winter babies re: birthday parties

My 2nd is a january birthday and we're so torn on what to do for him. He is turning 3. Last year we just did family and close friends for his birthday.

This year... well as everyone's families continue to grow... i just hate the idea of having everyone inside the house, toys getting tossed around and in each room, too many people, etc etc.

But everywhere we've looked to have it at is like $500+.

Plus we have the problem of they all have a max of only 12 kids. So our close friends... how do we invite the younger kid and not the older ones? It's like $25 each additional kid. All of our friends have 2 or 3 kids so that gets rather pricey.

Luckily we are going to be finishing our basement soon so next birthday we'll at least have that for the kids to play in if we do it in our house.

So glad my other 2 kids aren't winter birthdays.

what do you all do?

winter babies re: birthday parties

My Ds is going to be 3 Dec 28th. We thought about a kids party but decided maybe next year.

We have grandparents and our siblings over for pizza and cake. Ds is fine with it.

winter babies re: birthday parties

Like Allison did keep it simple w just close family at home..at this age he wouldn't know the difference.

My daughter bday is 12/23 and we would celebrate w family on xmas eve. Didnt start having friends over for partites untill about 4-5yrs old.

winter babies re: birthday parties

My dds 5th bday is tomorrow. We have yet to do a huge party. We keep it really small, family only.

Re: winter babies re: birthday parties

Re: winter babies re: birthday parties

We had a great party at the firefighter's museum.

I think it was around $325 for 25 people (including adults, so you have to be careful with how many grandmas & uncles need to come). You pay an extra $6 for each additional adult (so cheaper than extra kids) and it includes 5 pizzas & beverages (which I figure is $120 worth).

It was VERY well run when I did it (1.5 ago).

winter babies re: birthday parties

Nunleys Carosel is $425. up to 25 kids & includes 5 pizza & soda.

I however did Childrens Firefighter museum in Oct. Close to same price and all had fun time.

winter babies re: birthday parties

Could you find a hall and then bring in entertainment? One of my friends did this and she was able to accomodate a large number of kids.

My son's 5th b-day is Sunday and he's having his first kids party this year. I am having it at a local gymnastics place. Having issues though wtih the guest list - he has overlapped with kids througout his daycare career so he's got friends in pre-k and K. We usually just do cake with family otherwise.

Message edited 12/19/2014 8:41:51 AM.

Re: winter babies re: birthday parties

We only gave 1st birthday parties for each of our children (DD's is on Sunday) and only invited people with small children to each.

We only do cake with just the grandparents and our siblings for birthdays after wards. It's just too expensive and not worth the $$ IMO.

Plus, my DD is a holiday baby and DS is a few months before. I don't want all those toys and they don't need them.

Re: winter babies re: birthday parties

Posted by ThreeforTea

Posted by jendar

My dds 5th bday is tomorrow. We have yet to do a huge party. We keep it really small, family only.

Aww Happy Birthday to her!!!

Re: winter babies re: birthday parties

We are having my sons 6th bday tomorrow at skyzone (we are in PA). With about 15 kids and 25 adults it's around $500, including everything. My DH and I have decided to do big on certain parties and then just cake etc on the rest of the parties. I only have to pay for adults food bc it's unlimited drinks and if some want to jump lol, like my DH and brother, so that makes it a bit cheaper. I don't think I'll ever do a large home party, even though we have the room downstairs, I just don't want kids wrecking my house lol.

Re: winter babies re: birthday parties

We just had dd's 3rd birthday party at chuck e cheese. You pay per child rather than a flat fee, which is good because we only had a few kids. The good thing is they can accommodate a big party if you need it and that there is something for kids to play of many different ages. My dd and her friends had a great time. Only things to think about are that they may have other parties going on at the same time and it's not closed for the parties so there will be lots of other kids there. Didn't bother us, but just things to consider.

winter babies re: birthday parties

We did a big party for her first. This year were just doing immediate family and my cousins that have kids the same age.

We're just doing it at home. It's one day the people and the toys won't last.

Message edited 12/19/2014 10:30:36 PM.

Re: winter babies re: birthday parties

I have a January baby too. Still young enough that I can get away with Grandparents and immediate aunts and uncles and DC is very happy.

winter babies re: birthday parties

DD is a Dec baby. We had her first birthday party at Nunleys-- lots of bang for your buck bc it includes ALOT of kids and pizza for the price. We had a lot of adults so it was a good choice. Her second party was at a dance studio and her third birthday was last weekend at Gymboree.. I was actually not planning on doing a bday with kids after her first but found some good groupons for each of those parties so I went with it. If I didn't find a "deal" I probably would have stuck to just having family over for cake- bc DD would have not known any different.
I forget how much I spent on her second bday but her 3rd/ Gymboree Party was $300 all in for about 16-18 kids - (200 base price for 13 kids, 45 bucks for extra kids, I kept the invites simple from vistaprint (you can even use evite and its free!!) , got a $20 Costco sheet cake which was more than enough for everyone inc. 20, and made cupcakes myself , and got cute favors from the dollar section at target! Good luck-- def check party packages on Groupon, I think they have an offer at Kiddie City now which I have heard good things about.

Message edited 12/20/2014 11:36:20 PM.

winter babies re: birthday parties

My 2 yr old is a December baby. We only did a first birthday party. We had it at our house, but we have a big finished basement. For her 2nd birthday and beyond we are just having parents and my brother over for pizza and cake. When she's older and in school and has friends we will start with the kiddie parties

Re: winter babies re: birthday parties

yeah see we're way out east and nothing is cheaper than $500. Which to me is insane.

Re: winter babies re: birthday parties

Both my daughters have winter (late November) birthdays. I have a joint kiddie birthday party for them at a baby gym type of place, then have families back at our house. It is $$, but my house is not big enough for a huge party.