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Post by iamkristinl16 on Nov 12, 2014 0:30:40 GMT
I was discussing the idea of having my sons birthday party on a Sunday night (from my other thread) and she said that last week her son who is the same age went to a party at the bowling alley on a Tuesday night and there were lots of kids there. I looked on the bowling alley website and they have a party deal that includes everything but cake for $95 if you have the party Monday, Tuesday or Thursday. So now my dilemma is this:
Have the party at the rock climbing place Sunday night from 5-7 (I asked if there was any way to do it even half hour earlier but haven't gotten a call back). $70 plus food cost. Farther distance from home (about 30 min). Also farther to walk carting food and such. Can bring any food we want.
Or, bowling alley closer to home. $95 for two pitchers Of pop and two pizzas. I would imagine we will need more pizza but maybe not. Have to bring store bought cake. Can start anytime before 6:00. Obviously the main downside of this is that it would be a work night and people might not be able to get there by 5 or so?
Agh. DH is no help so I need you peas to help me decide what to do!!
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Deleted
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Aug 18, 2025 20:02:27 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2014 0:34:25 GMT
Haven't seen the other post yet.....
My kids are older but this is my perspective for any kids who can't drive themselves.....personally weeknights (including sunday) just wouldn't work for our kids or family due to either school/work the next day or trying to get there in time for either. Plus we often have church activities on Sunday evenings.
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Post by Eddie-n-Harley on Nov 12, 2014 0:42:07 GMT
I am tempted to say that I think the 5-7 time slot is a problem for most families most nights, even if you are feeding the kids who are guests, although that would not seem to mesh with what the other mom said.
I don't think you said in the other post that the rock climbing place is half an hour away (that makes it worse), so I guess I think that the bowling wins out slightly, if those are your only two choices.
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gsquaredmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,107
Jun 26, 2014 17:43:22 GMT
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Post by gsquaredmom on Nov 12, 2014 0:45:02 GMT
Bowling alley on a Thursday.
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Post by littlemama on Nov 12, 2014 0:48:55 GMT
Bowling alley on a weeknight would be a no-go. Working parents can't be there at 5, so 5-7 wouldn't work and 8 on a school night is too late for that age group. Around here, we don't have school the day before thanksgiving, so that Tuesday would work for 6-8 here.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Nov 12, 2014 0:59:31 GMT
The other options that are in the community are too expensive. I was trying to avoid having it at our home due to me scrapbooking the Friday and saturday before and not wanting to go into December. If we had it the 23rd I would be really stressed about cleaning and such. But, I don't want to play for a party nobody attends, either.
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Post by ihaveonly1l on Nov 12, 2014 1:05:15 GMT
How many kids? Do you have a vehicle that could transport? I would have it right after school at the bowling alley and then have the parents pick up from there, presumably on their way home from work.
If we are talking about just a few kids and you can drive them (or even if you know one other mom that would have a van that could help you), I'd go that route.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Nov 12, 2014 1:10:49 GMT
If we end up having it here, do you have any creative ideas for activities?
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Nov 12, 2014 1:12:05 GMT
I'm not sure we could transport. They are all kindergarteners and would need to be in boosters. I could offer to transport a few but don't know the parents so am not sure how that would go.
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Post by ihaveonly1l on Nov 12, 2014 1:13:54 GMT
If we end up having it here, do you have any creative ideas for activities?
Pinterest-Indoor Minute to Win It games... you will get thousands of ideas.
I actually would have liked the after school bowling...and you're never going to make everyone happy.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Nov 12, 2014 1:19:26 GMT
My husband only has Tuesday and Sunday's off.
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Post by freecharlie on Nov 12, 2014 1:21:14 GMT
Older kids it would depend on sports.
kindergarteners? Sorry both weeknight and Sunday night would have been a no go for us.
I'd say your house or wait until you can have the party on a weekend afternoon...so Sunday afternoon
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Nov 12, 2014 1:25:42 GMT
Weekend afternoons are out unless they are at our house. I don't have $200+ to spend on a birthday party this time of year, which is what it would be at the bowling alley or the trampoline place that he wants to go to. The rock climbing place is the cheapest place, but they are only available at 5:00 for parties. We could do the trampoline place if we could provide transportation and have cake, etc here and only pay the admit fee to jump, but I am not sure how that would work with this group due to the age and not knowing the parents.
I am so torn on the weeknight bowling. According to the peas posting tonight, it would be a waste of time for us to plan that. But, my friend's son had the same party last week and there were 8 or 9 kids there.
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Post by ihaveonly1l on Nov 12, 2014 1:26:03 GMT
What age?
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Post by ktdoesntscrap on Nov 12, 2014 1:33:45 GMT
At that age an afternoon birthday party would be best.
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Post by ihaveonly1l on Nov 12, 2014 1:33:59 GMT
Here's what I'd do...and have done when nothing else will work.
I'd have my son pick three buddies (so four of them total) and I'd take them over to the Pizza Ranch (pizza buffet here in central MN that my kids love and I hate) and I'd let them sit at their own table. I'd sit close, but let them "be cool". They'd giggle, I'd be laughing on the inside on how adorable their cuteness is.
We'd then load in the car, go over to the movie theater, watch a movie then I'd take them home. Or our movie theater lets you order food. They might think that was cool.
Or, we'd do the Pizza Ranch and go back to the house for them to run crazy in the basement with Nerf guns.
Honestly, they'd probably have just as a good of a time with a small group.
If he has two or three friends, that would probably be enough.
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luvnlifelady
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,428 
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Post by luvnlifelady on Nov 12, 2014 1:45:49 GMT
I see your challenge in planning this. The thing with bowling is that you would need to make sure the bowling alley has enough light balls for everyone (some keep them behind the desk). Then, they would have to have bumpers available. Even with all that, I'm not sure most that age would even bowl a whole game. Maybe they would though especially if they have food too.
Good luck. Planning for a kids party is not easy especially with other schedules and trying to keep it affordable.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 20:02:27 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2014 1:54:43 GMT
Personally at this age, I would still go with an 'at home' party. We usually tried to stick with the same [HASH] of guests as the age. Which means 4-6. I forget where you live, but Lowes Home Improvement had a lot of put together woodcrafting kits that were cool....That and some Nerf guns would be enough to entertain for a while along with a time to eat.
But we did a lot of at home parties, because the away from home places always seemed pricey.
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Post by freecharlie on Nov 12, 2014 2:17:28 GMT
What about chuck e cheese?
Kindergarteners around here have small at home parties.
I am shocked at the cost of your bowling party. We've done ds's there a couple of times and it is $50 per lane for 2 hours shoes included.
We've done pool parties for way less than $100.
The bouce house is fairly pricey but would be better than the trampoline place around here as it has more older kids at it.
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luvnlifelady
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,428
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Post by luvnlifelady on Nov 12, 2014 2:36:01 GMT
You could also try just bowling at a better time but don't call it a party. I did that for DD and just brought in cupcakes. Much cheaper that way.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Nov 12, 2014 2:39:09 GMT
What about chuck e cheese? Kindergarteners around here have small at home parties. I am shocked at the cost of your bowling party. We've done ds's there a couple of times and it is $50 per lane for 2 hours shoes included. We've done pool parties for way less than $100. The bouce house is fairly pricey but would be better than the trampoline place around here as it has more older kids at it. Hmmm...I considered Chuck-E-Cheese. I think I called and it was expensive as well, but now I am not sure. In our town there are way more people at the Trampoline park, especially older kids. The bounce house we have is for pretty young kids.
Parties here generally run around $200. The bowling alley would be $15 per person on weekends. The trampoline park is about $200, more if you have more than 8 or 10 kids. Even to rent the gym that I thought was $20 (that's what it was when my friend had her party there) it is now $100 (that is an old school gym). We have had parties at the bowling alley but my MIL paid. I know she spent well over $200 because she also bought pizza for the adults that were there.
I asked DS if he would rather have the party here or go bowling, since it seems that the rock climbing probably wouldn't work as well due to the distance. He said neither, he wants to do AirMaxx (trampoline park). I have a groupon that expires the 21st, so I suggested we go to AirMaxx as a family and then have a party at home for him and his friends. I found some fun game ideas on Pinterest tonight so will have to try to pull that together. I am usually all for home parties but just had a big party at home for my 3 year old last month and am feeling pretty overwhelmed with a lot of things right now. I guess DH will just have to work on cleaning while I am scrapbooking that weekend.  |
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Nov 12, 2014 2:40:18 GMT
You could also try just bowling at a better time but don't call it a party. I did that for DD and just brought in cupcakes. Much cheaper that way. I thought of this but there is no guarantee that you will have open lanes. I would like to do that with the Trampoline place but the transportation is an issue. I don't think you can bring food in unless you are having an actual party. |
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Post by ihaveonly1l on Nov 12, 2014 2:57:57 GMT
Kristen, I have a $25 off party coupon for airmaxx from the high school football card if you would like it.
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Post by freecharlie on Nov 12, 2014 3:05:30 GMT
These are kindergarteners, I think you may be stressing a little too much over a 5 or 6 year old partg. The kids don't care, they are just happy to be together.
Have a sleepover with 4 kids.
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NoWomanNoCry
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,856
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Post by NoWomanNoCry on Nov 12, 2014 3:11:01 GMT
Can you put off scrapbooking on Saturday so you aren't so overwhelmed with getting things together...?
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Post by stingfan on Nov 12, 2014 3:16:56 GMT
For a bunch of 5 year olds, I'd have it at home on a Sunday afternoon.
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luvnlifelady
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,428
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Post by luvnlifelady on Nov 12, 2014 3:18:41 GMT
Do you have a McDonald's around with a Playland? I did my son's kindergarten party there (it was an official party from McDonalds). Don't think it was too pricey with Happy Meals and cupcakes. They just ran around the playland for entertainment.
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Post by freecharlie on Nov 12, 2014 3:35:36 GMT
If we end up having it here, do you have any creative ideas for activities? have the bulid something, watch a movie, or pkay with nerf guns |
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kelly8875
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by kelly8875 on Nov 12, 2014 3:36:51 GMT
For Kindergarten, just have it at your house. 4-5 extra kids, you do not have to have the house spotless... Just let the kids come over, have a short organized activity if you feel the need, and let them play. A couple hours, some cupcakes...viola, a party. In Kindergarten, they just want to play. You have to do what works best for your schedule, and it seems like none of the other options do really.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Nov 12, 2014 4:22:41 GMT
These are kindergarteners, I think you may be stressing a little too much over a 5 or 6 year old partg. The kids don't care, they are just happy to be together. Have a sleepover with 4 kids. The problem is getting them together....I have never had to stress about a party this much. The days/times are what is causing the problem. I am guessing more parents would say no to a sleepover at this age than to a party on a weeknight.  Ionlyhave1L--thanks for the offer. I have a card, too, which is how the party would be as low as $200. Regular price for a weekend is $229. |
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