5 yr old birthday party

[lhafer]

My daughter is turning 5 in March. I have discussed both ideas with her, and she likes them both. Which one do you think sounds the best?

1. Rock Climbing Party at Lifetime Fitness - $250.
It's a 2 hour party and provides for up to 12 kids. A bounce house big enough to hold 8-10 smaller kids is included in that price ($200 for the entire party if you don't want the bounce house). All the games, etc revolve around rock climbing, and the rock wall. 1st hour of the party is food/presents/bounce house, and the 2nd hour is the rock wall stuff. Pizza and drinks are provided by Liftetime and are included in the price. I would provide all the paper goods/decorations (unicorn theme is what my DD wants) and the cake.

2. Chefs2B Party - $305 http://www.chefs2bparties.com/1_5hrsparty.php
It's a 1.5 hour baking party that provides for up to 10 kids. The guests get to make their own personal pizzas and decorate cupcakes. I wouldn't have to provide anything if I didn't want to (they provide all paper goods). Or I could bring a cake. But since they are doing cupcakes, I probably wouldn't...maybe some ice cream cups instead?

We won't have a lot of kids there....probably 8 or 9 a the MOST, including my daughter. She likes both ideas (so she's no help!!). I was hoping to do something different and fun for her party this year. Everyone around here does bounce house parties (going to one next weekend) - it's solely a bounce house place, gymnastics parties (went to one a couple of weekend ago), etc.

When talking to the Lifetime Fitness party coordinator, he said that almost all the kids in the 5-7 year old range run for the rock wall or the pool during their summer camps. He said both of those are the big hits with that age group. I don't want to do swimming this year, because I am not sure all of her friends can swim (she's in swim classes now, and can't really swim yet), and then parents of those who couldn't swim would have to get in the water. They have other choices too, including Obstacle course parties or Sports themed parties. But I thought the rock climbing wall one sounded cool.

My best friend's sister had her DD's 5th birthday party at the Chef2B place and they LOVED it. My DD loves to help me in the kitchen preparing food and baking. But she's very active, and loves bounce houses and parks with jungle gyms and running around with tons of energy.

Both of these places are within 5 minutes of my house, and very close/convenient for all the guests who will be invited, so location isn't an issue.

[Corie]

Honestly, I think either party sounds fabulous!!!

The only negative that I can think of would be the rock wall at
Lifetime Fitness. You may have kids that are afraid or get afraid
once they get part way up the wall. We saw this happen quite a few
times when we were rock climbing at Lifetime Fitness.
Also, there is one particular rope that they use at our Lifetime Fitness
for beginners/young climbers. Sometimes, the entire rock climbing
area is almost empty but there will be about 5-6 kids in line for the
"beginner" rock wall. The kids get very inpatient in line. It doesn't
allow for much time for each child on the rock wall.
But maybe your Lifetime Fitness is different.

Just a thought!!

[Melaine]

My kids are usually the exception to the rule, but they would be terrified by the rock climbing. So I would vote the chef party, but I think both sound really fun. If it were me, though, I would save the rock climbing for a later birthday and do the chef one now as it is a bit less intimidating if you have shy or clingy kids (mine are 4.5).

[hillview]

I like the chef party personally. It is very different and I agree with Corie that some kids may not like the rock wall / get scared. My DS would LOVE both.
/hillary

[egoldber]

I also would go for the chef party.


You may have kids that are afraid or get afraid once they get part way up the wall.

I agree. Some 5 year olds would dig it, but some would be terrified.

[wencit]

No question, I would pick the chef party -- it sounds totally different and unique from all the other 5-year-old parties we've been to. In fact, I was looking into something like that for my own DS, but there's nothing very convenient to us, which totally bummed me out. I think it sounds fabulous!

[egoldber]

I don't know if you have a California Pizza Kitchen near you, but they also do kid parties. (Who knew?) We had older DD's party there last year. The kids made their own pizzas, got a "behind the scenes" tour of the restaurant (they they LOVED) and then got to make their own sundaes. It was also quite cheap.

http://www.cpk.com/cpkids/CPKidsBdayPartyPackageInsert.pdf

[lhafer]

I don't know if you have a California Pizza Kitchen near you, but they also do kid parties. (Who knew?) We had older DD's party there last year. The kids made their own pizzas, got a "behind the scenes" tour of the restaurant (they they LOVED) and then got to make their own sundaes. It was also quite cheap.

http://www.cpk.com/cpkids/CPKidsBdayPartyPackageInsert.pdf

Good to know. Unfortunately the closes one to us is 45 minutes away. I like the price better though!!

[lhafer]

Okay...

For the Chef2B party...

Food is not included for adults. It would be an extra charge (significant amount at an additional $30 for 1 pizza and drinks or $72 for the parents to make their own pizza) to get food for the parents. This irks me. It's a 5 year old's party - parents will be there. And we are all friends with each other.

I could go with this party and just do an earlier time. I was originally going to do 12:30pm. But then all the parents will be hungry. I can do a 10:30am-noon time frame. Then the parents could get food afterwards.

Or I could go with a different kind of party all together, where I know food will be included in the price (enough for everyone). It would just be a more run-of-the-mill kind of party. But I guess as long as my daughter has fun, that's all that matters.

What would you do?

[hillview]

Earlier time.
/hillary

[hbridge]

If your guest list is small enough, I would do the Chef party. We held DC's 6th birthday at a local bakery and it was fantastic. HOWEVER, DC was NOT at all happy to have to cut the guest list to 10 kids.

The next year DC opted for a bouncy place party simply because we could "invite everyone" (as DC put it). We did have to cut one at the end to make the 30 child limit, but DC was thrilled. I wasn't nearly as impressed with the overall party, but DC and friends had a FANTASTIC time and DC declared it the best birthday ever...

[lhafer]

If your guest list is small enough, I would do the Chef party. We held DC's 6th birthday at a local bakery and it was fantastic. HOWEVER, DC was NOT at all happy to have to cut the guest list to 10 kids.

The next year DC opted for a bouncy place party simply because we could "invite everyone" (as DC put it). We did have to cut one at the end to make the 30 child limit, but DC was thrilled. I wasn't nearly as impressed with the overall party, but DC and friends had a FANTASTIC time and DC declared it the best birthday ever...

There will definitely be less than 10 kids at the party.

[s7714]

I would do the chef party. Our playgroup did somethng similar as a group and all the kids had a blast.

You mentioned you could bring in your own cake to the chef party place, so could you bring in some veggie/snack trays for the parents and a small cake for them (since the kids will eat the cupcakes)? If not, I'd opt for the earlier time slot so parents could get their own lunch after the party.