What are some fun alternatives to a big birthday party?

Do you have a pump-it-up in your area? They have a web site..
That's great for the kids..you rent it for your party only. And thats all it is, is a play gym. Those air ones.

BTW..Abou pump it up. It's at a buliding. It does not come to yoi..Check it out

I usually do parties but this year we are trying something different, we are taking all 7 of our kids to see Veggie Tales LIVE. We have 3 kids with birthdays within 3 weeks-2 are almost 3 and one is almost 7. We will all go out to Red Robin and then to the show. We will have a cake and ice cream at home for each of their special days! We also take each child out ALONE on their birthday night, I think too much emphasis is made on huge parties when they are really just needing/wanting to feel special on their day!

frankly with my own I could never afford a party 'out'. With my grandchildren it is different..what they wanted most of all at 3 and 4 were parties at McDonalds. Who cares if they eat nuggets and fries on their birthday. They get cake, ice cream playtime galore, someone else cleans up and I think the most I ever spent was like $48.00 bucks. You do the math.. at home party you clean up, cake $15, goodie bags and decos minimum of $30.00...that puts you at $45.00 and then YOU have to entertain them. McD's was a releif for me.

For my son's 3rd birthday, we went to the Zoo for the day. When we came home, he had cake and icecream, and the cake was a zoo theme. It worked for us, as he didn't care about a big party. It was also way cheaper and less stressful that some big party at like Chuck E Cheese or renting a huge bounce house.

By me they have a "Fun Bus" company that does great kid parties- it looks like a My Gym or Gymboree inside a bus- very cute- not too pricey!

We just have family over for them when they are this age. We have a cookout or make pizzas and have cake with ice cream. I do not have extra big parties for my kids birthdays. My older two are allowed to have their four closest friends over for theirs. We then go bowling, swimming, sledding, to the movies, have a sleep over, or go to the hotel and swim in the indoor pool. We went to Pizza Hut one year for their birthdays as well and it was alot of fun too. We do a big party only for their golden birthdays, and special events. Even then it is mostly all family. We just invite all the cousin as well as imediate family and close friends.

For my daughter's 4th birthday last month we took her and two friends to Build-A-Bear. We told the other parents that we would pay up to $20 per child. Anything over that was on them. The three girls had a BLAST making their new animals. When we were done we went back to our house for cake and presents. With the three stuffed toys, cake and decorations we spent about $70 total.

For my son's birthday this past year we just invited some of his friends to the house for a group play date. They had cake and some party games (pin the tail on the Pokemon and a pinata.) They LOVED it. Other times we've also built-in crafts for them to work on.

I have never thrown an expensive birthday party for either of my children. I have had parties at a local park and had snacks and cakes. The kids just run around and play, oh, one time I did hire a face painter, it was about $100 and she painted about 20 kids (this was at the park). Most of our parties are at home. We schedule them for 2 pm so that we don't have to serve a meal, we just put out some snacks and have juice boxes, cake and ice cream. We play traditional birthday party games. Duck Duck Goose and Simon Says were really popular for my daughters 4th and 5th birthday parties. My son has a summer birthday, so we do a pool party at home and also set up sprinklers and a slip-n-slide.

Check out www.simplefunkidparties.com
For birthday party ideas, tips, games, links
and room mom corner for those parties too!