Frugal Birthday Party

[sarah4554]

My son is turning five the second week of October and I have planned a party for him at Chuck E Cheese. Here is the frugal part: My friend's son is also having a birthday the second week of October so we are going to plan the kids birthdays together and split the cost of the party. What would have cost me $140 is only costing me $70 for a party of ten kids with cake, balloons, two slices of pizza for each kid, decorations, and party favors.

I am really excited about this and think it is a great deal.

My question to you is am I being to frugal when it comes to my son's party?

I also posed this question on my blog. I am very interested in the responses I am going to get both on this site and my blog.

Love to know your feelings.

[mountainmist]

I'm not sure why you are worried that you may be "too" frugal by spending seventy bucks on a birthday party for a 5 year old.

How much money represents to you a NON-"too" frugal fifth birthday party?

Surely there must be millions of youngsters who never have any birthday party at any restaurant during their entire childhood, much less at five years old -- I certainly know plenty of families who spend nowhere near fifty bucks for both the party - at home, AND the gift(s.)

I've read some articles over the past few years about parents dreading birthday parties, because it MUST be an event, and all the party bags are stuffed with party favors making these goodie bags exhorbitantly expensive.

I am very against this, what a terrible way to teach children what is really important in life, and instead encourage compulsive shopping for consumer driven wants & desires, what a silly way to live, like a robot and focusing upon the acquisition of material objects.

I have no idea why apparently so many young parents feel the need to overindulge and spoil their children.



M.Mist, AKA "Scroooooge in Disguise"

[mountainmist]

I'm not sure why you are worried that you may be "too" frugal by spending seventy bucks on a birthday party for a 5 year old.

How much money represents to you a NON-"too" frugal fifth birthday party?

Surely there must be millions of youngsters who never have any birthday party at any restaurant during their entire childhood, much less at five years old -- I certainly know plenty of families who spend nowhere near fifty bucks for both the party - at home, AND the gift(s.)

I've read some articles over the past few years about parents dreading birthday parties, because it MUST be an event, and all the party bags are stuffed with party favors making these goodie bags exhorbitantly expensive.

I am very against this, what a terrible way to teach children what is really important in life, and instead encourage compulsive shopping for consumer driven wants & desires, what a silly way to live, like a robot and focusing upon the acquisition of material objects.

I have no idea why apparently so many young parents feel the need to overindulge and spoil their children.



M.Mist, AKA "Scroooooge in Disguise"

[sarah4554]

It is not the entirely the actual amount that I think is frugal but the fact he is sharing his party with another child.

But personally I think that $70 when you include food, cake, drinks, decorations, and party favors is very frugal!

I know that there are child out there that get no toys or parties on their birthday but that is not frugal that is poor. There is a difference. We are not poor we are just trying to plan a frugal party.

I personally try very hard not to spoil my children but I do want to acknowledge their birthdays and I think Chuck E Cheese is a perfect way to do it for a five year old. This will be his first party outside of a little family party but at the age of five they start to have friends and I wanted to include them in the party as well.

[pearlieq]

I don't see anything wrong with it. $70 is a pretty reasonable amount for what you're getting, and I don't see why sharing his birthday party with friends would be any less enjoyable, especially at that age.

I guess the only thing I could see going "wrong" would be if one birthday child got significantly more/better presents than the other child. But that's not very likely to happen.

Could you do a party cheaper? Sure. A nice party for small kids could easily be had for around $20 or so (homemade cake, "free" games/entertainment like tag, musical chairs, etc., decorated cookies for the kids to take home as favors...) but if you've got the money to spend, $70 is certainly not unreasonable and splitting the cost with the friend is a great cost-saving idea.

I hope it's a great time!

[PrincessPerky]

No way is sharing too frugal, sharing is well underused in todays world, do, and encourage it!

70 might be over my budget but if you have it, hey it is your money (just if you havn't been to chukee cheese as an adult, take some asprin...you might not be used to the err..noise..but then you might not care-just saying, for your kids bday is not the day to find out and not have asprin!)

[mountainmist]

I think that it's SPECIAL that he gets to have another birthday-boy OR birthday-girl at the party - I think that sounds really 'kewl' - maybe if he were quite a bit older he'd not like that, but I just can't imagine any young child not thinking that that is really neat.

If you seriously believe that he'd feel awful about this, then I imagine that I'd cancel the duo-party, but that's just me.

The "goody bags" that I read some articles about were comprised of extremely expensive items, with all the parents trying to outdo eachother, so that their own little darling had the most expensive giftbags to give out at their birthday party -- really dreadful. I'm still astounded by I what I read about this several years ago. But it was about THEM, in the article to whom I referred to as indulgent parents. I have NO idea where this stuff became the norm, competing with the Joneses over kiddie party favors, how pathetic, ya know?

I didn't mean for YOU to think I was referring to *you* about spoiling or indulging YOUR child -- I was talking about these other parents having 400-DOLLAR "goodie bags," not at all anything about you or your post or your party at Chuck E. Cheese, which I agree sounds like a good deal, and which I encourage you to go forward with, kids love going out there in a BIG way.

((Just do not add on any thousand-dollar gift bags, oKay?!)) LOL

[mountainmist]

I think that it's SPECIAL that he gets to have another birthday-boy OR birthday-girl at the party - I think that sounds really 'kewl' - maybe if he were quite a bit older he'd not like that, but I just can't imagine any young child not thinking that that is really neat.

If you seriously believe that he'd feel awful about this, then I imagine that I'd cancel the duo-party, but that's just me.

The "goody bags" that I read some articles about were comprised of extremely expensive items, with all the parents trying to outdo eachother, so that their own little darling had the most expensive giftbags to give out at their birthday party -- really dreadful. I'm still astounded by I what I read about this several years ago. But it was about THEM, in the article to whom I referred to as indulgent parents. I have NO idea where this stuff became the norm, competing with the Joneses over kiddie party favors, how pathetic, ya know?

I didn't mean for YOU to think I was referring to *you* about spoiling or indulging YOUR child -- I was talking about these other parents having 400-DOLLAR "goodie bags," not at all anything about you or your post or your party at Chuck E. Cheese, which I agree sounds like a good deal, and which I encourage you to go forward with, kids love going out there in a BIG way.

((Just do not add on any thousand-dollar gift bags, oKay?!)) LOL

[cschin4]

People get so worked up about kids' parties, buying presents for others, etc. So what if you drop a few bucks on your kid's birthday party? I have had parties at the movies, the local pizza place (ala Chuckie Cheese) and swim parties at the YMCA. The kids had a great time and so did I. And, the peak time for parties is ages 5-8, after that things really start to slow down anyway. I have sent my kids to all the parties they were invited to. You don't have to spend alot on a gift and your kid is fed and entertained for a couple of hours. For a $5-10 gift, that is a good deal.
Enjoy your kid's party. If others think it is "too extravagant" then who cares what they think anyway? If you are not going into debt and it is something you want to do, then enjoy!

[sarah4554]

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. I actually took it one step further and just asked my son how he felt sharing his party with his other friend. He started jumping up and down and was so happy that everyone would sing happy birthday to him and his friend. He loved the idea and it saves me money I guess it is a win, win situation.

[crazyBMB]

Wow! You managed to stay in a budget? Please, let me know how you did it.
The big question is this: Did they have fun?
I think that says it all. Money shoulden't be the object, although a lot of parents this it is. Most kids would rather play in the yard, run through sprinklers, and run around being crazy and making lots of noise. We did that one year and the kids still talk about it (8yrs later).

[mountainmist]

Originally Posted by sarah4554

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. I actually took it one step further and just asked my son how he felt sharing his party with his other friend. He started jumping up and down and was so happy that everyone would sing happy birthday to him and his friend. He loved the idea and it saves me money I guess it is a win, win situation.

Yeah, that's how all the five year olds I've known would have seen it, that it was extra super duper special to have a DOUBLE birthday party with a friend, wow, how kewl, yadda/yadda.

Around here the birthdays get more & more elaborate with age, with teens having dinners & going to movies or to "The Theatre," LOL.

I can really understand, though, why kids would really remember one of those "Olde Fashioned" birthdays with a big pin-the-tail on the donkey outside and running through the sprinklers, with peanut butter & jelly sammmmwiches and one pickle slice, before the 78-cent cake mix on sale and free-via-rebate frosting.

I think they'd really enjoy that, because it's pretty uncommon for any parents to have the TIME to do that kind of "do-nothing" party, it's pretty TIME and energy intensive for most 2-income households, anyway.

[mountainmist]

Originally Posted by sarah4554

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. I actually took it one step further and just asked my son how he felt sharing his party with his other friend. He started jumping up and down and was so happy that everyone would sing happy birthday to him and his friend. He loved the idea and it saves me money I guess it is a win, win situation.

Yeah, that's how all the five year olds I've known would have seen it, that it was extra super duper special to have a DOUBLE birthday party with a friend, wow, how kewl, yadda/yadda.

Around here the birthdays get more & more elaborate with age, with teens having dinners & going to movies or to "The Theatre," LOL.

I can really understand, though, why kids would really remember one of those "Olde Fashioned" birthdays with a big pin-the-tail on the donkey outside and running through the sprinklers, with peanut butter & jelly sammmmwiches and one pickle slice, before the 78-cent cake mix on sale and free-via-rebate frosting.

I think they'd really enjoy that, because it's pretty uncommon for any parents to have the TIME to do that kind of "do-nothing" party, it's pretty TIME and energy intensive for most 2-income households, anyway.

[jodi]

Honest answer? No, I don't think you are being frugal. But I do think you are being smart! You are cutting the cost in half - that's great. But (in my opinion) a truely frugal party would be at home or in a park, homemade cake, games, etc. and could probably be done for $20 or less.
I don' t think there is anything wrong with it, so please don't think I am saying that. I just don't think it's frugal. And there are plenty of times that not being frugal is okay. We were semi-frugal for my son's party. We went to a (free) playground and only invited 4 other kids. I made homemade cupcakes and brought frosting/sprinkles, etc so the kids could decorate their own - they loved it. I gave away $1 coloring books with $.10 crayons as favors. But I also bought a sheet pizza and treated everyone to a dish of ice cream from the stand across the street. Definitely not frugal - but okay nonetheless.
Hope you both have a wonderful time! I'm sure at some point I will end up at a Chuck E Cheese type party with one of my boys too.

[Gruntina]

I personally think you are being frugal. I dont think I can spend under 70 dollars by making dinner, cake, baloons, party favors and the games for 10 kids! That is about 7 dollars per kid so I do think that is a great deal. You do not have to shop around for food/items at the stores, clean up the mess, and etc.

If it was just a cake party with some games and favors, then I can see there is a cheaper route.

I personally think it's great!