[proudmommyof 2]

I know I'm getting ahead of myself here, since Dennis' birthday isn't until April, but it's one of the things that we waited and waited to do as parents, so I get excited about it.

Dennis says that he wants to have his party at home this year. (Last year we did the Chuck E. Cheese party, the night before we left for court for Tommy. ) This will be his first "kid" party, if you know what I mean, for which it is primarily for the kids' enjoyment. Should I keep it small, with just his 5 or 6 closest friends, or should I invite neighbors, preschool classmates, etc. Should I make it a drop-off party, or have the parents stay? We trying to keep this from being big $$$$, but if you had a clown, magician etc., and it was worth the money, and the kids enjoyed it, please share.

Just wondering what experience the rest of you have had, since it seems like just yesterday my boys were babies, and now they are little people.

BTW, Tommy's turning 2 in March already. I can't believe how the time has gone.

[karenjoe]

We just had a 4-year old party at a bowling alley that went pretty well. Good luck!

[kimber413]

We did Kaitlin's 3rd b'day party at a local farm that hold b'day parties. There were pony rides, jumpers, petting zoo, etc. But it was totally expensive. I just did it because I'd also wanted for a long time to have a birthday party for my child, and this was my first chance. So, it was more for mommy...

If you want to have it at home, you can still do a farm theme, cowboy theme (which we did) or something along those lines. There are lots of websites with birthday party ideas, which unfortunately I can't post because they sell things. But you can google on "children birthday party ideas" and probably hit some of them. If you do a theme party, just invite his friends from the neighborhood or family. It gets to be overwhelming, especially when you have it at home. And I would have a parent's stay party. Just me. I like to have the grown-ups there, too.

Good luck!

[emjay]

I've done "home" parties for my DD, who will turn 5 in a few weeks. Currently planning the dinosaur (!) theme right now - there will be 10 kids. Some parents that we know well will drop off; parents of newer preschool friends will stay. The key for a home party is to have a plan with scheduled activities, and prepare well ahead of time. Also to be prepared when things go faster or slower than planned.

There are several websites with fantastic party ideas. One is birthdaypartyideas, which has parents submit descriptions of the parties they threw for their kids. Can also just google and you'll find lots of suggestions. I did a Lion King safari last year for DD's 4th, and some of the parents said it was the most creative party they'd been to (and almost all ideas were from the site I mentioned). Was definitely more involved to have at home, and need to plan so you can order/make what you need. But was also cheaper, and DD had a blast!

Good luck and have fun!
- Maura

[drazil65]

We just had Adrian's b'day party at home (he was 3 in December) and I stuck to the 1 kid for each age year, 3 years old. 3 guests. It really worked well for us and 1 parent was required to stay. We had it on a Saturday afternoon from 2:00 - 4:00 (after the lunch time so no major food needed to be served ). We had a fireman theme and each child actually came dressed up (not required but the kids had a ball doing it). The favors were little fire trucks and we invited a "real" firefighter from our local fire station to come and speak to the kids about safety in the home and the car, stranger danger etc. during the last hour. We saved the cake (actually made the ice cream cone cupcakes, very little mess and the kids loved eating the whole thing) for the time when the fireman was going to be there so they would be more attentive and they were all very enthralled with him because he also came dressed for the part. We also handed out coloring books and crayons on fire safety at the end of the presentation. They were really cute and really asked some very good questions. Things really went great and not much chaos due to how we scheduled the activites. It was fun and I had coffee and cookies for the mom's that stayed. Have fun!

[momm2be]

I just did an at home party for 15 for DD's 7th birthday...

never again... It was cute, nice, but DD cried through the whole thing so the flow of the party was interupted everytime I stepped out to take care of her.

It was also more expensive than having it out. The amount of work to prepare was too much.

Next year it is the Ice rink or Chuck E Cheese.

[proudmommyof 2]

Thank you so much!! I did check out some of the websites, and have decided to, as many of you suggested, keep it small. That way, it doesn't matter whether the parents want to stay or go. I found some GREAT ideas on the websites suggested, and am even using some of them for Tommy's party. Dennis is obsessed with Batman, and Tommy with Elmo, and I found great ideas for both.


I called my husband and shared with him. He just yelled at me because it's so far away. Many of you know what I mean though-I waited years and years to be a mom-I'm going to enjoy every second!!

[hadams]

IMO, if you are doing it at home, keep it small. Five little boys is heck on a house. 10 – 15 children in one house is going to be pure chaos. If you are going to do it at your house, get help. Ask some friends or relatives to come over to help keep an eye on the kids. If parents stay, you are split between entertaining the parents and occupying the kids. Make sure you have someone assigned to hosting the parent set if you are asking them to stay.



In some ways, it is easier if the parents leave. That way, you know you are in charge of setting the expectation of the behavior of the children. It’s ok to tell Suzy to put the vase down. If Suzy’s mother is there, it is sometimes awkward….do you wait for her to notice? Do you ask her to notice? Or do you just tell Suzy what to do?



I went to a 5 year birthday party of a girl in June. Maybe a dozen kids. Felt like 100. The mom had set up a couple of kiddie pools, water balloons, sprinklers, etc. Keeping the water balloons filled was a full time job. Wet kids and grass clippings in the house. Sprinkler moved too close to an open window. The mom just kept saying “Never Again”



The parties that the kids seem to have the most fun at are the ones held at places that allow the group to stay together but still burn off energy. We have a Keva sports center that does great birthday parties. The kids play a bunch of games with a coordinator, and then they have cake and punch.



We also have gymnasiums that open up for parties. Same sort of thing…an hour or so of kids playing their hearts out, and then a little room for cake.



One creative mother invited ten kids on a safari at a local zoo. She gave each kid a safari hat and a disposable camera. They walked through the zoo together, and had a count off whenever they went from one animal cage to another. Zebra 1 going to Penguins! Zebra 2 going to Penguins! The kids had a blast, and all stuck together.



Best of luck to you!

[Abdulina]

Kids enjoy the simplicity of it all and it makes it so much less expensive. Our Halloween Bash that we have each year to raise funds for the oprhanages is talked about all year by the students at the school. Huge hit. But kept totally simple. Bobbing for apples (hit anytime of the year), pinata(huge hit anytime), and a mummy wrap. All the kids play the rest of the time.

Birthday parties. We can not afford to hire someone for all these parties every year. One year Santa bought a moon bounce for the kids off Ebay and it was well worth the $300. Used many, many times already. They cost between $150 adn $400 to rent just once. Typically our parties include the moonbounce though the kids don't spend as much time on that as they do in the house. Anyway, we have cake, icecream, and open presents. Once the kids open the presents, they just go off and play the rest of the afternoon. Now, our older girls have the slumber parties and for Irina's 13th 2 weeks ago, we took them out for pizza( had coupons), had cake at home, opened presents and they stayed up all night. Very inexpensive. Oh, another thing that girls LOVE to do and is so cheap and easy is to make their own scarves. I've done this now two years in a row nad the kids still love this. Get fleece fabric at a store, cut to scarf size, kids cut fringe on it, and then put beads on the fringe. They look "so cool" at school and everyone will ask about it.

The bobbing for apples and pinata are always a huge hit. Oh, and for the younger ones, a dancing game. There are so many little things you could come up with. But from experience we've found keeping it simple is best. EVerytime we have something planned it goes down the drain as soon as they open their presents. All the kids rush to play with the new toys--friends included. Then, we don't see them for awhile. Amazing what a new toy can do to a room full of children. Also, any time you put a bunch of kids in a room, they'll have fun anyhow.

Good luck with the party. We have two birthdays today. We have to get very creative next week and think of something to do for Bojan's birthday. He's wheelchair bound. Urghh. Any suggestions on what to do while sitting still for a few hours?

Take care,