Help!, we've done the soft play/disco/farm parties..now what!?

[ROSEgarden]

dd's birthday, although not till april but i dont know what to do for her now, we killed softplay parteis we did/went to them that much, same with her disco party last year and every childs after that, farm would be too cold in april...so what???
bowling is £10 a head and theres no way im daft enough for that!...the place she has asked for(softplay!) is between £7.99 and £12.99 a head(latter price for room to yourself!)...FFS!
Shes after a nintendo ds and we want to buy her a trampoline, we can do £10 a head AND get these presents...help!

oh and theres no way id do something at home, it will p*ss down and all 40 children will turn in wrecking machines and i have enough of that through week!

HELP!

i do like the idea of pizza party, wondering if dd will actually eat anything if all friends there, shell be too excited?..will check back alter am not ignoring havent had any dinner and be off ot bed soon, gotta fit something in..thanks for all your suggestions

I don't think what you've done party wise is over the top perhaps the scale is (ie 40 guests) but not what you've done. It is also the norm here to have a proper big party since their 3rd birthdays, and the kids love them

I don't see anything wrong in doing it for you as much as for her RGarden, the memories are for you both and it's all part of enjoying parenting. I'm big on parties too.
My favourite ones so far have been when we've hired a hall. Dds 5th was lovely, they just played a few games, spent quite a long time chasing balloons about, and then I read them a story and, shock, they all sat and listened. I had a couple of props, puppet-type things.
Her 6th party was harder though, a rowdy bunch of boys I couldn't control and dd herself behaved appallingly .
If you decide to do the hall thing get lots of help.

oh sorry rosegarden, missed what you said about no hall.

I am trying to organise my son's 4th party and have to say am finding it horrible. Mainly because I don't know who to invite. He has friends at pre-school - who I don't know and whose parents I don't know. Plus he has different friends at nursery - same situation. And then there's his old friends from ante-natal group of friends. But I honestly don't know whether I'll invite a bunch only to have no-one turn up or whether I'll have a horde on my hands.

And how many kids there are depends on what type of party to hold - i.e. village hall and bouncy castle or entertainer or just a very low key thing at home.

I also get the heebie jeebies thinking about trying to shpeherd a group of 4 year old boys into doing games where someone wins...

JandJ, last year I did a mix of nursery and ante-natal friends for DD's 4th and it worked well. I invited her best few ante-natal friends and I tried to invite more of her nursery friends as they seemed to be more her friends rather than children of my friends. If you're not sure who his good friends are from nursery/pre-school then ask them to give you a short list, and don't worry about not knowing them or the parents you'll be to busy doing the party to have time to chat Last year I stuck names on the children as they came in so my helpers (DH and my mum) and I knew who they all were.

As for numbers I have found that the majority will turn up unless it's Easter or some obvious busy weekend. Invite areound 20-25 and you should end up with 15-20 odd and if you have it at the weekend and don't invite siblings then you'll only get one parent, and some may even drop their child off if you are happy with that?

hi everyone, thanks for all your tips...i have dcided(after much working out) that dd can have her party at the big soft play complex she said she would like..i have got her list of friends / family down to 18(inlcuding dd) and will pay the cheaper amount(not to have the room too ourselves, although im concerned how busy it will be?)
It will cost, now the same as last year so although its expensive per head, by cutting down on the children she invites its worked out ok..she still gets all her best friends to come and family, so should be fine..although i HATE leaving children out, so will have to give the invites out on the QC