nuggets, chips and squash for food and do the cake myself. Another £15 ish on party bags.

£200 would be about average. Mine have done a few things like that or I give them the option to spend that in another way, so sometimes they want a night away in a hotel and shopping etc once they get around 9 plus.

I work within a sector that includes parties, my rates are about £150-£250 and that's without any food, hall hire etc. I suspect most parties I attend in my job are spending around £400-£500 on the party, sometimes I get parties that have clearly cost in excess of £1000. I'm not in an expensive area.

Things are just more expensive though now, I mean I took my children to the cinema yesterday and it came to the best part of £100 (I have four though), more of you include the snacks we bought.

I think that’s cheap tbh. We budget about £400 for birthday parties with 15 guests. £20 each for activity + food, £100 for party bags, cake etc. - and I’m def one of the cheaper mums! It is RIDICULOUSLY spenny these days.

Ive done the maths on hiring a hall/ catering yourself etc. and tbh it doesn’t come out much cheaper, but it is exponentially more work.

secretly really pleased DS seems to have gone off big parties and just wants to do a small group of closest friends this year!

I prefer parties where the cost of room / party / equipment host / food hire is all included. It’s easy to overspend otherwise. So I always spend approx 300-400.

Thanks so much everyone! Looks like I need to up the budget a bit, or scale down!

Last year dds was £300 for 17 kids at soft play and that was a party package, I still had to do birthday cake and party bags on top.

I booked a hall and bouncy castle for her party there and was £450 inc food, drinks, party bags and cake.

We’ve had several big parties that cost £200-400.

We also have had a few birthdays where we take them and 2/3 friends to the cinema or bowling. Much cheaper.

We’ve also had ones where we have invited their friends to join us at the park on their birthday after school. The kids have all played in the playground and I took a picnic and cake for everyone. Super cheap.

Don’t feel pressured into a big party every year if you can’t afford it. My kids enjoyed the cheaper/smaller parties just as much as the expensive ones.