Birthday Parties

I cant seem to get over the way they do kids birthday parties here. Maybe its just a regional thing but when my kids go to parties I always find it strange that they dont open presents at the party and there is no cake and ice cream. When the kids leave they get a sliver size piece of cake wrapped up in a party napkin and stuffed in a goody bag. Not much fun.
Also I find the "party food" so yucky. Cold ASDA pizza, cold sausage rolls, sandwiches with BUTTER (cant do it!).
I had my sons 6 birthday party here when we arrived nearly 4 years ago. I made it American style and the kids had so much fun!
What do you think about it?
Pebs

Hi Pebbles,

I have two boys as well, 6 and almost 3.  I thought the same thing that you did about parties when I first started attending and planning them.

The first few years before he was in school, I did the parties the American way.  But after he started school, I tended to follow the English format.  It probably seems silly, but I thought that it would be easier to manage the kids by following a known format.

In my son's school, a lot of the mums like to hire entertainers (i.e. DJ's, Puppet Shows, etc.) while the kids are still young enough.  Other mums have actually had the parties at leisure centers and another had a bowling party.   The one thing I've never cared for are bouncy castles.  I don't know why, because the kids seem to love them.  But they've never appealed to me.

I just try to make sure that the kids have enough to do so that they don't get bored which prevents things from getting out of control!  And I give out BIG pieces of cake in the loot bags because in this case, bigger is better!

Yeah, whats the deal with the silly bouncy castles? Or as I like to call them, "bacteria pits". They are so dangerous when people put them in their back "gardens". I saw like 25 kids bouncing all over each other at my friends party. I guess im too overprotective.
With our first birthday party here we hired a magician (RUBBISH) but the kids had a great time. We invited the entire class and EVERYONE showed up. We had it at home in Feb so we had to be inside. We had to move all our furniture out and just let the kids sit on the floor. It was a great time!
Pebs

Pebbles, sorry to say it sounds like your kids friends' parents' are cheapskates! It is customary to give out a goody bag with a piece (a proper piece, not a sliver) of birthday cake and some little toys or sweets in it at the end but don't these parents have any idea about party games? I don't know if you do the same games in the US eg pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs - all with prizes for the winners of course my dad always used to do the same 2 magic tricks every year but everyone loved them. Foodwise, if there are no sausages on sticks, it ain't a party ...

Britwife
I think some of todays parents are too busy to want to deal with things. They would rather pay £5.00 per child for McDonalds to handle their kids party. My kids have never been to a party here where they played traditional party games. Its a shame. Those are the kinds of parties I used to have when I was a kid. As for the cake...Ill never forget when my 6 year old opened up his goodie bag, pulled out his sliver of cake and it wasnt even a sliver of cake it was just a clump of frosting. Terrible!! These arent my friends kids parties. Most are just classmates of my sons. I dont know a lot of the moms.
Pebs

How lazy! it doesn't take much to put on a few party games even if they end up ordering in pizzas or something instead of doing a full on birthday tea. Never mind, I wll be sure to invite your kids to my kids parties!

Thanks Britwife They'll be there! Whens your baby due? I just had my 4th son 7 weeks ago. Still battling with the baby weight!

I'm due on 7 Sept so still growing but not long to go now, we are having a boy too, this is our first, can't imagine having 4 !!

I never imagined having even ONE! I think the move across the Atlantic increased my fertility. lol   I have had two babies in just less than 4 years. Im done now. As it is my hair is grey and my blood pressure is high! Good luck with your pregnancy!
Pebbles

When my big kids were little-everybody usually had the full party-games, tea, decorations, pass-the-parcel.  Alot of people did hire halls.  But I've certainly noticed with my little one (7) that it's  almost always out somewhere-lazerquest, swimming, trampoling, etc. and to tell the truth, now that I work it's all that I can manage and I'm finding it's not alot more expensive than doing it yourself, plus the time you save not having to trawl up and down the high street searching for pirates hats and baking 50 sausage rolls.  Party bags have stayed the same though-peice of cake, a few party favour type toys/gifts and some sweets.  Some parents shirk abit, some parents go all out.