Birthday parties can be expensive

KL777 · August 2011

I was just thinking over the years how much I've spent for DS's birthday parties and how much is too much. For example:

1 year old party = $220 Chuck E. Cheese---30 people (Booked the party)

2 year old party = $30 at Grandma's (very intimate invitation list)

3 year old party = $80 Chuck E. Cheese (did not book it, first come first serve table and very intimate invitation list)

Upcoming 4 year old party = $282 Bounce House (will be booking a party room), 10 children---first come first serve RSVP (inviting his preschool class, two close friends of mine with kids DS's age, and my two sisters with infants), 20 adults, cake frome Wal-Mart, pizza, beverages, and also getting some great "VeggieTales" character party items.

I know people spend more than what I'm planning to spend for DS's 4th birthday but sometimes I wonder when is it "too much" ? DH ofcourse would prefer a more scaled down birthday party :-)

Angiesmommy · August 2011

You are braver than I. I think if I were to think back and try to figure out how much everything was, I'd refuse to throw another party. lol. DD's 3rd Birthday party was her smallest, because the 1st two were just so expensive.. And i'm pretty sure off the top of my head we spent at least $200.

mabma80 · August 2011

The smallest parties we've had were the 1st birthdays.

DS1 had his at the family lake house. There were only 12 of us there. His second was at our house and there was about 15 close family and friends. his third was also at the house with the same people. All for around $120/ech. His third was at Chuck E. Cheese it was around $130 for about 15 ppl. His fifth birthday coming up in Sept., we are doing it at an indoor play place. The charge $150 for up to 15 kids (8 are coming) and we bring everything. But they clean up. Add on food and party supplies for another $100.

DS2 had his first at the house with about 15 ppl. Around $120. Second, was at Wisconsin Dells with some friends (8 of us), so around $250. His third we had it on our vacation to Atlanta, Ga. at the Chuck E. Cheese there. It was $130. We had my family and us, so 8 of us. : )

We figure it's their special day and they should get what they want for that day.

jsugrin · August 2011

Personally I think that as long as you can afford, that you are doing things your child will enjoy ( and please adults at the party but not in a "keeping up" kind of way, if that makes any sense Smile ) and you teach your child to be appreciative then who cares.

Now for us personally, DS #1 will be 4 in November and will be having his first birthday party. We did only us for his other bdays and for his 2nd and 3rd let people know they were welcome but we were not having a "thing", the birthday boy would have cake and presents and that was it.

I simply couldn't bring myself to spend a lot of people, time and energy on something that my kid would be clueless about. Now that he's turning 4 he's sooo exciting helping to plan everything and feeling special that he's old enough for a party now. I know it's not for everyone and I in no way have any opinion of others who do it differently (unless you spend over 5 figures on your kids birthday and then, I'll admit it, I judge).

franciscaz · August 2011

Oh yeah... we always do big blow outs. I've learned to cut costs on gift bags (this year I'm doing a skinny M&M bag and some bubbles) and on some other things but this party will still probably cost $250. Between food and bounce house rentals it just adds up.

Pesky · August 2011

Eh, do what floats your boat and fits into your budget. Both of mine had very low-key 2nd year bdays and only DD got a semi-big 1st birthday. Now they will alternate big bday bashes more because of timing than anything. But yeah, with entertainment and such, it adds up. You could do your own games and crafts and activities for the party instead but like for me, not going to happen for a while.

shannm · August 2011

jsugrin:
Personally I think that as long as you can afford, that you are doing things your child will enjoy ( and please adults at the party but not in a "keeping up" kind of way, if that makes any sense) and you teach your child to be appreciative then who cares.
Now for us personally, DS #1 will be 4 in November and will be having his first birthday party. We did only us for his other bdays and for his 2nd and 3rd let people know they were welcome but we were not having a "thing", the birthday boy would have cake and presents and that was it.
I simply couldn't bring myself to spend a lot of people, time and energy on something that my kid would be clueless about. Now that he's turning 4 he's sooo exciting helping to plan everything and feeling special that he's old enough for a party now. I know it's not for everyone and I in no way have any opinion of others who do it differently (unless you spend over 5 figures on your kids birthday and then, I'll admit it, I judge).

This is how we are approaching it as well. We will have his first party when he turns four in May.

HarrietNJMommy · August 2011

jsugrin:
Personally I think that as long as you can afford, that you are doing things your child will enjoy ( and please adults at the party but not in a "keeping up" kind of way, if that makes any sense) and you teach your child to be appreciative then who cares.

This.

We spend $400-$600 per birthday, per kid. Just how it's worked out for us. We don't have parties at home. Just too much work for me, and it would cost me the same as going somewhere for a party..........

RHitch · August 2011

HarrietNJMommy:
jsugrin:

Personally I think that as long as you can afford, that you are doing things your child will enjoy ( and please adults at the party but not in a "keeping up" kind of way, if that makes any sense) and you teach your child to be appreciative then who cares.

This.

We spend $400-$600 per birthday, per kid. Just how it's worked out for us. We don't have parties at home. Just too much work for me, and it would cost me the same as going somewhere for a party..........

Same here. I spend about $500 per party. Our families are huge and I refuse to have all of those people at my house. DD was grandchild number 30 on DH's side and 4 on my side. I have a ton of friends, Sorority sisters, and DH's fraternity brothers, so we always have about 40-50 kids at every party.

HarrietNJMommy · August 2011

RHitch:
HarrietNJMommy:
jsugrin:

Personally I think that as long as you can afford, that you are doing things your child will enjoy ( and please adults at the party but not in a "keeping up" kind of way, if that makes any sense) and you teach your child to be appreciative then who cares.

This.

We spend $400-$600 per birthday, per kid. Just how it's worked out for us. We don't have parties at home. Just too much work for me, and it would cost me the same as going somewhere for a party..........

Same here. I spend about $500 per party. Our families are huge and I refuse to have all of those people at my house. DD was grandchild number 30 on DH's side and 4 on my side. I have a ton of friends, Sorority sisters, and DH's fraternity brothers, so we always have about 40-50 kids at every party.

I really wish I could say we have 40-50 kids at our parties. Your parties sound WAY CHEAP for that many kids.

I'm only talking 20 kids total! LOL! It's pricey around here.

ccc'swife · August 2011

I honestly don't remember costs, but...we had her first birthday at our house since we knew she would have no memory of it. Second birthday was going to be at our house, but we ended up doing it at a neighborhood park, and we had juice and cake.

Her third birthday this past February we did at Chuck E. Cheese. She LOVES CEC and requested to have her party there, so we did her "friend" birthday party there, and then a smaller family one at our house. I wouldn't do two again, but I did her CEC one in the middle of the week for our SAHM friends.

This next year for her fourth, I have no idea what we're going to do. Maybe at an indoor bounce house place called Monkey Joe's...as the kids get older, it makes me more anxious to have that many at our house, so I'd much rather pay someone else to host us and clean up

MGM81 · August 2011

It can add up fast & I don't even count how much I spend on gifts, favors, plates/cups ect. We have done a party ever year and this year we are going to try a family only party (a horse farm) She can ride a pony with her brother for a hour for $35 it's called Tiny Trotters in our area. We can do a big friends/classmates party every other year. I have 2 so I can't keep up and do a big bash for both each year, would rather use that $ for a family trip or other things ya know!?

RHitch · August 2011

HarrietNJMommy:
RHitch:
HarrietNJMommy:
jsugrin:

Personally I think that as long as you can afford, that you are doing things your child will enjoy ( and please adults at the party but not in a "keeping up" kind of way, if that makes any sense) and you teach your child to be appreciative then who cares.

This.

We spend $400-$600 per birthday, per kid. Just how it's worked out for us. We don't have parties at home. Just too much work for me, and it would cost me the same as going somewhere for a party..........

Same here. I spend about $500 per party. Our families are huge and I refuse to have all of those people at my house. DD was grandchild number 30 on DH's side and 4 on my side. I have a ton of friends, Sorority sisters, and DH's fraternity brothers, so we always have about 40-50 kids at every party.

I really wish I could say we have 40-50 kids at our parties. Your parties sound WAY CHEAP for that many kids.

I'm only talking 20 kids total! LOL! It's pricey around here.

LOL! Her 1st (hired a sesame puppet show) and 3rd (hired a pony to give free rides) party was at the park, which saved us a ton. Her 2nd party was at an inflatable place (Pump It Up) and I only allowed 35 kids to come to that one.

RHitch · August 2011

HarrietNJMommy:
RHitch:
HarrietNJMommy:
jsugrin:

Personally I think that as long as you can afford, that you are doing things your child will enjoy ( and please adults at the party but not in a "keeping up" kind of way, if that makes any sense) and you teach your child to be appreciative then who cares.

This.

We spend $400-$600 per birthday, per kid. Just how it's worked out for us. We don't have parties at home. Just too much work for me, and it would cost me the same as going somewhere for a party..........

Same here. I spend about $500 per party. Our families are huge and I refuse to have all of those people at my house. DD was grandchild number 30 on DH's side and 4 on my side. I have a ton of friends, Sorority sisters, and DH's fraternity brothers, so we always have about 40-50 kids at every party.

I really wish I could say we have 40-50 kids at our parties. Your parties sound WAY CHEAP for that many kids.

I'm only talking 20 kids total! LOL! It's pricey around here.

LOL! Her 1st (hired a sesame puppet show) and 3rd (hired a pony to give free rides) party was at the park, which saved us a ton. Her 2nd party was at an inflatable place (Pump It Up) and I only allowed 35 kids to come to that one.

n&bcarlson · August 2011

It's easy for even the at home parties to add up. We're having a princess party at home for DD this weekend and between favors, decorations, food, and a sandwich platter for the grown ups, it's easily costing over $200 for 8-10 kids plus the moms and a few friends. I just don't notice it as much because I've bought a decoration here and a favor there over the past few months- as opposed to renting a birthday place.

julesandross · August 2011

What is "first come first serve RSVP"?

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