Parker is only going to her second "friend" birthday party, but both of them have been at either indoor gyms or museums. It got me wondering if people just don't have friend parties in the house anymore.
Also- Parker is only 4 so do you think as she gets older they'll be more parties in the birthday persons house? Like, now it would be too cramped to have 10 kids plus a parent in the house, but when she's 10 and going alone parents are more likely to host in the house rather than a neutral location?
Re: Do people have "friend" bday parties in their home anymore?
We were invited to one last month and have another one coming up. My nephew has had a few at home.
Personally, it's too much stress for me. I don't want to clean my house and figure out food. I much prefer the sort of thing were I book an activity for a couple hours, they serve pizza and I just bring the cake.
I had a mom of an elementary child say that it's always tough to come up with awesome party ideas because kids won't want to go to parties at people's homes and that part of it is the parents trying to one up each other. Wha wha what?
I really hope (and think?) that she is in the minority with that line of thought. My mom had the best at home parties for us. I hope to reduplicate that.
We had DS1's 5th birthday party at our house. He really wanted to have a pirate themed party and with the amount of kids being invited we knew that it would be cheaper to hold it here. It was so much fun although there ended up being a lot more people than we had thought (luckily we had bought everything in bulk so it was fine). 13 kids RSVP'd, 17 kids ended up participating in the party because siblings came along, and 4 babies roamed the house(including my younger one) plus parents. The kids all had a great time and we'll continue to have parties at home as long as we have the space.
Here's a link to a post a made about it if you're looking for ideas. https://loveandwhiteroses.blogspot.com/2012/01/jorges-pirate-party.html
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Depends. I just don't have the time or the energy to host a bunch of kids at home........too much work on my part. I just want to go, let the kids have fun, and go home without worrying about setup, cleanup, goody bags, etc.
That being said, I did a spa "mini sleepover" for DD#1's 6th birthday in the fall, and that was ONLY because we had JUST gone to Disney and I didn't want to drop another $500-$600 on a birthday party........
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We had Alex's 5th & 6th birthdays at our house. Tay's 4th was at a hotel with a pool. Alex's 4th we had at the pumpkin patch.
Alex has been to 4 parties in the last few months and 1 was at a house. I am seeing parties afrom 2-4 being a norm to not include a meal as well.
We have always had parties at home. When DD turned 4, I started with drop off parties, only for kids I knew well. It was super. We did a treasure hunt and make your own ice cream Sundays (with help from some neighborhood tweens). The girls all loved it. We also open presents, and teach graciousness, really out of the realm of normal :-) When she turned 5, we had a drop off mommy and baby party. The girls all brought a doll and a stroller, and I gave them all some money, just coins, in a little change purse they got to keep. With the help of 2 tweens, 9 and 11, from the neighborhood, I took the girls on a shopping trip to the neighbors. There was a wedding store for the wedding ring, a home store for the apron, a baby store, for a baby bottle, and a toy store. I ask the working neighbors permission to use their porches as the "stores" and we walked as a group to each "store". I did it mid week during the summer. They loved it and their parents loved the 2 hours at the coffee shop.
My SIL does. Her kids have summer birthdays and they rent a bounce house.
We hav e a lot of land for outdoor parties, but we have winter babies and it would be too cramped to fit in friends/family/friends parents in our 1500 sq ft house.
Noel - August 2010
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All of our parties have been at our home. I like having it home, find it fun to plan and our home is large enough.
https://notwifezilla.blogspot.com/2012/04/parrrrty-day.html
FWIW, most of our friends have had parties at their homes as well. There have been 3 out at other locations: firehouse because it was combined 3rd b-day and 30th b-day party, bowling alley, & Little Gym.
i've never had to lug stuff for set up and tear down. I just show up. Everything is set up by the places we have chosen and cleaned up. The ONLY thing that I lug home is birthday gifts.