what kind of birthday party did yr 5 yr old have???

[autumnlover]

my dd1's birthday is in march and i know its crazy to think about now, but i need to get organised as baby is due about the same time. Need lots of inspiration - dont want to hold it at home (too much to do and tidy up). thinking of soft play area but its expensive as always....

help please ....

Soft play goes down well with this age group, can you find one that will let you do your own food to save on costs. You could get some food boxes and make one up for each child with crisps, raisins, choc biscuit, and pop in a sandwich/roll at the last minute so not too much to do?

I think the cheapest option would be to hire a church hall and do it all yourself. But soft play easier.

My dd's 5th birthday party is next week, we have hired a hall and were going to play games, etc ourselves, but last weekend we booked a disco which specialises in kids parties. We weren't going to because we thought it was too expensive (£160), but on Sunday I did a car boot sale and made £100 so used that towards it.

dd - Bouncy castle and games organised by sports centre. We just did food. Could equally be in a church hall and hire castle separately. Magician and swimming have been popular at her friends' parties too.

ds- pirate themed party at home (small flat !)Fancy dress , themed games, food etc.

The cheapest party I ever did was when my sone was 4. He has a summer birthday so we just went to the local playground, brought food balloons etc with us and the kids had a ball playing.

When he was 5, we had a pirate themed party at home. We hired a puppet lady who was great. My flat is not large and we cleared space in my sons' bedroom and the kids sat in there mesmerised for an hour. There were kids much younger there too and they all sat still. She was great and I will hire her again this year. Although the cost was £100, there was no fee for the space as it was my own flat and food can cost as little or as much as you want.

my ds's bday was at the end of nov so just hired out a soft play area and invited 15 of his friends they put on food do the cake etc

it cost about £70 but there's not much to do in nov would love to get a bouncy castle but that would have to a treat in summer