Party Ideas

My daughter is also a social butterfly. I just had her 5th party and she LOVED it. I had it at the house and hired a face painter/balloon twister to come. She was hired for an hour but stayed until all the girls had what they wanted. The faces weren't just painted, they were PAINTED...cheetah masks, butterfly (entire) faces, etc. I used Carbone Entertainment - ###-###-####. Good luck!

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Try Kangaroo Jacs, a bouncy house place. Or Young Chef's Academy if she likes cooking. And my favorite, try a local museum. We've done the Children's museum, Air & Space and Living Museum. The children learn something and have fun. We've also been to parties at the zoo. All of those places can be loads of fun. Good luck!

The best birthday party around is at The Little Gym (Laskin Road in VA Beach), Hanbury Road in Chesapeake (Great Bridge Area) and Starmount Pkwy in Chesapeake Square. Honestly the kids have the best time and you don't have to do a thing but enjoy it!
Check the website... www.thelittlegym.com and choose your closest location. Have a great one!

Dear J.,

Although I have had many moms from surrounding areas create carpools to drive their daughters to Richmond to experience a truly magical birthday in a fairyland setting at The Party Fairy, I suspect that may not be a possibility for you....but I am very happy to tell you that The Party Fairy does ship a complete party-in-a-box that is perfect for a little girl your daughter's age!
You'll find everything you need for an easy birthday party at home -- and it's so easy that it will seem the next best thing to pixie dust!!! Wings, wands, crowns and jewelry for each little girl, the complete tabletop, party favors, invitations, complete crafts and activities and game suggestions, with everything already counted, parceled out and prettily packaged for you. It's all right there in a box!
Details about the party in a box are at this link:
http://thepartyfairy.wordpress.com

The fairy party in a box truly is a great value for the price point, and you won't find so much sparkle in one box anywhere else on the Internet -- but if you're really pinching pennies this year, did you know that it's possible to do it all on your own for less than $50? That's right -- a really fun fairy-themed party at home for less than $50!!! It's true; you really can accommodate up to 10 little girls for less than $50. Check out my complete step-by-step instructions at this article on www.hubpages.com:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Plan-a-Fairy-Party-for-Less-Than-...

And, no matter what theme you decide to have, you'll find tons of great party planning advice, tips and strategies (all free!) on www.askthepartyfairy.com. You can also post your own questions there and receive free answers.

Happy New Year, and happy party planning! :)

My daughter loved her pottery painting party at Color Me Mine in Fairfax. The pottery cats and dogs were especially popular.

We had my 6 year old son's party at McDonalds and it only cost $58 for 8 kids. This was a meal and cake and a goody bag plus special seating for 2 hours. I thought it was a deal and no cleanup.

J.,
Here's a little piece of advice that I learned with my oldest child, now turning 12 in January... My mistake was trying to 'keep up with the other Mom's parties'... The big blast at a local Kid's Hot Spot became very expensive, and created more stress than was necessary. It became a status thing. Don't let that happen to you. The party is about the child and those who are IMPORTANT in HER life. If she loves 'My Little Pony', have a nice pony themed party at home with family/or 5-6 of her close friends. Do not feel like you have to give 'party favors' to your childs guests. (we should not teach our children to expect rewards for attending the party of a friend).
Once I started tending to the needs of, and listening to my daughter about what was fun for HER, our parties became less stressful and more fun. Now at age 12 she simply has a tradition of having 3 special freinds spend the night, and they all go do something fun the next day. Sometimes a movie, last year roller skating this year we're going bowling!!!!
You'll find the right thing for your celebration. The hardest thing for me was to realize that it was about her and not about impressing the other Moms.
Happy Birthday to your little girl!
S.

hi J.....first, Thank you to both you and your husband for your service to our country!

OK, I highly recommend going to Familyfun.com and checking out their parties...I have done entire theme parties with everything from their site. Bowling parties where I made T-shirts for the kids (that was the favor), Jungle Party where everything was homemade and easy and lots of fun.

Last year for my daughter's 7th birthday I rented a hotel room where they had a pool. We did a "1/2 sleepover/pool party" and invited 10 girls to swim, have pizza, and watch a movie in their PJs in the hotel room. The girls left at 8pm and my daughter and I spent the night. No clean-up on my part! :) Good luck!

D.

When my daughter turned 5, she had a spa party at home. Each parent who stayed helped out -- some were on toes, fingernails and faces. They enjoyed being pampered, acted like ladies and we even had soft purses that they each designed (materials purchased at Michael's). Food was fun ---- fruit salad, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese and of course a cake featuring my daughter getting a spa treatment. It was so much fun for the kids and adults too.

I have my daughters party's in a park but she's a June baby. I also have a class party at school for everyone then have a few close friends come for the "big" party.

if you live in the odenton area there is a Kids first swimming pool.

they host parties on the weekend.

they are in jessup just down the road from ft meade. they do have other locations.

you could also do a speacial day and take just one friend and go to new york and visit the American Girl store, but that is a realy speacial day.

J.,
When my now 10 year old was younger I have done a bowling party at a bowling alley and one year I took a small group to pizza hut for lunch and then to the movies and then for cake and ice cream back at my cousins house becasue she lived closer to the movie theater and she hada great yard to play in. Instead of doing goodie bags I took pictures of each of the girls that had come to the party with my daughter and then a group one for my daughter to have and I gav each of the girls a small flat wooden frame and had bought things to decorate the frames with, beads, foam flowers and such and gave each little girl a baggie of different items and a small bottle of glue. I figured they could decorate their frames at home and when I got the pictures developed I mailed each of them their picture with my daughter. Everyone seemed to enjoy all of the activites and the mom;s told me later they had fun decoratig the frames with their daughters and they loved getting mail when the pictures arrived. My daughter still has her frame in her room on her dresser and it was 6 years ago.

have a pirate party! treasure hunts (hide prizes throughout the house and yard with clues), costumes, music! it's wonderful to watch little girls access their inner buccaneers.
:) khairete
S.

Look for the free magazines Washington Parent and Washington Families -- they're usually in stacks near the doors of places like Whole Foods Market and other grocery stores. They have tons of ads for party locations, party entertainers, etc. Of course, they cost -- the "moon bounce" places are great and we've been to parties at Pump It Up but they can be expensive. At age 5, I'd keep it simple (and save money) like some folks have suggested -- 5-year-old girls will adore a tea party or princess party (or princess tea party) and you can find plenty of party games for all ages by Googling, then get the party gear like napkins, favors, etc. from an inexpensive place like www.orientaltrading.com, which has themed party stuff. Have fun!

Hello J.,

The DC region has a lot of great places to host a child's birthday. I'm happy to suggest some ideas but need a little more info. In what city do you live? How many other children will be invited?

A. Dorfman, CSEP
professional party planner and Mom of 3 little girls
posh parties, LLC
www.poshpartiesllc.com
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My niece just had her daughter's 9th birthday party at Pump It Up. It is an indoors place where there are different rooms with moon bounces and slides. The kids really enjoyed themselves. The website is www.pumpitupparty.com.

Good Luck

My friend just did Kid's SwimFirst for her son. They have one in Perry hall and Pasedena- very low key, you have total control over the 'party' part and the kids have a blast swimming around off season.
Masquerade parties are aways fun too when you pick a theme and so a matching craft-like making wings or antennea's for a bug/butterfly party.

My girls are wanting to do a Liby-Lu birthday party. I have not looked into the prices yet. I also know you could do like a build a bear birthday party.. Hope some of these help with info...

2 ideas. Boweling. They have great affordable birthday party packages. Second, this year I did a Carnival theme at my home. Low cost also. The games were homeade, but so easy. Trust me-I am all about easy and cheap! The kids loved it!!! Look up Carnival parties online and there is some website that will pop up (I cannot remember the name) that gives great specific ideas. If you are interested in this idea, you are welcome to e-mail me and I can give you detailed descriptions as to what I did..... ____@____.com
Good luck!!

I had a TinkerBell party at my house last year....the girls played dress up and I did their hair and make-up with glitter, etc and even 'dyed' their hair pink and blue with a special dress-up kit...we tied streamers everywhere and it looked very whimsical. I made the girls shirley temples with umbrella straws and we watched Enchanted and played fun girl games.
If you wanted to go out of the house, you could go to a neighborhood clubhouse and decorate there - have a magician or someone come in and perform a show for the girls...
I'm assuming you would like an indoor party, but if the weather is nice, you could always do a scavenger hunt in the park and play games like potato bag races or balancing an egg on a spoon and have little prizes....
I also see that someone mentioned Libby Lu....my daughter really enjoys that as well...then usually the girls will go eat at the food court in the mall...that way everyone gets to choose.

I have a 9yr old, 2yr old, and 1yr old. Here are some things we've done or been to:

Bounce House for an "at home" party
Pump It Up
Inflation Nation
The Playroom
Chuck E Cheese
Build A Bear
Laser Tag
The Party Fairy
Mad Science (they come to your house)
Putt Putt
Bowling Alley (not a big fan of these)
Richmond Olympiad/Little Gym/My Gym/Romp and Roll
Jewelry Party Auction (go to dollar store to buy a bunch of cheap jewelry, give them pennies and have an auction)

hi. i have a 7 year old daughter and we like to do picnics. i dont know when your daughters birthday is but my daughters in the end of may so the weather is nice. we just rent a picnic shelter, get bubbles and other outside stuff and bbq on the grills at the park. the kids always have a great time and its easy most of all. hope this helps some.

joanie

we did build a bear this year. it actually was a lot cheaper than it would have been if I had gone to the gymnastics places or pump it up places around us. it depends on the number of kids. We had 11 kids, anymore than that it is probably overwhelming to all at that age. You can control the price from $10-$30 per person. You get coupons in the mail for later purchases. We set up an area in the food court and had pizza and cake later. We have been to several bowling parties this year, and they can be fun depending on how organized you are. The pump it up places are fun if you have a large crew.

Hi J.,my little girl is turning 6 this Month and she wants her party at build a bear! We went recently to a party there for a friend and she had the time of her life and insists her party be there as well. It really is just the neatest place and you set the cash limit for each child (can be as low as $10 a child with a limit of 5 kids) lots cheaper than chuckie cheese and more fun we think. Go check out the site and see what you think----> www.buildabear.com

Hi J.,

I'm not sure of you're budget but here are a few ideas that you're little girl may enjoy a party at Kangaroo Jacs in Chesapeake, at a cinema cafe, at a roller skating ring, at a kids cooking school or a good old fashion (and less expessive) slumber party. Good Luck and God Bless!

My son just turned 7 this month and we did his birthday party at Haygood Roller skating rink located in Va Beach. The kids had a lot of fun and it cost me the same as if I had done a home party. They had two packages available. One included skate rental, access to the playground, 2 pitchers of drink and the other package had everything the first one did plus two large pizzas, an ice cream cake, party invitations, and all of the paperware that is needed.

For my daughter's 5th last year, we did a bit of a bigger party because it was her last year with her pre-school friends. It was a My Little Pony theme at Rebounders with all her girl classmates. This year will be much smaller with just a few friends. Some ideas we are considering...a pottery place, an ice cream sundae party, a Build-A-Bear or Webkinz party. One thing we will be incorporating...instead of gifts we are asking for donations to a charity. She gets enough gifts from family and friends!

Hi J.. My little ones always enjoyed having a pool party. Especially the winter birthdays. It is not that often they get to swim during the winter, but for their birthday they shed off the winter coats and we will go to a community pool or the YMCA and have a pool party.

What about a local museum or botanical gardens? All our local places like those do great parties and have neat activities for the kids to do. Plus attending a party usually gets you into the museum or gardens as a family that day, a nice bonus for folks.

Take care, S.

When I was 5 or 6 my mother set up a princess party for me. We delivered the invitations in 'glass slippers' and my mom had gotten some simple fabric to make little dresses for all the guests (basically a large shirt made out of blue or yellow chiffon). I had a princess cake and we danced at a 'ball' wherein my brothers served as the princes (slightly anti-climactic for me!) I can't remember most of what else but I DO remember that I loved it. Don't know if parents do things like this anymore (this WAS 25 years ago) but it seemed different than your other suggestions and I thought I'd throw in my two cents :)

haygood skating rink. i am taking my daughter to a hotel with an indoor pool that has a lazy river and waterfall. she will have a few guests join us then we will stay the night and a couple close friends will stay too. you could rent a room at a rec center. or go to an indoor golf plave like birdies in chesapeake. or jw tumbles/ my gym.

HI J.,
I had a friend that hosted a slumber party at a Hotel close to her home. She has two girls 7 and 9 and they had a blast. She booked a suite and they had 7 or 8 girls spend the night and another parent. They used the indoor Hotel pool for entertainment and there was a mini golf course next door. Best of all was maid service!! Not sure if this would work for a 5 year old or not, there is always a bowling party (duck pins with bumpers!).
Good Luck,
D.