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Parties/celebrations

Whether you're planning a birthday or a hen do, you'll find plenty of ideas for your celebration on our Party forum.

Original poster

Cinema party?

24 replies

Icanonlytry · 19/10/2009 21:27

DD 7 has decided she wants to go to the cinema for her birthday party. None of the other children in the class has done this before and im not really sure how it will work but were going to give it a try.
The problem is that even though she is 7 most of the parents seem to like staying with their children at parties. Obviously we cant afford to pay for the parents to watch the film so should i put a note on the invitation to say that they are more than welcome to buy a ticket for themselves or just not mention it?
Dp and I will be going in and my sister because her younger child is coming so there will be enough people to do toilet runs etc but I dont want people not to come because they cant stay with their children..
What would you do? It was much easier last year, when she just had her party at a play centre :-)

OP posts:
cat64 · 19/10/2009 21:59

This reply has been deleted

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paisleyleaf · 19/10/2009 22:02

It might be worth finding out how much the cinema charge to hire a screen.
Our main cinema multiplex place charges a lot. But our local Victorian cinema is really reasonable.
That way the adults could stay if they wanted as you'd have the whole place.

blametheparents · 19/10/2009 22:13

I like cat64's suggestion.

Took DS to the cinema for his 7th birthday with 9 friends. So we had 10 kids and 4 adults and it was fine. Other parents were happy not to attend, I think!
Probably just habit that they stay, would prob be more than happy not to have to!

pointyhat · 19/10/2009 22:22

Are you transporting the children to the cinema or do the other parents need to drop them off and pick up?

It's all much easier if you can transport them.

Original poster
Icanonlytry · 19/10/2009 22:31

Thanks.
Think i will go with your idea cat, although we are going to have it on a saturday late morning, hopefully it wont be as busy then, didn't think about the parents being sat away from us if they did come.

We are going to take them to pizza hut afterwards for a bite to eat, mainly so we can have a birthday cake, would feel a bit silly having it in the middle of the cinema's lobby? (cant think of the right word)

Blametheparents, we are also having 10 children and 3/4 adults. did you buy popcorn and drinks too? I am going to ring the cinema tomorrow to ask about this, was thinking of maybe buying a large popcorn between 3/4 children (as they will be eating straight afterwards)but not sure how this would work?
Getting excited now, DD loves the cinema. :-)

It is a few weeks until her birthday but i want to get the invitations out this week so people know about it and will hopefully not go and see the film before the party.

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Snowstorm · 19/10/2009 22:34

We had a film/pizza party for DD1's recent party - she was 7. I just did the invitation as usual but asked the parents to drop their child off at X cinema at 2pm ... and to collect them from us at the nearby pizza place at 5.30pm, or thereabouts.

We had 6 children (2 were mine) and it was a Saturday so that DH could come (wouldn't have taken them on my own) and we could sit them between us at the cinema/cope with trips to the loo etc.

No problem at all. Worst bit was trying to work out what time to ask the parents to come and get their children from the pizza restaurant at!

Original poster
Icanonlytry · 19/10/2009 22:36

sorry pointy, i am hoping the parents will being their own children. the cinema is only 5 minutes away and has its own car park. it is also out of town so easy to get to. I will offer to pick children up and drop them of if this is a problem for anyone. The party will last about 3 1/2 - 4 hours so will give the parents a nice Saturday afternoon to themselves

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Original poster
Icanonlytry · 19/10/2009 22:40

snowstorm, sounds lovely, did your DD enjoy her party? was thinking of allowing 3 1/2 hours between the film starting and pick up that way if we are still eating the parents can join us in the pizza place.
I suppose i could arrange to text the parents when the children are eating, tell them to come and pick them up in half an hour.

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Clary · 19/10/2009 22:41

Can't imagine parents really want to stay at 7yo parties....

We have had cinema parties - the Showcases near us and also the arts cinema do a package for about £9-10 a head where you get food or maybe popcorn and ice cream and an hour in a room/area to eat it (we also did a film quiz and cake of course), plus tickets for 2 adults.

We kept the numbers to a dozen max. Toilets not a problem - they all went before the film. Mind you both times the youngest child was almost 8, if that makes a difference?

It was a real success both times. I think you can totally reasonably make it clear the invite is only for the child.

Snowstorm · 19/10/2009 22:41

Re. popcorn ... because we were going to be taking them out to eat afterwards (and didn't want to pay for a whole lot of uneaten food) AND the film was just after lunch anyway BUT popcorn is part of the cinema experience, I (brace yourself) made popcorn at home and divided it into 6 small'ish bags for film time. This way it meant that the children were getting their popcorn, they probably thought they were getting more than they actually were but also had room for pizza and ice-cream afterwards ... without any of them being sick. Took a couple of bottles of water in my bag but nobody wanted them. Know you probably aren't supposed to take your own stuff in but couldn't think how else to do it ... and it worked a treat.

islandofsodor · 19/10/2009 22:41

AT dd's school the children all live quite a distance from each other and parents have always usually stayed at parties. However at conemal parties the party child ahs chosen the cinemal closest to school and no-one stayed. Nothing was even mentioned on the invitation about staying. We dropped them off at x time and picked them up from Pizza Hut next door at x time.

At our local cinema they do a children's box for £2 which is a small portion of popcorn, a drink and some sweets.

jellybeans · 19/10/2009 22:42

I don't think many will stay for the film but 7 is still quite young. Maybe you could add a note to reassure people that there are plenty of adults to watch the kids.

Original poster
Icanonlytry · 19/10/2009 22:52

clary, most parents do still stay at the parties, we all get on quite well though so i think we stay for a natter more than anything although there are a few worriers.
I have asked about party packages and they dont offer anything, although i do remember seeing a childrens box like islandofsodor suggests, might find out more about them when i ring tomorrow.
Snowstorm, that's a great idea but I have tried to take my own goodies into the cinema before and had them taken off me until after the film so dont really want to risk that on the day.
Never had this many replies before, feel quite special

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Snowstorm · 19/10/2009 22:54

Yes, DD did enjoy it and felt quite grown-up about it all. The only issue was that the next day there was a whole class party and so it meant that in the build-up to the 'great birthday weekend', her classmates were obviously talking about the big party (that they were all invited to) and not her 'do' (that just 4 were invited to).

I guessestimated the film starting 20 minutes after the scheduled start (previews etc.); added the film time; added 10 minutes to walk to the pizza place; guessestimated an hour for the meal and then asked the parents to pitch up at that time. I had all their numbers on my mobile and asked them not to park on a yellow line or anything that demanded a quick get away from the restaurant (in case I'd got the times wrong and the children had only just got stuck into their ice creams) and it all just kind of worked out ... mind you, had to do a mass trip to the loo post-film in order to make up for me over-guessestimating the preview time slot by 10 minutes ... that worked!!

I figured that for normal parties you drop the child off and then have to return in 2 hours time, which is quite a trickly length of time to fill. This meant that parents got to drop their children off for 3.5 hours and so might actually be able to do something with the time!

Snowstorm · 19/10/2009 23:00

Had my popcorn hidden away in a bag until the lights went down. Assume you aren't supposed to do it but would have risked it on the off-chance that it was okay.

You have to be a bit careful with cinema food then pizza/ice-cream straight afterwards (and at least one of our small guests had been out for lunch which involved a big slice of chocolate cake beforehand ... how bad would it be to have parents collecting their children and have them all groaning and holding their stomachs !!

pointyhat · 19/10/2009 23:02

ah right, cinema nearby.

Just word the invitation along the lines of ' drop off at x pm and pick up at y pm'

You don't want a load of parents sitting in there with you

pointyhat · 19/10/2009 23:03

We make up pick n mix bags of our own beforehand. Cinema snacks are extortionate

Original poster
Icanonlytry · 19/10/2009 23:07

Ha ha snowstorm, going to book the 10;45am showing in the hope that they will have had breakfast a while before and no dinner. I am hoping that i can buy 2 large popcorns and share it into small boxes. Cant go to the cinema without popcorn.

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Snowstorm · 19/10/2009 23:08

PS. The only other problem I had with this kind of party was that DD1 wanted to see a film which only opened the week before - therefore I had to wait until 4 days before the big day itself in order to secure the booking at the cinema I wanted, because up until point it wasn't bookable. Am usually quite prompt at booking/issuing invitations and so this was a bit disconcerting. I did actually secure the children that DD1 wanted some time before and then issue invitations (without any location/timing details) a couple of weeks before ... and then email the parents with the details 4 days before, when I'd booked the tickets and been able to confirm the restaurant booking etc. etc. All very last minute by my standards

Original poster
Icanonlytry · 19/10/2009 23:10

I would like to do that pointy, but have had things taken off us before because we 'weren't allowed' food or drink that hadn't been bought from them. wouldnt want to risk that on her birthday.

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Snowstorm · 19/10/2009 23:13

1045 showing with a bit of popcorn and then lunch and cake - that all sounds good and better timings than we had the choice of!

NB. Put a pad of paper and some colouring pens into my (Mary Poppins size) bag, so that if it all went pear-shaped at the restaurant and the service was really, really slow, then I could give them something to do to fill the time ... rather than them getting bored and it all going downhill. That worked, did actually use them and it all went well enough that I didn't have to resort to plan b) The kiddie joke book, for them all to amuse each other with.

Original poster
Icanonlytry · 19/10/2009 23:14

Sounds like me, i dont like leaving things until the last minute. The film opens at the end of this week and her party is in just over 3 weeks so should be ok.
Going to bed now, got a busy day at work tomorrow, will check for more replies tomorrow.

Thanks, you have all made me feel better about the party, think DP thought i was crazy .
Night all.

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Original poster
Icanonlytry · 19/10/2009 23:17

I always carry pens and paper around in my mary poppins bag too.
The restaurant has their menu on the back of an activity book and usually provides crayons anyway so should be fine

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Original poster
Icanonlytry · 19/11/2009 14:17

Hi just a quick update.
DD had her birthday party last weekend and it was fantastic!
The girls got dropped off at the cinema. we had bought some popcorn which we split into smaller boxes and i took drinks with me. everyone loved the film and were really well behaved.
Then we went to pizza hut and the girls decorated some chef's hats while they waited for the food.
The whole party couldnt have been better and I would recommend doing this for a children's party.

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