Children's Birthday Parties

We have my daughter's fourth birthday quickly approaching, and for the fourth year I've decided to play it simple. She had the misfortune of being my third child, so by the time she entered the world I had lost most of my zest for party planning and attention to the finest details! While I still love to throw a party, choose a theme, and splurge on their special day, I'm no longer painting sugar cookies until the wee hours of the morning, or printing, cutting, and stringing a new banner for each party. In fact, the pink ribbon garland I made for her first birthday will do just fine for the fourth consecutive year! Don't get me wrong, I'll probably get back into spending far too much time planning their parties, but for now, I've come to the realization that I cared far more about it than they did, and because I was in crazy-party planner mode I wasn't able to enjoy their day as much as I'd like.

I love a good home party, I think it's economical, personal, and a great reason to gather friends and family. However, children reach a certain age when you might start thinking about taking the party outside of your home. To a place with additional help. And entertainment. I will never forget the look my husband and I exchanged when we had twelve six-year-olds dressed up as superheroes, battling in our family room. Fortunately I was able to wrangle them into playing a few games that kept things slightly more controlled, but we swore that would be the last home party for a while.  So the following year I began my research of where to host our son's party- and boy, was he excited! Having been to many birthdays at various centres, he had always dreamt of the possibilities.

Here are a few:
Smart Moves is a great option for younger children, with private party rooms offering meal options, along with play time in their STEM based centre. The kids absolutely love it because they can run wild, climb, play, and slide.

Bowling is a fun choice for kids who are old enough to throw the ball fast enough down the lane! Bowlerama has quite a few five pin lanes, bumpers, and a private party room with meal options.

Cineplex now offers a variety of movie packages to choose from, whether you want to serve an entire meal to your guests, or just popcorn and a drink. As with the other venues, you have a party room to gather the guests and open gifts or play games.

A fun option I recently discovered is Swirleez, the frozen yogurt bar by the waterfront. With their own party room, they offer a space for glow in the dark games, make your own yogurt sundae, and more!



We ended up choosing Retro Planet, based on the activities provided (mini golf, laser tag, and arcade games) the pizza lunch provided in a private party room, and the cost per child. It was the perfect fit for our son and his party preference! I also really liked that I was able to bring my own decorations, and supplies. The kids absolutely love it there, which is all that matters (read, I was ready for a long nap afterwards). My son had a blast, but he knows that not every year is a "big" party year because it can just be too costly.




This winter we booked Smart Moves for our middle child's fifth birthday, but sadly he broke his collarbone on Christmas Eve, so we were forced to relocate to Boston Pizza. It was the perfect place for a low-key, non-physical party, which was just what the doctor ordered, literally. The kids had fun making their own pizzas at the table, then decorating their ice cream sundaes with tons of candy provided, and Boston Pizza even threw in loot bags for each child. All the set up and clean up was taken care of by the staff assigned to our party, and the price was perfect!




I've always wanted to try an outdoor park party, picnic-style, another economical idea. I might give it a go in a couple years for my daughter's birthday, though you always have to take a chance with the weather. Have you tried this? Where did you do it?


Whatever your budget, there are many options out there for the perfect party, big or small. Birthdays are very important to me, they are such a special day in the lives of those who mean the most. One day my children won't want a big party, or won't want us celebrating with their friends, so for now I'll spoil them as best I can!

B

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