[lisa]

I am trying to start planning my sons birthday and I just dont know where to have it. I have been thinking of having it at a local pizza place. My son is going to be 3 and I was wanting to know what everone else thought about it. All the places around here are expensive. We have a new indoor bounce house place and it's $230. for up to 16 kids and you only get the party room for 45 min and all the kids get 1 slice. I thought it I did it at the pizza place it wouldn't be much and I could decorate and give my own goodie bags. I wanted to have it outside but it will be to cold.

[Leah]

Lisa - How many people do you plan on inviting?

I think a pizza place is good if there are just a small group of kids that you will be inviting. It might be hard to keep a large group of 3 year olds busy in a pizza place unless it's a place like Chuck E Cheese where they have things to do then I think it will work out great. If there are older kids and adults though then any restaurant or pizza place should work out.

We just had my son's soccer party at a pizza place with 8 kids ages 4-5 and they did pretty good there and had fun. There was only a small arcade they each got $5.00 to spend.

It seems like all party places are so expensive now days. I remember when I turned 8 we had my birthday party at Santas Village up in the mountains. The price was only $40 for 10 people and included cake and all the rides (it was a small amusement park with the North Pole theme). Anyway, of course that was a million years ago...LOL, but now parties are like 8 x's that amount.
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[Beth]

Do you have a local rec center or YMCA maybe you could rent a room and set up something that way. I know for a bunch of 3 yr olds I would want some place for them to run around. Maybe you could bring the food and they will do a small class or let you use some equipment.
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[Leah]

[Leah]

Lisa - Did you have your son's party yet?

We just did Chuck E. Cheese on Tuesday for Sean's party. I ended up having 8 kids at $12.00 each. They gave all the parents free drinks and salad bars, but I also bought a large pizza for the adults too. It ended up being $114 so not too bad. I was expecting to pay more because I thought we would have to buy drinks and then I was going to buy salads too and at $6 a salad I expected to pay at least another $30. They also gave me a bunch of extra tokens, but I did bring my own cake.
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[Chihuahua]

My husband and I wanted to celebrat with friends for my daughter's first birthday but it's winter here in Michigan and with such a tight budget and we decided to have it at home with just our neighbors and grand parents of corse. With 12 grown-ups, 6 children (ages 12months - 7 years old), and our family dog that's alot. But the numbers made it all the more fun and the party wasa hit.

Now I am an artist by trade and trained in early child developement, but you don't have to be to design and host the perfect party for a group of kids.

Here is what I did.... A Ducky Themend Party
• I baked the cake myself (a 3D ducky lemon flavored cake) formed in a baking mold from the craft store (cost $20). With a few more things from the craft store and GFS(Gorden Food Services) I had almost everything I needed for the party.

•I made sugar cookies using a mix and a ducky shapes cutter. and that's it.

•I made a reusable banner out of swatches of fabric cut into triangles and sewed on my sewing machine. 64 Flags were strung up together on rope with yellow balloons intersepting every 4 flags. (cost $10 on fabric) but this will never tear, it can be used for any ocassion as long as you don't write/paint or iorn on letters to the flags.

• We bought a large assortment pack of Rubber duckies on-line from the Oriental Trading Co.(cost $25) Check their site out. They have everything. Ducks were played with at the party and guests were asked to pick out 2 of their favorites to take home with them.

• For food I bought a few kid friendly appitizer, I made a fruit plate, veggie plate and brought out all my daughter's sippy cups for kids to use if they did not bring there own.

• I raised our round wooden coffee table using leg extender/bed raisers from "Bed Bath & Beyond" that we just happen to have around... They have come in handy for me for sooo many projects. being an artist, I just happen to have hand made Kiddie chairs that my husband and I make ourselves in themes of farm and safari animals. (see my website if you are intereseted in having them for your own home too.) at www.muralsinc.com

•I left out many of my daughters toys for kids to play with.... She is too young to care if other's play with them, and everyone else enjoied playing with toys that are new to them.

• I picked up 13 large Cardboard Boxes from GFS and the local Grocery Store.(cost $ 0.00) and 2 rolls of ducttape from the hardware store ($4 each) I cut out doors,opened archways, windowns, and even a few trapdoors for kids to have more fun with. I duct-taped over all the edges to avoid any potential paper-cuts and attached one box to the next. (Plan out your layout before you cut any of the boxes. Decide how much of your floor space you want it to consume.)

• I just happen to own a 20ft parachute, but you can buy these in a variety of sizes on-line too. ( when being stored away they take up about as much room as a small sleeping bag. They are a big hit with all ages. and you can find different activities/song on line to go with it. For my daughter's party we spread it out indoors(in our dining room), in a large open space and had all the parents gather up the edges of the parachute in their hands, raising it high in the air, and lowering it over all the kids... then lowering it behind them and sitting on the edges creating a large bubble with us all under it...... Next we had all the kids get on top of the parachute as we waved it and shook it around to make it look like they are walking on a cloud. (Note!!! you must remove any/all objects from the floor that kids might fall on for safety.)

What ever you decide to do. Taylor it to your child's interests, your theme, make part of it yourself… and it will mean more to you than if it is just a party at the bowling allie or at chuckie cheese. Whenever possible involve your child in the preporation and it will mean a lot more to them too.

Thanks for reading.
_ Stacy javascript:emoticon('')

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Stacy L. Schwartz; Mother of one, Artist to all.
Stacy@Muralsinc.com
View My Gallery at www.muralsinc.com