Cinema birthday trip for 4/5 6 year olds, any advice/tips please?

[sparklejawsy]

My DS will be turning 6yo mid September and is already asking for a repeat of last years bday party which was a softplay pirate themed affair. We had 10 or so attendees but what with balloons/party bags and extras this was £100 plus and we just can't stretch to that this year, especially as DS has asked for a Nintendo DS (we are only relenting as he has a lazy eye and we've been advised to get one as it aids the patching work and eye focus etc).
So, I would rather give him another 'proper' full on party next year when we will hopefully have better job security and more cash flow iykwim.
Plus my Dad's bday is the same day so my Mum is organising a 60th party for him the night before which will no doubt include a cake/candle/celebration for DS too.

As a birthday treat I was thinking of doing a cinema trip with a visit to Frankie and Benny's or Chiquito's (both a 2 min walk from cinema) afterwards. Was thinking of inviting 3/4 of DS's closest school friends and buying large bag of popcorn to share between them in smaller cups and giving them fruit shoots/cartons.
Our local cinema does a 99p children's showing on Sundays at 11am so this could work out a very reasonable cost and I'm sure my DS would be very happy with that.

Has anyone else done something similar? Will I regret having to supervise 5 6 yo over excited boys at the cinema and then a restaurant!!?
Do I do normal invites (I can make myself) or just subtley ask parents in the playground?
Any tips or counter ideas gratefully received!

Hi. I did a party like this for my daughter when she was six, had tea in a pizza place next to the cinema after the film. If you haven't got another adult to go with you I'd be really firm about them all going to the loo before and after the film/meal! Hand out party bags with a carton of supermarket juice, few sweets in at the cinema. Make your own invites (get ds to help) and bring your own supermarket cartons. Bringing your own cups in and sharing out cinema popcorn is a great idea. Check out the internet for money off vouchers for the restaurant chains you mention. Hope you have a great time!

We did this for ds when he turned 6 earlier this year. TBH they were noisier than expected in the cinema and Pizza Hut - and then one boy didn't like popcorn, so we got him some sweets and then the others wanted sweets etc etc...but having said that, they all had a good time. I think I would do it again but with fewer kids (we took ds plus four friends).

I agree with clippity's rules about using the toilet before and after the film! And Pizza Hut provided a cake which made things easier - F&Bs or Chiquito might do the same.

We did the invites in advance and explained we would be doing the cheap kids' club showing so wouldn't know what the film was until nearer the time - this just added to the excitement!

How well do you know the other children? Have they all been to the cinema before, so they know what is expected in terms of behaviour?

I did this, but it was for DS2's 7th birthday and with 3 of his friends and it was fine.

LikeGoldengreen, as we did the cheapy cinema, we did not know what film would be on or even if it was the right type of film for them (ie, we did not want to take them to see Thomas, but something a bit more adventure-like). We were lucky with the film and they really enjoyed it. The parents thought it was a great idea for a birthday celebration .

We also made our own invitations.

Thanks for all your replies and your ideas, will really help!
I only 'know' one of the children DS has suggested bringing and when he came to our house a few months ago to play he was really well behaved but having seen him at a couple of soft play parties recently and speaking to his Mum he's gone a bit 'silly' recently. Luckily I will have DP and possibly a grandparent there too so will make them all go to the loo beforehand but if we need to supervise another loo trip we'll have a few adults to help!
Will get some sweets as a reserve, and supermarket cartons, thanks for that.
Told DS yesterday as he's kept on about his repeat party of last year and he was really excited.
We won't find out the film until the week before either but there's a choice of 2 films for the 99p showing and one is normally an big animated so we should be ok, finger's crossed!

One of DD's friends did this for 5th birthday - half a dozen invitees, but for the sake of the extra £6 (and extra for some adult snacks at pizza place), the host parents invited 1 parent per child too (and made it quite clear they were expected to stay). I ended up taking DS as well (I did check with host parents first) and I paid for his ticket separately.

If inviting a parent per child too is an option, I would consider it, IIWY, especially if you have to walk any distance from cinema to restaurant. At least one child decided the film (Smurfs, IIRC) was "scary" and climbed into a parent's lap, and some of them definitely needed 1:1 marking walking through town.