How much do you spend for your DC's bday party?

[bigsis]

I've spent at least $500 per party, not including presents. Granted, I didn't do a 2nd bday party for either of my kids. However, my DS will be having a party this month and I totally feel cheap b/c I'm only spending $300 + presents. The missing $200 will be entertainment. I will spend $200 on food and $100 on party favors/table rentals/decorations.

TIA!

[jillc]

Hmm. I'd say $100 or less per kid, per bday, including gifts.

We usually have a family party on a weekend close to the bday for about 15 people. I keep the food simple - like ordering pizzas & making finger foods & a big salad. We've also ordered deli platters & another time we did chicken tacos, rice, beans, etc. We do cake & ice cream for dessert, of course. DH and I always decorate a fun cake for the kiddos - last year for DS's 1st bday, we made him a cake that looked like his stuffed dog lovey. Grandma likes to provide themed plates, etc.

We don't go nuts with gifts, since they're already getting so many things from family. We probably spend less than $40 on a gift or couple of gifts.

Also, with our playgroup type friends, our common practice is to have a park playdate in honor of the bday kid. Everyone brings their own picnic lunches & bday kid's mom provides cupcakes. We skip gifts. We did gifts when our kids were 1 & 2, and agreed that it was getting a bit nuts.

Hope this helps.
Jill

[MamaMolly]

Hmmmm. This is a good question.
$25 for the pavilion rental at a local park
$12 for cups, plates, napkins and table cloths (plain, different colored ones from the dollar tree. One each of yellow, pink, blue and purple)
$10 for the cake (homemade, so I'm guessing)
$20 for the decorations (character candle, birthday banner and balloons that we blew up)
$20 for sodas, juice and water
$30-50 for food (homemade chicken and pasta salad, fruit kebabs, green bean salad, hummous and pita chips)
I guess around $100- $150.

[bubbaray]

DD#1's last 2 parties (age 3 and 4) have been about $500 each. Entertainment & food & favors for 3rd. Off site party & food & favors for 4th. DD#2's 1st was around $100.

[MamaKath]

Max of $200 including food, craft, and goody bags for a party. ETA- and gifts for kid!

We have started giving them the chance to choose something else to do if they don't want a party. DS wants to go to the zoo...in Central Park. It will run about the same as a party (maybe a little less) between eating in the city, subway/bus, souvenir, etc. [for the 4 of us, 1 grammie and 2 aunts] if we do it at a time where we'd be home visiting family anyway.

[lisams]

Timely question for us. For DD's 6th birthday the place is about $180 (it's a bounce place), I'll make the cupcakes, goody prize will be about $30, and we spent about $100 on her gifts. So probably about 300-350. But, she didn't have a birthday party with friends (they've been with family) for her 4th or 5th birthday, and she realllllly wanted a party with friends this year. She's very excited! We don't do big birthday parties every year, but we know many people who do.

[dhano923]

I do parties every other year. The years in between, we do dinner with my parents and my brother and SIL. My DS just turned 5, and DD is turning 3 so we are doing a joint party for their friends at a local inflatable toy place. The room rental is $360 for upto 22 kids but we will be a little over that because there are over 20 kids coming from DS's school alone. They charge $10 for each additional child. I'm spending another $100 on pizza, soda, a veggie tray, a fruit tray and chips. $50 for 2 cakes (I ordered 2 plain cakes from Costco and ordered the plastic Wall-E and Hello Kitty decorations online to put on top -- I wanted them each to have their own cake). No decorations needed since it's at a playplace, and they supply crowns and tiaras to the birthday boy and girl. Favors supplied by the playplace are $2.50 each. With presents for both, I'd guess I'm spending about $750 total, which isn't bad for 2 kids.

Both kids had huge parties for their 1st birthdays (indian tradition almost, it's expected). Rent out an indian restuarant, nice cake, decorations, etc. Those probably cost about $2000 each! Luckily we only had to do it one time for each child! For DS's 3rd birthday we did a Gymboree party.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Until this year when he had his first out of house party at a gymnastics' place the answer would have been less than $200. This year it was a bit under $300.

Ds2's party will be less than $100.

I don't hire entertainment.

Beth

[KpbS]

We haven't ever hired entertainment and provided very little food--mostly snacks due to food allergies. One year we had a gymnastics party, next year borrowed a bouncy house and rented a pavilion at the park, this year a pumpkin patch party (only a family party for DS1's first). They have all been about $75-$100 (not including gifts) for party supplies, rental fees, treats, favors, etc.

I think that is fairly standard for my area but of course you can spend a LOT more if you want to but only one parent in our friend group does.

[Happy 2B mommy]

I'm finishing prep on DD's 2nd Birthday party, which will be at home and includes family and friends (about 25 people). I do big lunch and fingerfood (just spent $160 at Costco, but plan on freezing leftovers) and everything else is cheap, cheap, cheap. Dollar store plates/napkins etc. Just balloons and streamers for decoration. Goody bags are dollar store/ Target $1 bin stuff with leftover Halloween candy. Gifts for DD are $40 or less.

I do buy DD a special outfit. That cost about $65 this year. So about $250 -300, but the main cost for us is food. It would be cheaper if it were just friends, but I always feel obligated to feed family a big meal.

[kijip]

A couple hundred dollars, perhaps as much as $250-300 for park fee, cake making stuff, goodies and picnic/bbq food for a lot of people. Entertainment is the playground and the beach at the park. We tend to have a lot of people, lots of adults and parents there...see no need for entertainment.

[maestramommy]

I think we spent about $100, give or take, including everything. We have family parties for the 1st birthday, so almost all of it goes to food. No entertainment, it's just a family gathering, with maybe one or two close GF. We haven't done any parties since, we just do the family birthday moment. Maybe when Dora is 4 we'll have a party for her friends. I'll have to feel her out.

[hillview]

For DS #1's 3rd bday we did
$150 for bounce house
$150 for food/drinks/cake/cupcakes

It was a neighborhood party in our backyard with kids and parents (beer!). We did pizza and had fun.

Prior parties and DS's #2 party was not a formal party but a family dinner plus a nice cake for pictures.

I think $300 or so is likely to be the norm for us as the bounce house was a hit and the casual outside gig works for our summer boys.

/hillary

[Melaine]

We just had the twins' second birthday. This year we had a teddy bear party at the park. Each child got a bag with a teddy bear and some accessories, mostly homemade. I made cupcakes and we had a huge bowl of snack mix, bottled water, and juice boxes. We decided not to give the girls gifts ourselves because they were getting gifts from so many other people. We probably spent $50 on food and decorations, etc. Even if I did do gifts I shop bargains so I would not spend more than $20-30 each child for gifts unless it was a BIG much anticipated special gift.

[fivi2]

I am planning my twins first real party right now (3rd birthday). We are doing gymboree. they charge 225.00 not including tip. I have to provide cups, plates, napkins, favors, and cake (I do 2 cakes, one for each). So I am planning on around $350.00 ish. It will probably go over a bit. Luckily that is for both of my kids, so only once a year!

[TraciG]

We just spent over $ 500 for DD's 5th birthday & it was GREAT ! We had it at the same place as last year, a local great dance school. They entertain the entire time, we also had to buy cake , paper good's & munchies for the adults. The school get's the pizza's next door, of course they include that in the price.

Overall with the favor's for the kid's , the chocolate Hello Kitty lollipop's I made & the snack food & soda the total was probably about $ 700 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

We also have family at this party since I don't do a family home party, my excuse is no room, I live in a tiny apt.

[HIU8]

For DS's party we are paying $216 for the rental of the facility plus someone there to set up and cleanup. We have to provide everything (cake, goody bags, pizza, juices). The party is in a recreation station room (with the equipment like they do at McD's--the really big ones) with floor mats, a place for older and younger kids to play. It costs extra if you want someone to run games for you. I don't even know how much yet. I believe it will be about $500 by the time we are done. This is DS's first birthday party with friends. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle age 5 and up. We may change our strategy to more low key and less children.

[WatchingThemGrow]

This thread is really shocking to me. I guess I'm just frugal or we've only had 2 parties so far that were both very low-key and at our house.

I got decorations from Target that could be reused, and I just did a themed book for favors. I guess I will have a greater appreciation for big parties we attend in the coming years - and look for discounts on party places we enjoy.

[egoldber]

Before we had bigger parties outside the home (years 1-4), it was probably around $100 for the party itself: food (hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, etc), decorations, goody bags, etc. For birthdays 5 and 6, we had them outside the home and those were a bit more, about $300 each. ONe year we did Build a Bear and another year we had a party at the zoo.

For Sarah's 7th birthday, she only wanted to invite 5 school friends, so we had a small party at home and it was very cheap, less than $100 easily total. Amy's second birthday was a small family only party, so just cake really.

IME, the most expensive parties are the ones when you have a school class + neighborhood friends + family, etc. Having that many people/kids (especially if there are mixed ages) in your home is tough and it's just easier outside the home.

[maestramommy]

We went to our first My Gym party earlier this year. I'm sure they are easily $300+ when you fold in the two instructors. But there over 20 kids ages 8 months to 3yo, plus their parents, some light food and drink and the cake. While I personally can't see doing that kind of party myself, it WAS really fun for all the kids, the hosting parent didn't have to run the party herself (this must be HUGE), and it was over in 2 hours. And she didn't have a huge mess in her house afterwards. Very compelling reasons to have it at a place, if you're going to have tons of people.

[o_mom]

Probably no more than $150-200 with gifts. We have only done family parties, but this last one I had a craft/favor (pillowcases) that was around $20 for the whole thing (8 kids). $50-60 in pizza, $10 on cake and ice cream. I'm not sure on gifts because most of it came out of the gift closet but I don't think more than $75.