5yo Birthday Party Suggestions

[123LuckyMom]

I would make some phone calls to different indoor vendors. Some charge by the number of children and some have a flat rate. A flat rate can net you big savings. Also, at age 5, the kids like repeat venues. It’s completely fine to host a party at a venue another family used and your daughter enjoyed. You don’t have to be creative! We have a local place that does candlepin bowling, bounce houses, and an arcade (not really video games but more pitch the ball into the hole type things) all in one space. They’ll also provide pizza, juice or soda, and coins for the arcade depending on the package you choose, and it’s a flat rate, so the cost is really reasonable. I swear I have been to 40 parties there! The kids love it, though, and always want to go, so parents keep hosting parties there! Ask other parents in your area. There may be a gem like that you haven’t heard about yet.


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[squimp]

I agree Gymnastic parties are great for that age. We usually did home parties but when she was in preK and kindy, we invited the whole class, so the Little Gym and the local bouncy place or another gymnastics place were good options. I think at that time of the year kids would be thrilled to come run around and play. So you are doing a community service.

[Liziz]

We did a "big" party for my DD for her 5th birthday. We hadn't until that point and I'm really glad we did. It turned out to be quite large, but it was because she was in a really tight-knit class and truly cared about those kids being there (and they wanted to be there). We definitely won't be doing those every year, and she understands that, but it's a nice thing to do every few years, IMO.

After a lot of thought and some input for DH, I realized that I would enjoy the party a lot more if we had it at a venue. Too many people in my house just gets stressful for me. And the venue avoided all the cleaning on both sides of the party, too. We did ours at a bouncy-house type place with reasonable prices. We paid for the invited child and a parent to attend. Some people brought siblings, but they paid for those siblings and made sure to let all the invited kids eat first, etc. so I didn't mind. I bought sandwiches ordered in advance from the grocery store (my DD hated pizza at the time, otherwise I definitely would have done that!) and a big box of chips, along with a cooler of water and Capri Sun, as well as the cake. If you're trying to keep costs down then you can definitely do a party mid-afternoon (like 2-4) and I don't think anyone will expect food beyond cake.

Everyone has their own opinion about gift opening and I think you should do whatever makes you and your DD happiest. At my DD's party, she and all her friends were so busy playing they didn't even want to stop to open presents.

If you and your DD would have fun putting goody bags together, than do them. But if you won't, don't stress about those. Half the parties I've been to lately don't even give them out, and no one misses them. I'm secretly happy every time we don't get another bag of junk to bring home.

[jamiechic]

Thanks to everyone for the great ideas! From your suggestions, I found out our local YMCA has a birthday party option in their gymnastics center. They offer 90 minute parties on Saturday afternoons. The kids will have access to an open gym and the gymnastics equipment, which the Y will staff. $100 covers 10 kids. Additional kids are only $3! We will provide cake, snacks and a drink and need to provide the plates, forks, cups, etc.

So, my next question is the invite list. My daughter has went to the same daycare since she was 6 months old. Her class of about 18 kids was split this year into morning and afternoon 4k sections. M-Th she is 4k with 9 kids she's known for years and 9 "new" kids. On Friday's she's with her "old" group, which has about 9 different kids. I honestly don't know who her closest friends are -- she says she has no friends, but I see her play with pretty much everyone. Cost is quite low for this party, so I'm not overly concerned with the number of kids that attend.

Should I be concerned about kids being left out? Should she invite everyone? Or should I just let her decide who gets an invite and who does not. There is one girl that really, really likes my daughter; my daughter has already said she won't invite her because she tackles her. She's a sweet girl and I think her feelings would be hurt if she was not invited as she thinks my daughter is her best friend.

She's the first in the class to have a party (to my knowledge).

[SnuggleBuggles]

Unless you keep it so small that lots of kids will get left out, I'd pick one whole class to invite then maybe anyone extra close from previous years.

[jamiechic]

Unless you keep it so small that lots of kids will get left out, I'd pick one whole class to invite then maybe anyone extra close from previous years.

Thanks, that was my husband's opinion -- to either invite just a few or everyone.