A $500 Birthday Party is Cheap?

I agree with you! There have been just a couple of times where we've splurged on our kids' b-day parties (like going to a bounce place), and at those times the most we spent was about $300, which nearly gave me a heart attack, but we decided they were special years to recognize. I love the fact that as they've gotten older, my kids are so happy just to have a couple of friends over for a sleep over, dinner, cake, and a rented movie.

DesertMom
http://ppdsurvivor.blogspot.com

my humble opinion is that as much as we want to spoil our children we dont want to send the wrong message either sure there are special occassions once in a while but i guess that's also a personal choice...

xoxo

The last birthday party I had for one of my kids was playing laser tag. With pizza, drinks, cake, and two games my bill came to about $370. for 11 kids. I thought that was getting up there in the cost department!

I think spending thousands of dollars for birthday parties is unconscionable. It sends the absolute wrong message to kids about money.

sure, fine, whatever

I don't think there is anything wrong with throwing a big party if you can afford it. We certainly aren't rich(an we aren't spending thousands), but I save and plan all year to throw a nice shindig for my child. Celebrating his birthday in grand fashion is something I love to do. It's not just for my child, but all of the wonderful people in our life that are so loving, generous and supportive of our son. I think what you spend on a party is really not the issue here because that is usually relative to income, but that you take the time to make it special for your child and your guests. If you don't then it's almost like it just about the gifts instead of the celebration of the day your child blessed your life. Just my opinion....,.,

I think there are 2 ways of doing it, you can do a party at home and plan for it to be a small gathering and plan to serve only cake and ice cream and pull it off relatively cheap. However, it's inevitable the longer the guest list grows the more expensive it's going to become mostly because when you're planning a large party you're usually planning for entertainment as well since there will be many there and you can't expect to do the same thing for a large party as you would for a small party. Even with inviting a maximum of 10 children and doing one form of entertainment, lets say an inflatable moon jump, pizza, cake & ice cream and drinks you're still going to pay a minimum of probably $250 - $300 and that's with out even trying to keep up with the Jones!! The inflatable rental itself will be a minimum of $100, the pizza for 10 people including feeding any parents that may come with them would probably be a minimum of $50 and then the cake, ice cream and drinks would probably be another $50 at least .... so you can spend a lot of money without even trying to throw any sort of extravagant party!!

We've done parties outside the house and yes, they usually are about $300. I think if you have it at the house you're still looking at half to two thirds that. I wonder what these parties at Build a Bear and Libby Lou are costing? I think they've got to be more in that $500 range. In my opinion, as they get to be a little more older, it's better to tranistion into something with just a few friends and make it more about quality and not quantity.

I would never spend $500 on a kid party. I'd rather spend that on a quick trip to Disney. I think the kids would enjoy that more, too. I'm actually thinking that's the way I'll celebrate my daughter's birthday next year, but I'll still let her invite two friends to the movies or to the house for a movie & karaoke.

I have spent $150-$250 on parties at various places - pizza, laser tag, crafts, but I did it mostly so I wouldn't have to clean up twice (before and after guests) and I knew that I would have likely spent at least $75-$100 on food and trinkets.

I've also done a party at the park on the cheap - I think I spent about $50. We did water balloons (I did pick up the balloon mess), volleyball, wood trinket-box craft (spotted for $1 each on sale at Michaels), chips, veggies, croissant ham & cheese sandwiches (homemade), cake, party bags and simple decorations. But you have to hunt for bargains on the party bag loot to keep the cost down.

FYI: Tomorrow (April 21) I'll be talking about birthdays on Channel 12's Arizona Midday show, which airs from 1-2 p.m.

Arizona Moms Editor Yvette Armendariz shares stories about raising her kids and tips for busy parents in her Time-starved (goddess) Mom blog. She and her husband are raising two children, ages 8 and 11.

Wow that is ridiculous!!! The only thing big that I did for my daughter was her cake, but I had taken cake decorating classes, and it came out real cute!! Until it melted on the way to my aunt's house which is where the party was. Was a good experience, hamburgers, and chicken were on the menu along with potato salad. Lots of adults at the party. I probably spent $100, but I wanted it to be special for her first birthday.

Lisa - Mom to her spunky little Scarlette

we did our daughter's 1st birthday party at home and we will be doing her 2nd birthday party at home. We spent on the first about $200 and will probably spend the same on the second.

We did not do anything fancy - had sandwiches, some sides, cake and beverages. I forgot the ice cream until a 3 year old pointed out that we don't have ice cream. LOL!! But

It was only family and i intend to keep it that way for the 2nd birthday. My daughter enjoyed herself and that's all that's important to me.

Besides, all of my parties were at home until i was about 5 or 6 and then we did bowling, roller skating (i think i'm showing my age here. LOL) or pool parties.

The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.
~ Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)