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| Do yo have a back yard?? Your could have it inside and out. Or do you have a church home?? You might ask if you could have it at your church. Or maybe a friend or family member could open their home on your behalf... |
| posted by Ren on 07/23/2007 12:52 PM
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| How about a beach? You could have a cook out there? |
| posted by Amanda on 07/23/2007 01:33 PM
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| How about Mcdonalds, I know it's not too expensive and they do everything for you and no clean up!!! |
| posted by charise on 07/23/2007 02:46 PM
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| Hey, I am in the same boat! We have a girl turning 4 and son turning 2. The birthdays are exactly 1 month apart. I decided to have an outdoor- Sports themed party with all the balls and horseshoes and other outdoor things to do for children and parents. (I even hope to do a three-legged race and potatoe sack race.) For food hot- dogs, pretzels, Kool- aid. We don't drink so we aren't supplying beer or is it allowed! We are doing everything outside so no need to worry about music except a small boom box with kiddie praise and worship songs for musical chairs. I plan to have the children wear their favorite sports or cheerleader gear. Decorate with dollar store pom-poms and children- crafted megaphones and scoreboards from construction paper and recycled cardboard boxes. I hope to spend less than $200. This could work without a reserved space at a park too. I hope this helps. Have fun! |
| posted by Tilwanja on 07/23/2007 02:46 PM
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Hey Cath,
Don't drive yourself crazy thinking about all the details, especially at your son's age, he wont even know the difference! Keep it simple. Trust I've been through it many times my kids justed turned 3 & 4, and only a month apart, and my house as well is very small and to top it my husband and I have large families. We just always do it in the yard, and pray for good weather! Good Luck, and dont stress... |
| posted by Sarah on 07/23/2007 03:09 PM
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Cath,
A pizza place. They charge almost nothing to rent their room up to three hours. In that three hours you can do a lot you have to be creative to save money. Go to your local dollar store and purchase some games such as pin the tale on the donkey. As well there are chairs already there bring a bomb box and play musica chairs. Honesty you can have a picnic party at the park never rule out the park you can always find room. You can rent one huge table or purchase one two from Target trust me you will use them again. Take those to the park cook at home and take it with you. don't waste money on a theme just get your childs favorite color plates and napkins. have fun with it. This will allow the children to play and get some energy out and the beach is free plus you can cook there as well. |
| posted by charity on 07/23/2007 03:17 PM
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| My son loves thomas the train so for his 2nd birthday we did it at the park. It only lasted on 1 hr. (but some stayed a little longer). I didn't reserve a table. I just found a park that had a lot of trees by a play area. I had my hubby go an hr. or so early to put the blankets under the trees,which he loved because he laid there and read a book til I got there. I printed out pictures of thomas and put them on boxes filled with sand so the blankets didn't blow away. My husband made a train the kids could play in out of boxes. I decorated the area the best I could. I also brought crayons and pictures I had printed out from the thomas and friends website. The kids could go and play, color or play in the train. When it was time for cake I made cupcakes. I brought some appitizers but I didn't make the party time around any meals, so i didn't have to serve a lot of food and it was cheaper that way. I made goody bags withsome candy and train stuff. It was cheap and my son loved it. |
| posted by Karolyn on 07/23/2007 03:25 PM
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| Thank you all for your great ideas!! I don't have a backyard or live near a beach :( but I will definitely call some restaurants nearby and ask about bday parties - I like the pizza and burgers idea, going to the dollar store, and keeping it "easy".... and I'll try not to stress about it :) Thanks so much again mommies! |
| posted by Cath on 07/23/2007 03:38 PM
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Am I too late to put my 2 cents in?!?! lol!
My suggestion, a friend or family members apt or neighborhood clubhouse. They mostly have a pool nearby and some grills! You can never go wrong with a cookout!
And for the park, they always have "reservation" areas and free space. To get a free space, someone has to get there early and save spaces, but beware! I've seen some Grandmama's campout for their spots, some as early as 5 and 6 a.m.!!!!!! You can do the same at Chuck E Cheese (1st hs job; know a lot about that place!) lol |
| posted by Candice on 07/23/2007 03:59 PM
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| im a bad mom about b-day , my kids had there 1st b-day then that is it we just do cake at are house or go to dinner i just think they are 2 how many friends can they have , but that is just me , when they get old then they can have the sleep overs ,,, or movie ,,,, |
| posted by jodi on 07/23/2007 04:16 PM
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| i see what jodi is saying but if u ever witness a mom lose her young child, you know to savor every milestone, birthday, celebration, and so on. I don't remember many birthdays even the elementary days to high school ones, but the pictures show me that my parents loved me (not saying that if they didn't do it, they didn't love me) but we had a good time growing up. So my kid(s) wont remember everything, probably not much at all, but I still want to take every opportunity to have fun and celebrate with our loved ones! its not just for the kids its for the parents and everyone else in their life! it doesn't have to be super sweet 16 mtv syle, there are inexpensive creative clever ways to celebrate...thats my take on it..... |
| posted by Candice on 07/23/2007 04:22 PM
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| Jodi and Candice - you both make very good points. It's me who's for a cake and ice cream with just me and husband, but my husband wants the whole shibang (sp?)... Candice - when I look at how fast my son is growing up, I want to hold on to each second, I want him to be this way forever... and you're right, we never know what's going to happen sooo doing special things like celebrating his bday w/friends and loved ones is very important. Thanks for your thoughts ladies :) |
| posted by Cath on 07/23/2007 05:03 PM
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| My son is 17 mos and I would like to do this theme for him one day I don't know if its to old for a 2year old but you could change the finger paint to crayons. I saw it in a magazine. The theme was finger painting and yes it would be outside. You just get one of those rolls of paper (like they use in some of the restarants for a table cloth macorini grill uses it) and stretch it out over two saw horses with a big piece of plywood over them and that is your table. Make it short so the kids can reach (naturally) and get little craft aprons for them and let them go to town. Crayons might be better for that age I don't know I would probably just let my son use the finger paints seems more fun, and then there could be other little things for them to do but that would be the BIG THING I think it would be fun. THen the cake was so cool. It was a round cake all white with every color on it you could imagine it looked like crayola exploded on to it. It was just squirts of color everywhere. Good Luck |
| posted by amy on 07/23/2007 05:14 PM
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| Hi, I just joined this group, but I have an idea. My daughter is turning 2 in Aug. and we didn't know what to do this year for her b-day. Well we have a zoo near by and they have picnic area, which is free. So we are doing zoo animal theme for her, and after the picnic if anyone wants to go to the zoo they can.Everyone has some great ideas.Good Luck! |
| posted by Lisa on 07/23/2007 08:22 PM
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