C is 5 on March 31st. I am due April 30th, but have to deliver by April 9 (or potentially earlier). So... I want this party planned and set like yesterday. We are having such a hard time deciding what to do. He wants to have his friends over to watch a movie, play with all his toys, have cake, and pet animals. Sorry kiddo, not if there's the possibility of a newborn in the house. So we can do movie theater, for no idea how much. We can do petting farm, but last year we froze our asses off there. There are a couple places you can do swimming, but they're $$. Chuck-E-Cheese is right around the corner but one of his little buddies is doing his there next month and, like, ugh.
@CoolWife Do you have any older theaters near you? A friend of mine did a movie birthday for her daughter and I want to say it was only like $300 for a private screening at the old theater in town, vs $15 per person for the party room and a public screening at the new theater
Just throwing this out there... I saw a few birthdays at Domino's Farms last year. It's been fairly warm, and that place is easy to get in and out of. Also, bumper bowling.
Yup, that's what we did last year - at the Petting Farm. There was a ton of snow and it was fucking freezing! Bowling is also fun - one of his friends did that last weekend, so I dunno if he'd want to. Plus it's like $400.
Would he be into a trampoline park or gymnastics centre? Someone I know rented out a community centre for her twins' 5th (I think) and I believe they had a Nerf gun war and played dodgeball and stuff.
Yeah, maybe. I'm just torn on what to focus on. He wants everything, lol. I think we're going to have to narrow it down to a few affordable options and have him pick.
I vote for Chuck E. Cheese simply for the convenience of not having to do shit! I don’t think any kid is going to complain about going to Chuck E. Cheese two months in a row. Lol Oh! Just saw Zoom’s response. A trampoline park sounds fun too, and they usually take care of most of the organization and clean up!
We actually went to CEC for my niece's baby's 1st birthday (????????) and the pay by the hour format is so much better!
Its not something he mentioned, but around here you can also rent out the community pool? That could be fun
Botanic garden? Usually they have indoor event spaces. Indoor/enclosed carousel? Children's museums? ($$ but you can maybe limit it to just a handful of friends and pay their admission without renting event space maybe). Our local boutique candy shop has an event space and they can do kid birthday parties, if you have a place like that around. Eta: pottery painting place?
When I was about that age, I had a cake decorating party at a bakery and LOVED it. Everyone got their own mini cake and all the icing you could ever dream of.
My fav bday party I was 6ish and my parents got a suite at a local Embassy suites for my friends and I to sleepover in. They ordered pizza in and we swam in the pool. That may be an option thats kinda like what hes asking for but not at your house!
I was telling D that I usually had sleepovers and made our own pizza, etc. But I can’t handle that rn and I’m not committing him to more than a few hours given the situation. If he really wants the petting farm I’ll just go buy snacks and load a cooler now and rooster can handle that, plus I’m sure grandparents will be there. But you are 100% right it needs to be easy (for us).
@CoolWife my mom was very pregnant with my sister on my bday (the party was 2+ weeks early because she was due on my bday). She and dad found a local theater performance of a musical adaptation of Rapunzel. Maybe there's something like that around? I think we were seated at a table instead of theater seating, so easier to wrangle kids.