There was a major dilemma going on in our house over the holidays. My daughter wanted to have the exact same birthday party as last year. Same guest list, same cake, same theme, you get the picture.
Not that this was a huge deal, but we planned on taking the party out of the house this year. The kids are getting bigger, more are being invited and there’s only so many times you can play pass the parcel and treasure hunt for gift bags. Thing is, my kid just loves all that shit.
So far we’ve successfully avoided hosting a blowout party: the kind where the kids get a lesson or some sort of entertainment provided by a pedophile, in addition to cake in the cell-like party room.
While hosting home parties was a purposeful decision when she was younger, at some point you’ve gotta mix things up. While I’m somewhat happy I didn’t have to shell out for bad pizza and tote laundry baskets of gifts back to the car, I was actually looking forward to driving an excited Eve to the destination and decorating the inmate room. Alright, I’ll be honest, I was super excited about not cleaning up after ten ankle-biters.
Since it’s her big day and all, we graciously let Eve decide on the party format. And so, for the second year in a row, I made a popcorn cake, brought out the projector for a big-screen movie and bought mass-produced, likely leaded trinkets from the dollar store.
Eve thought her party was the best ever, but I’m still picking out pieces of marshmallowy popcorn imbedded in the couch. And carpet. Oh, and fireplace grate.
What about you? Do you like to host your child’s birthday at home?
6 Responses to Lame Kid Parties
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About Jody
Ha ha, I have one of these kids who prefers the at-home parties as well. Every year, after the guests leave, my husband and I promise each other, “Never again!”. Yet, when my son’s birthday rolls around, we always give in to him because it is, after all, his big day.
Yep, I know exactly how that goes….
I totally get it, although also get sucked into throwing a full on birthday bash, but without hired entertainment. Doing it at home means that I have a little bit of money to do cool things with the kids… but this year for our 8YO, the thought of having a bunch of 8YO boys into our little Calgary place was overwhelming enough that we opted for the climbing centre at the U of C. Good comprimise… relative to other birthday places, it was cheap & cheerful and the boys had a blast. I made a cake, no fuss, no mess. Mission accomplished.
What a great tip! I had no idea UofC was affordable.
It’s a relative scale… it was $20 per kid. We had 7 kids and they provided 4 staff and a room for cake that was attached to the climbing area. Their staff played games with the kids for a couple of hours. Great value. We had looked at some of the indoor play centres and they wanted $15 per kid + a room rental + buy food from them + extra fees if you wanted anything extra… suddenly it was north of $400 for a birthday party.
Another really affordable place is SAIT. You can swim or bowl in a private bowling ally and you get your own party planner who is actually a student in an event planning programme. It’s a great deal!