My son is turning 6 very soon and Im not sure what to do for his party. Im a little annoyed at how much all the usual parties cost, like the jumping places or gym places. They all seem to be around $300 for a group of 7-10. It seems like a lot to spend on a 2 hour party for 6 year olds. Does anyone feel the same or am I being crazy? Do you have any other ideas? Im running out of time and will probably end up booking one of these places because I don't know what else to do. Ive looked into magicians that come to the house and they are very expensive also. Is everyone made of money??
There is a place called sky high it’s a trampoline jumping place. It’s $10 per kid. Bring your own cake. It gets expensive if you do their special party package but if you just bring the kids and pay for the jump time it’s not so bad.
bowling - that can be expensive also
laser tag - I think 2 rounds and a party room was $150.
If you don’t like those costs…find a local park and set up games like dodge ball (I know…not PC but still)…three-legged race…potato sack race… badminton…
Or have a camp out sleep over with 3 boys - his 3 favorite friends - and do s’mores and such.
A party is NOT a necessity…doing something special with the family is nice too…don’t feel like you need to keep up with the Jones’
Here’s an idea. Have it at home!!!’ Plan some games, put some things outside for them, big playground balls, soccer balls, just let them run. Lunch if you want, cake and ice cream. Perfect party in my opinion. Never had a party out and I have four kids. Two hours will go by fast. I would never spend that kind of money on a birthday party.
Many years, my girls have not wanted a party but instead wanted a day trip. We have gone to NYC for many birthday celebrations and have seen Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Grease, Phantom etc. These family fun days I think are so much more memorable than a party at a bounce house etc. It definitely has cost more to do a day trip to NY but it is also way more memorable and special IMO.
Happy 6th Birthday to your son.
I agree with you on the cost of location type parties. We do at home or backyard or park birthdays. For my daughter’s 9th birthday we did an art themed party. My son is going to turn 7 in July and we are going to do a backyard party and just set up squirt guns, water balloons and a slip n slide. We will most likely just BBQ hotdogs and get a cake. 2 hours and it’s over 
I think at home parties are the cheapest and easiest way to go and then we can invite more than 10 people and parents are allowed to stay if they want to.
I have two boys and I always liked to do at least one thing that kept them active. I don’t know their current pricing since my boys are now older, but the YMCA was reasonable. You could choose between time in the gym and time in the pool and you got one hour in a party room. You could bring your own refreshments and we planned it for in between a meal so we just served cake and lemonade.
My oldest is a huge baseball fan. One year we played baseball (this was little kid baseball) in a nearby park and came home for hot dogs and cake and had baseballs and baseball cards as the party favors. The favors were the most expensive part of the party and that could’ve been changed. Something similar could be done with another sport. A friend once had a home party with flag football.
Once we had a Nerf gun “war,” again at the nearby park, and came home for pizza and brownies. My expenses were the pizza, brownie mix and Nerf gun “bullets.” Pretty reasonable. The boys had a ton of fun.
I’ve done some blow-out, expensive parties, but certainly not every year and some of the more reasonably priced parties have been the favorites.
For the record…I tried the at home party…and spent $400 on food, cake, favors, etc… not to mention the stress and cleaning of your house.
So it was not cheaper in any way.
We wound up at Pump It Up in Niles, which usually runs around $300 for 15 kids.
But I am tired of doing that and looking for ideas, too.
I used to love throwing my kids big birthday parties, so I have spent that kind of money and more. I’ve done low key and I’ve done “big.” Some parties were not worth it and some were amazing.
One of the best parties we had (paid $350? for owner and an assistant) to run a Sports themed party, where THEY set up all the games and the kids (about 10-12 girls age 8) played capture the flag, tag, etc… games I don’t know. I’m sure YOU can google these games and run them yourself. Or hire some teenage boy to do it. Someone who is positive and outgoing. Maybe call your local summer camps and see if they know anybody in the local high schools. Or call your local Parks & rec.
Here are the games:
http://www.lasportsnmore.com/sportsnmore/parties.html
Boys are a little harder because I found that my son needed more “action” whereas my daughter was happier with something low key. For her upcoming 10th birthday, movie, sleepover, embroidery rings (she’s getting into sewing) and I forget what else for Saturday morning.
What does he like to do? Then I can think up something creative.
I hate Lazer tag. Kids get hurt in the dark. Never done it.
I like the sleepover idea. Give them some activity to do - a hike? Come home and make something. There must be Nature ideas on Pinterest.
Or how about a biking birthday. Take the boys on a neighborhood bike ride. To a park. It’s free. Come home, watch a movie, sleep over.
No, you are not crazy. Do you have a park nearby that you can rent a pavilion or put up a tent?? Outdoors seems like a great idea this time of year–especially for boys. You can do some simple games (ring toss, egg on a spoon, water balloons (if the weather is really warm), pin the tail on the donkey, etc)…just google, you can come up with hundreds of ideas!
A friend did an awesome theme last year. Her son is a huge animal lover. They did a dog theme (and they don’t even have a dog). They did pin the tail on the dog, dog toy toss, and they had to transfer water from one dog bowl to another. The best part—in lieu of gifts, they asked people to bring pet food to donate to a local shelter. LOVED THE IDEA!!! The cake was in the shape of a dog bone, too.
We ALWAYS ask for donations(paper towels, trash bags, toilet paper, etc) to the Ronald McDonald in lieu of gifts for the kids. It’s a win-win-win…parents don’t have to stress about what to buy, you don’t end up with 20 new toys your kids might play with, the charity of your choice benefits!!
Also, I never feel the need to buy/make goodie bags because my kids aren’t receiving gifts. Parents ALWAYS thank me! They’d much rather buy 5 rolls of paper towels for less that $10 than worry about what my son needs/wants and how much is appropriate to spend!
We just had most of our parties at home. Even when we still lived in our condo it was fine. Cake & ice cream, a few games, maybe a craft, it was fun, fairly easy and cheap. At six my son would have had about a 7 or 8 friend limit so space wasn’t an issue.
One year he had a Laser Tag party, I think when he turned ten (?) It was kind of expensive but he was really into it and I kept the numbers/cost to a minimum.
And if you have space at your home a bouncy house is SUCH a deal. Around here they only charge $120 for the basic model and they usually leave it here all day. Many of our home parties included a bouncy house.
We had a few parties at the park or pool, though honestly the hassle of taking everything there and setting it all up just wasn’t worth it to me. Home is SO much easier IMO.
I’d check with the Indian Boundary YMCA (59th St, between Fairview & Main), as well as with the Darien Park District. They should be more affordable.
We did my son’s 7th birthday (his first ever “friend” party) at Westmont Yard and it was good, but we didn’t feel like we got our $ worth because it was very frenzied since they still had all their indoor Saturday sports going on at the same time in the field house, and I was under the impression that the inflatables would be set up on the fields.
Whatever you do–get details in writing!
How about bowling? Tivoli in downtown Downers is nice, as is the Westmont lanes on Ogden.
Why not just have the party at your house and have them play some games? It will be so different from all the other parties, they will have a blast.
Children do not need fancy birthday parties, they like playing together and being able to run around doing goofy things.
Do you have a grandpa or friend close by who can act like the magician? Sure it will not be professional, but with the right personality, it will be fun for the kids.
House party.
Park.
Pizza joint with arcade.
Movie party at your house, pizza, cake.
Naperville gym and dance! I think I paid 150 for a two hour party for 10 kids. They did gymnastics for an hour and then 30 minutes for cake before another 30 minutes of gymnastics. I just did cupcakes and some snacks. Kids loved it, and I spent less than my at home parties!!! I did also tip the girl that was in charge of our party, but if you make your own cupcakes, you can do the whole thing for less than 200. Still a little nuts!
I’m trying to convince my kids to give up kid parties. I’m going go try to convince them to take a night trip somewhere next year instead.
But I’d try Naperville gym and dance. Perfect 6 year party place
How about a sleepover? Pizza and cake…make pancakes in the morning. Here the usual price for swimming or gymnastics or whatever is $100. Another fun idea is bowling. You pay for 2-3 lanes. Put up the bumpers. Order everyone pizza. My son had his friends all meet us at the park last year…he wanted everyone to bring sporty stuff to all play with. This year he is having a sleepover with 5 friends. It’ll be crazy! But inexpensive. You don’t have to do it at a place to have fun.
My son loves home parties. We’ve done a pirate party where we had stations. My daughter drew mustaches and applied tattoos. They had to walk the plank and I had bottles set up for them to knock over and a treasure hunt. Each station they earned their bandana, sword and beads. We did hot dogs in the shape of octopus and had a lot of fun.
We’ve done a chef party where they made their own pizzas and fruit k-bobs. Then they decorated their own 8" round cake to take home. I bought aprons and chef hats for them to decorate with stamps when they came in.
His favorite was a top shot party. It was modeled after the TV show Top Shot. We had an obstacle course set up with several different stations. Bow and arrow, BB gun, darts etc. the boys loved it and I had plenty of adult supervision.
Minute to win it parties are a lot of fun. We just went to one of those this weekend. The kids had a ball and it was very reasonably done.
Blessings and have fun!
Lori
Where I live bowling, mini-golf, YMCA and go-cart parties are about $10 per kid.
Yes, birthday parties are expensive! As a Mom of a almost 10 year old boy, we have done them all and been to them all! Expect to spend minimum of $200 even if you have it at home. In fact I think I’ve spent more on the home parties than the outside parties, because you tend to spend more on decorations, games, entertainment.
I would highly recommend having it outside your home. 6 year old boys want to do 2,things, run around and eat cake! Boys at that age is like herding cats. Pump it up, Lisle has a weekday option for 10 kids for $139 for 90 min, which is a perfect amount of time for kids that age. All you have to do is bring cupcakes and its a party! You could do it right after school? That way you don’t have to get pizza or clean your house twice!
I tell you this because I never did this party, but he went to like 5 of them and had a great time every time! I was too busy planning home parties that cost just as much (if not more) and exhausted from all the running around!
The trampoline place in Naperville is really cool, but I would wait a couple of years and it is geared towards kids a little older IMO and is way more expensive.
Good luck!