It's hard to believe that my baby will be seven on Friday. We have a big birthday party planned for him on Saturday. We somehow forgot to send out the invitations until Friday, but we've still already received confirmation that 5 kids are coming, and I'm sure we will continue to receive more confirmations throughout the next few days. And if it's anything like last year, there will be some kids who show up, that we didn't know were coming until they arrive.
This year we invited everyone in Elliott's class, plus the three kids from his basketball team that aren't in his class. We're having the party at a pizza place in the same city that we play basketball in. The party will be shortly after his basketball game ends, so I would say a lot of his basketball friends will show up.
The kids are all really looking forward to it, and we are as well. The party package includes pizza, a fountain drink, and ice cream sundae for each of the kids, as well as some money on a game card for them. We don't have to do decorations, and clean up will be easy! :) The only cooking we have to do is the cake (which my sister actually really enjoys doing). The goodie bags will also just have a few things in them, because the kids can trade in tickets for prizes at the counter there.
We really went back and forth on what to do for his birthday this year. Elliott is actually sleeping in my sister's room this week and next week because my husband is tearing out his closet tomorrow, and painting over the next two days. So having a party at home was definitely out. We did at a public meeting room last year, and it went well. But we decided that if we were going to pay to have his party somewhere, we wanted to do something that was more inclusive. So we decided on the pizza place, because it was half the price of bowling, plus his best friend just had a bowling party this month, so we wanted to do something different. :) Another plus for the pizza place is that we pay per child, so if only 8 kids show up, we only pay for 8, and if 20 kids show up, we pay for 20, instead of paying a set rate for up to 10 or 12 kids. This way he was able to invite everyone.
This party is certainly not what most people would consider frugal, but it's not excessively expensive either. We bought invitations, goodie bags, and some of the party favors at a dollar store. We ordered the other party favors through Oriental Trading, and used a coupon code to get free shipping plus $10 off our order. And sometimes having the cooking, cleaning, decorating, and most of the activities planned for you is priceless!
3 comments:
I think this sounds like a fun party! I agree, letting someone else take care of the mess afterwards is priceless! I've had my fair share of parties, and the clean up stinks. Cupcakes smashed in the floor, frosting on the walls, ect. I am thinking our next party will be at a rental place too!
It sounds like it is going to be a blast Carla, and I just know Elliott is going to love it.
Having a party at home is a lot of work, so I completely understand. I love the fact that you only have to pay for the kids that actually show up.
Yeah, a party away from home was the only way to go. I can't wait to get my house back in order, but there is just no way that I could possibly have it ready by this weekend. With Elliott's stuff all out of his room, it's everywhere. Plus my sister's stuff is still all over the place, since we started moving Elliott's stuff, along with her stuff into her room as soon as it was done. Plus the stinky paint fumes (on the positive side, we ran out of paint today or the painting would be done! We'll pick up more tomorrow while we are out for Elliott's birthday pictures and finish it up after he goes to bed).
The only paying for kids that are attending is certainly a bonus. So far we know for sure that 8 are coming, but I have actually only heard from one (out of 22) that their child ISN'T coming, so who knows how many will actually be there. Last year two of the kids that came didn't contact me beforehand, one that said he was coming didn't, and one of the others let me know the day before. So I'm assuming there will be some similar situations this year. We budgeted for all 22, but if some kids don't go that just means more money for our vacation, instead of more money for the pizza place.
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