What do you prefer to host: at home party, or one at a venue?

[ourbabygirl]

(poll coming)

The kids' bdays are coming up, and I want to figure out if I should have at-home parties for them or hold them at a fun location, spend more, and have the people there run the party. DD and I went to a fun one recently at a gymnastics place... it costs $150 for two hours on a Sunday afternoon (2:30-4:30, so they just had water bottles, goldfish, and cake after presents were opened). DD had a lot of fun and wished it would've lasted longer.
I know that you can have a party at our local children's museum and science museum, as well as a younger kids bouncy house (we went to one there as well; the place orders pizzas for the guests and the parents can bring cake).

Not sure what other sorts of places allow you to have a party there- please feel free to share what sorts of parties you've been to or 'hosted' at another venue. Do you/ your kids tend to prefer these, or would you rather keep them at home?
I've just always assumed I'd have the parties at home because it *seems* like it would cost less (but maybe not?), and for some reason I kind of feel like it would be 'spoiling' my kids too much to do the venue parties, and like they would always expect to have those in the future. But now that I've gone to a couple, I can totally see why parents do them to avoid having to provide a meal for a big group, no clean-up and decoration of the house needed, and the timeframe is short so there isn't a ton of time commitment.
I'm a SAHM, so I have the time to keep doing at-home parties, but maybe there are better uses of my time and money?

If you tend to do more parties at a fun location, at what age (child) did you start doing them? Do you do it this way every year, or alternate years, or is it just more random? Which places (parties that you've hosted or attended) have been the biggest hits or misses?

Thanks for chiming in!

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'm a SAHM and I do a mix of parties. I like both. Home bc I can be more creative. Away bc I don't have a ton of extra stress (though I've invited unnecessary stress a few times at venue parties by getting carried away w my homemade cake, decorations, favors, food...). Last venue party was a dream though. Cake, favors, a few snacks= done. I let the venue do the work for me.

Once ds1 was 8, we did mostly small scale stuff and that's been nice.

Whether home or out, it's always easier when the guest list is small, IME!

I'd switch things up and not assume that venue once means venues always. Just try it and see what you think.

Eta- our local gymnastics place is my favorite. $175 for 2 hours. Fun, easy, and we have the place to ourselves. Children's museum is my least favorite bc it's always crowded and not terribly well run (disinterested hosts, rushed some of the time and too much time at others).

[nfowife]

I prefer a venue for sure! Less work, no mess! We've done:
-gymnastics places
-indoor pools
-painting canvas studios
-art studio (mixed media art)
-karate studio
-tumblebus came to my old neighborhoods clubhouse
-indoor playground
-movies and then pizza next door

[twotimesblue]

All about the venues! I've thrown a couple of 'at home' parties and I tallied up the costs of the last one... by the time I factored in all the food, an entertainer and a cleaner to help me deal with the aftermath of 50 people in my home, hosting in a venue was only marginally more expensive. I feel like I never enjoy the ones I host at home as I'm too busy fussing about whether everyone's found parking, whether their drinks need to be refilled, worrying about the kids sticky hands and my furniture... paying someone else to deal with all that is WELL worth the extra $$$ IMHO! Plus, at a venue, you usually only get 2 hours or so, and guests tend to respect that timeframe. The at-home parties I've hosted and attended tend to go on way longer; people show up right before the end and the hostesses are always too polite to throw people out, even when it's blatantly obvious that they want their homes back!

[ahisma]

Depends on my mood and our travel / work schedule before the party. DS2's upcoming party is a venue party - we're out of town until literally the day before. DS1 was supposed to have a home party last year, but we made a quick switch to a venue party when I came down with meningitis. We have a small house, so sometimes venue parties are easier in the fall and winter.

I don't see a significant cost difference.

My favorite party that we've done was a combo - house party with a trolley ride. The trolley was a whopping $45.

[KpbS]

I love to attend both kinds of parties--maybe home parties best? But as a host, I much prefer venue parties. I get too stressed out hosting adults, kids, I'm fine with for some reason.

[JustMe]

I also greatly prefer to host venue parties. Aside from what pp said, one big advantage is that you can usually socialize/hang out with the adults since you don't have to do the facilitation/keeping everyone happy and fed thing as much.

[almostamom]

I enjoy hosting both. It has just depended on what theme we had for the birthday party each year. Our home parties have been bubbles, construction, and Lego. Our away/venue parties have been trains (at a train park w/a building dedicated to model trains and a train ride), Ride Makerz, zoo, dinosaur (natural history museum), and a bike rodeo at a local park. We've been parties at venues for karate, bounce houses, trampolines, amusement park, movies, game truck (at a park), Build-a-Bear, car racing (that was awesome!), rock wall climbing, and parks (with lots of different themes - camping, Monsters Inc.) The easiest party I've ever hosted was the Lego party. We hired a company, Play-Well Teknologies, and they did everything! I just had to give them a large room (moved my living room furniture) and provide the food. A friend did the same party at our community center in a room she rented there.

[bigsis]

I voted off-site. I haven't really found that a party at home costs less. I have to rent tables, chairs, and a jumper. I have to purchase decorations and craft stuff for entertainment. I have to clean the house before and after.

[jvorhis]

At home, otherwise I end up hosting two parties. We have too many adults without kids involved in our children's lives that would not feel comfortable at an outside venue.